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The meeting was called to order by Club President Joyce Akins at 10:15 a.m. Approximately 20 persons were in attendance. Joyce introduced Michael Davis of the Texas Veterans Commission. Mr. Davis stated that veteran considerations started with President George Washington but the modern VA has its roots from the Lincoln years. There are three basic benefits offered: 1) health care-- there are 165 major VA hospital centers and outpatient clinics; the current prosthetics coming out of VA research are state of the art; 2) disability benefits (the VA is so large that claims can take 14 months); and 3) memorials--national cemeteries which are used by veterans and their spouses. Davis talked about General Shensheki's new job, disability compensation--Congress sets the amount, but the percentage of disability is a medical decision. The Texas Veterans Commission is very large, robust and very involved in Texas; it helps support vet claims, represents vet in the appelate process--making legal arguments on behalf of the vet. It is the largest state service agency in the country. It also helps vets with employment and education (GI Bill) and the Texas Veterans Land Board assists vets in purchasing property. Davis noted that a general discharge is not a bad discharge. This commission is a state funded group. Regarding homeless vets, the VA has active homeless programs; Houston has apartments to assist them get on their feet, health care prioritizes these vets and the VA has an active outreach program which visits streets to identify vets who need help. San Antonio is part of the Houston veteran section and Texas and Florida have the biggest vet population. Stand Downs happen in Houston twice a year; tents are set up with food, medical care, dentistry, legal help, etc. Contact Harris County Coalition for the Homeless to volunteer for Stand Downs.. Q&A followed. Several club members talked about the military experiences of their loved ones or themselves. Mr. Deeds served in Japan with MacArthur's HQ after WWII and Sylvie Adams described her experiences in Iceland when her son retired from the Navy. Scott Hochberg then spoke about the state budget; updated us on state government issues, ranging from the stimulus package to education, textbooks, low income and special ed. Texas has $7.5B in rainy day fund but Governor Perry has yet to see any "rain"! Other guests included Karen Duran and Herman Litt, both running for Houston City Council positions. The minutes from March 2009 were approved as read. The treasurer's report was approved as read. Joyce discussed that we would like to, as a club, collect monies and send a check to the USO for troop packages. The USO prefers to package their own as they know what the troops need and have a better way to ship them. Joyce talked about the January 2010 club plans to have a Health Reform panel. Mike Laster was suggested as moderator. Joyce and the board will be working on putting this panel together and we hope to co-sponsor it with other southwest clubs. Possible panelists could be reps from the Harris County Hospital District, community activists and physicians (one member suggested a Dr. Zimmerman ). Phone tree volunteers were Pat Powers, Kenneth Jenkins, and Mary Haper. The Walkers offered to bring refreshments to the June meeting. Bert Anson announced District 17 needs help on committees such as fair elections, communications, finance, etc.; training will be provided We talked about the JRR dinner--there were 1200 people at the last dinner, the largest ever, and $125,000-$150,000 was raised for the HCDP. Joyce would like our club to have at least one table at the JRR dinner. Joyce announced that Caleb Crow will be our June speaker and the subject will be energy savings; in July Richard Shaw will be our speaker and will talk about the state of the "unions". Joyce is working on scheduling Al Green as our speaker for later in the year. There will be no meeting in May as Bayland will be unavailable. The meeting adjourned at 12:10. Respectfully submitted, Mary Haper
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