President's Message
September/October 2006

Greetings as we begin the new year for Chapter operations and start a promising and event filled year.  As the year begins I would like to take the opportunity to highlight some of the major accomplishments and to provide a little insight regarding some of the upcoming events and challenges as we begin chapter operations.  In my last message I discussed changes in the Officers on the Board and the contributions of those that left.  This year’s slate of Officers is set and actively engaged without skipping a beat.  Bob Calvello has followed in Pat Thornton’s shoes as Treasurer and our financial operations are in good hands.  Ed Carnes continues his highly successful reign as the Vice President for Corporate Affairs.  His primary charge is to continue to support our fantastic corporate membership, most importantly in the form of information interchange.  He also continues to be the primary community Point of Contact with the many things we do to support the Fisher House Foundation.  Warren Wolff remains as the Vice President for Programs and promises to bring together a great year of diverse programs and interesting speakers.  Kathy Reidy will continue to do the great work she started as the Vice President for Communications with the responsibility of the Chapter web site and this newspaper. This newspaper is recognized as the Best Newsletter within the many AUSA Chapters and she, and her assistant Lisa Pandolf, are the reasons.  Miguel Buddle will be the Vice President for Enlisted Affairs, but is more correctly titled, Vice President for Military Affairs, and provides a great liaison with the military community, as well as a member of the National Resolutions Committee.  Ray DeRosa has done an outstanding job as the Vice President for Membership and his administration of the membership requirements keeps us well ahead of our annual goals.  Rich Gaudio, as the Vice President for Policy and Awards, spends countless hours administering the awards that we present across the community.  I quite often provide the “photo op” at the presentations, but Rich makes sure the recipients are recognized appropriately.  The last officer is Sue DiVila, and there are many things we could not do without her efforts.  As Secretary, she organizes some of our events, makes the reservations and ensures people are where they are supposed to be.  Our Chapter does a great many things to support the community and our soldiers, but it can’t be done without the efforts of these Officers.

We started the season with our joint AAAA-AUSA boat cruise in July.  August and September were full of many activities some of which preceded the joint symposium in Atlantic City.  The new USMA Prep School class arrived and almost immediately Taste of Heaven began.  Our first General Membership luncheon was held on 27 Sept and was a huge success.  The topic of the luncheon was POW/MIA Recognition and the Garrison Commander, COL Sullivan, provided remarks that came from the heart.  At that luncheon we hosted an art show highlighting the paintings of Anna Justice, with the proceeds going directly to the Fisher House.  That event alone raised over $8,000.00.  Our next luncheon was held on 20 October and LTG (Retired) Hal Moore, the author of “We Were Soldiers Once…and Young” was the guest speaker.  The luncheon was followed by a book signing.  October is also the month that the AUSA National meeting was held at the Convention Center in Washington DC.  November will be our Veterans luncheon and will, most probably, also recognize the New Jersey Recruiters of the Year.  AUSA will also host the annual State of Team C4ISR Luncheon in late November or early December.  In addition to all of these events, we will continue to provide awards at quarterly ceremonies at Patterson Army Health Clinic, support Retiree Recognition Day at the Fort, maintain membership goals, publish the newsletter, maintain the web site and support our many corporate members. The list is endless, and this is only the first six months of the operational year.

As you can tell, we are busy and our support is broad and diverse.  The Officers give up lots of free time to ensure we are present and can help our soldiers, family members and civilian members.  We do a lot to contribute to education and leadership growth of our high school juniors and seniors, not to mention the Prep School.  I only mention the Board Officers by name, but our Advisory Board, consisting of volunteers from many organizations gives us the direction and advice to pursue the best direction, and without their help we wouldn’t be able to do what we do.

I am looking forward to the new year, and since we are already running fairly hard, can’t wait to see the sprint at the end!

We are doing GREAT!  Help us do better.