VVA Chapter 227 was very busy in 2021 even with the virus problem:

In coping with the pandemic’s second year, VVA Chapter 227 didn't miss a beat in 2021, adding new members and significantly meeting the growing needs of veterans and their families. Our chapter membership grew 6% over the year from 329 to 349 members; in 2020 our membership grew 1.5%. We continue to use traditional, digital, and social media to spread the word about our charitable activities to recruit new members, and we’ve begun a new effort to recruit at-large VVA members in Virginia who might be interested in joining our chapter. A special thanks goes to Bill Lynch, our membership chairman, who does a great job in maintaining the roster and welcoming new members. Our list of accomplishments continues to amaze many people, including our generous benefactors and recently a writer who is doing a spotlight article on the breadth of our chapter’s activities in an upcoming national VVA newsletter. • Thanks to our donations (e.g., this totaled over $18,000 in December alone!), we were able to provide some $28,000 to needy veterans, active-duty personnel, and their families. We are budgeting over $35,000 for these needs in 2022. This aid ran the gamut of helping the recipients cover their rent/mortgage payments, utilities, car payments, medical expenses, etc. One example that touched our hearts was assisting on breast cancer medical expenses for the wife of an Army Ranger who also is the daughter of a retired Marine veteran. We donated $1000, and soon afterwards a benefactor and a chapter member contributed another $1300. About half of our yearly aid total helped families in the Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program (VASH) for back-to-school expenses and the December holiday gift season. We also gave a grant totaling some $6000 to three Wounded Warrior families. • In 2021, we continued to help various organizations who help needy veterans. We donated another $500 to the Veterans Fishing Adventure, a therapeutic program that provides a day of fishing for mostly-disabled veterans, active military members and their families. In fact, in April, chapter members attended the 100th birthday of retired Navy Commander Edward Ettner, whose service dated back to World War II, at the program’s site in Lorton; sadly, he passed away last month. We also provided $1000 each to our brother VVA chapters in Louisiana and Kentucky in disaster relief for their members and families. We also continued our support of the Lamb Center, which helps homeless veterans, by providing backpacks and kitchen supplies at our December holiday party. • This past year, several of our members continued to serve as mentors in the Fairfax Veterans Treatment Docket, which helps rehabilitate veterans suffering from addiction and substance abuse issues. Special kudos to Don Sutherland, a chapter director, for serving as the head of the mentor team, and to Tom Davis, another chapter director, who was Don’s predecessor. • We had wonderful speakers at our membership meetings this year including Diane Evans and Holly Rotondi, who respectively gave us tremendous insights into the building of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial and the World War II Memorial. Certainly, a highlight was having Rick Weidman, the recently retired and longtime VVA Government Affairs Director, give us his perspective on VVA’s history and future prospects at our 36th chapter anniversary party in October. • In June, Bill Dumsick was elected as Treasurer of the VVA Virginia State Council. Congratulations! • We now have a PayPal capability for donations on our chapter website and Facebook page. Fear not, check donations are still welcome. • We have held a couple of actual membership meetings at the American Legion Post 177 and plan to resume them in March now that the Covid threat is easing. • Six chapter members attended the national convention as delegates. The convention approved the resolution for VVA to remain a Last Man Standing organization. I fell short of being elected as an At-Large Director—maybe next time! • Finally special thanks to our spouses and AVVA members who continually contribute to our success. For 2022, we look forward to even more membership growth and increased support for our fellow veterans and their families. We have much to be proud of in Chapter 227!