The New York State Council of Chapters (MOAA) is an affiliate of the Military Officers Association of America MOAA (www.moaa.org). The NYS CoC is a politically nonpartisan, non-profit 501 (c)(19) veteran’s organization.
Message from our President Norma Weissend
2026 AiA is in the BOOKS!
Tim, Matt, and I had a spectacular week in Washington, DC participating in #MOAA’s Advocacy In Action. We were assisted in our efforts by MOAA Board Member/Capital District Chapter Member Myles Caggins III, and MOAA Staff members Erin Cardinal and Caitlin Grover. Between all of us, we visited both NYS Senator’s offices and 11 of our 26 Congressional District Offices.
Maj Gen April Vogel USAF (Ret) and her Government Relations staff at MOAA did an outstanding job of coordinating all the moving parts of lodging, feeding, transporting, and most importantly, scheduling about 300 Congressional office visits for over 200 people from 49 States to campaign for 4 extremely important bills. Your follow-up efforts will help us get over the goal line. Please continue to “Take Action” at https://moaa.quorum.us and follow up at your local offices. Watch for a more detailed recap from Council Legislative Chair Tim Vaughan.
Did you know: There are over 550,000 veterans in NYS and nearly 7,000 MOAA members alone! You know who they are now! Ask them to join your Chapter!
LoE and Harris Awards
My sincere congratulation to all Level of Excellence 5-Star winners and Harris Communication 5- and 4-Star Awardees for your outstanding newsletters and websites. I accepted all awards on your behalf at the Council Presidents’ Meeting during AiA and I have your certificates. Hardware for your banners will be mailed to you separately. Chapter Presidents: We can present these certificates to you at your Chapter meeting or have them presented to you at the Council Convention in September, whichever you prefer.
2026 Council Convention – Hotel Saranac – 27-30 Sep 2026
The only details I am still waiting for are venue and lunch pricing for the Tuesday “Fun Day.” I have had four different inquiries out for three weeks now. I cannot help but wonder if they are not interested?? (I had some Convention work on pause too because of AiA). I have another idea to run up the flag pole today….. I also need to finish up the option for attendees to pay for their registration for Convention through Cheddar Up. Once I nail that down, the registration packages will be ready for distribution – by the end of this month, I promise!
