Involvement in community service is just an extension of the same sense of duty that led many of us to serve our country. Chapter 820 has involved itself in several community service projects in the Central Oregon area and would like to encourage all Oregon VVA chapters to do the same.
Every summer, the City of Bend has a weekly music and crafts festival Munch n Music-- at beautiful Drake Park along the banks of the Deschutes River. Chapter 820 was allowed by festival organizers to maintain a table, selling VVA t-shirts and providing benefits information. We also run a bike corral, where festivalgoers can leave their bikes and baby buggies while enjoying the fun and not have to worry about theft. As a result of our presence at Munch n Music, we have also learned that such projects are a great outreach tool. We have met dozens of Vietnam and Vietnam-era vets who had no idea that VVA even existed. Several of these vets have joined Chapter 820, almost all of them have given a cash donation and those that didnt join took a membership application. The donations and thanks we get from those who leave their bikes in the corral prove that we are providing a beneficial service in our community.
In early July, Chapter 820 helped plan and stage a veterans tribute at the first Munch n Music of the summer. Dick Gorby, VVA State Council president, was asked if he wanted to do this by the festival organizers and when he asked Chapter 820 members if we were interested, we jumped on the opportunity. With the exception of World War I, we had veterans from each major conflict talk to the large crowd about their experiences, why they went, what it was like in combat and what they experienced when they returned home. For World War I, we had Dick Tobiason talk about the history of the war, as well as the various veterans monuments located throughout Oregon. Dick is a retired Air Force colonel who helped bring home our POWs from North Vietnam at the end of the Vietnam War. As the vets from each war talked, music from each period was playing in the background. Everyone was tapping his or her feet from the first strains of Over There from 1915, to Sympathy for the Devil from 1968, right through to Rock this Country, a big hit in 2001 by Shania Twain. After the presentation was over, vets from all eras approached Chapter 820 members to thank them for putting on the tribute.
On July 31, 2004, Chapter 820 had its table set up at the Bend Childrens Fair, a fund-raiser for the Central Oregon Battering & Rape Alliance (COBRA). We sold our t-shirts, as well as our world famous cheese nachos. We not only made money for the Chapter treasury, but our sales also resulted in a cash donation to COBRA. In addition, when the US Army Band played at the Les Schwab amphitheater, we were there selling t-shirts, nachos and chili dogs. This was a great community outreach opportunity because the audience was an older crowd and we met a lot of World War II and Korean War vets, including a retired Army colonel who was in Special Forces before they were called that. He was also a veteran of World War II, Korea and the Dominican Republic. Even the men and women in the Army band tried our award-winning chili-cheese dogs and we swapped war stories with one of them who had been with the 25th Infantry Division in Vietnam.
Future community events that Chapter 820 will be involved in are: Deschutes Brewers Festival, Les Schwab Amphitheater, August 21; The Pixies, Les Schwab Amphitheater, September 4; and ZZ Topp, Les Schwab Amphitheater, September 18. Well be there with out table, t-shirts and valet bike parking. Hope to see you there.
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