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Happy Holidays, Navy Leaguers! This is our last Council Alert for 2006. Please contact the Member Service Center at service@navyleague.org or 800.356.5760, with any questions, comments, concerns or requests. Thanks! Bill Waylett
Featured Sections:
I. Best Practice – Toys for Tots
II. Best Practice – Support of Local Schools for Commissioning Ceremony
III. Development
IV. Navy League Ship’s Store
V. Public Relations
VI. Legislative Affairs
VII. Corporate Affairs
VIII. Membership
IX. Announcements
I. Best Practice – Toys for Tots
Many Navy League councils support the US Marine Corps Reserve’s “Toys for Tots” program, usually by asking their members to bring an unwrapped toy to their Holiday Party. We even have an international council, Puerto Vallarta Council, which provides toys through this program to local youth in remote areas of Mexico (delivered by NLUS council members and USMC representatives). There are too many councils to list that support “Toys for Tots”, but we encourage all councils to contact local Marines (reserves, recruiters or active duty commands) and help out with this worthy program. Thanks to all councils that are currently participating!
II. Best Practice – Support of Local Schools for Commissioning Ceremony
Thanks to Bobby Ferguson, Area President, Great Lakes North, for sharing this story.
The USS Green Bay (LPD 20), currently under construction in Avondale Shipyards, New Orleans, LA, has strived to build ties to the local community in Green Bay, WI, and the Navy League is helping. One of the local connections is Lombardi Middle School. Under the leadership of Nancy Croy, Principal, the students have challenged the crew of the USS Green Bay to a “Geography Bee”, pitting the student’s knowledge of geography against the knowledge of Navy sailors! A trophy will be awarded and the Navy League is funding most of the cost of the trophy (which features an 18-inch bobble head of Vince Lombardi). The contest is scheduled for January 26, 2007; a spirited contest is anticipated! As Bobby Ferguson, Area President, Greta Lakes North stated: “I never knew Navy League could be so much fun”. Bobby plans to attend, of course. Nancy tell us the students plan to challenge the crew every year, so the trophy will honor the annual winners and will be held in the trophy case of the winner for a year.
III. Development
The 2007 Navy League Foundation Scholarship application is currently available online. This year, the Navy League Foundation will be offering a total of four, $10,000 awards payable as $2,500 a year over 4 years. Students eligible to apply are the dependants or descendants of qualified Sea Service members, maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or above, are currently in their Senior Year of High School and are applying to accredited 4 year colleges or universities. We do not fund current college students.
All application packages (including application form and support materials) are due to the Navy League offices no later than 5 pm EST on March 1, 2007. Faxed copies are not accepted. No exceptions will be made, please plan accordingly.
Applications and instructions are available at <http://www.navyleague.org/scholarship/>. If you have any additional questions please call Caroline Jarvis at 703-312-1585.
IV. Navy League Ship’s Store
At the November Winter Meeting, our new vendor PROMO rolled out the Navy League Ships Store for National Officers and Directors. Concurrently the website http://navyleagueshipsstore.com was activated. Under our new contract, the Navy League will be receiving a commission on all retail sales. Councils can participate in the NLUS commission.
Two objectives of the NLUS Ships Store are 1) to "brand" the Navy League and its logos and 2) to use the Navy League Ships Store and its products as the basis for a renewed membership retention and recruiting initiative. Visibility in members communities will increase when our members are encouraged to wear NLUS-related items of apparel, neck ties, lapel pins, etc., as they go about their daily lives - not just wear the items at NLUS functions. Increased visibility for the Navy League and the opportunity for members to field questions will all contribute to maintaining/increasing our membership base. In addition, the Navy League Ships Store is a resource to those councils that desire to raise funds through merchandise sales.
V. Public Relations
Website Redesign
For the past two months we have been working on refreshing the design of the NLUS website to better meet the information needs of our councils, members and the public in general. The intent of the refresh is to make the website more visually appealing, easier to navigate and to provide more current news about the activities of the councils, headquarters and the sea services. Our goal is to make the NLUS website a “must go to” source for users who want to know about the NLUS and what the Councils are currently doing.
We will launch the new home page in December but this is a “work in progress” so some of the inside pages will initially still appear in the old format. We hope to have the changes made in a timely manner. The address will remain the same at www.navyleague.org and we will keep you apprised of all of the upcoming changes.
VI. Legislative Affairs
National Vice President Randy Hollstein and Legislative Affairs Committee Chairman Jim Bras led a well-attended and productive session at the Winter Meeting. Guests representing the sea services’ respective legislative affairs offices offered their expectations for the start of the next (110th) Congress in early 2007. In addition, Region Vice Presidents on hand for the meeting engaged in a lively discussion of lessons learned to date in their execution of the ongoing Grassroots Legislative Initiative. On the Capitol Hill front, NLOLA is now exploring plans to sponsor a Navy-Marine Corps Caucus gathering with the new Commandant of the Marine Corps.
At press time, although the leadership slate of the House and Senate has been set for the 110th Congress, committee chairmanships have not been officially announced, nor has the precise seating of key subcommittees of importance to the sea services. NLOLA continues to monitor this scenario. NLOLA also awaits the release this winter of the FY08 budget requests for the services, and looks forward to again using the annual Maritime Policy statement as a filter for assessing the requested funding and policies in order to identify issues for advocacy.
VII. Corporate Affairs
Council Commissions for Corporate Recruiting
For three years we have offered councils a commission for recruiting any corporate members (50% of first year dues for a completed recruitment; 10% of first year membership dues for a valid referral that leads to a new corporate member recruited by HQ personnel). Councils that have earned the commission include Seattle Council. Palm Springs Council and now Alamo Council. Walt Wilson, Council President, has recruited Wells Fargo Worldwide Military Banking as a Corporate Gold Member, earning the council a one-time commission of $6,250. Congratulations, Walt! Could your council use a boost to your budget? If so, contact Chris Mullaney, Director of Corporate Affairs, to learn how to do it, or schedule the Community Affiliate Workshop, which includes corporate member recruiting guidance, with Bill Waylett, wwaylett@navyleague.org.
VIII. Membership
Database Changes in Membership
As many of you are aware, Navy League Headquarters is in the process of replacing the current membership database. The conversion to the new database is scheduled to take place on or about January 16, 2007. We will be unable to process new memberships or membership renewals during the period January 11th to January 17th while we conduct data migration from one system to the next, undergo staff training, and test the interface between the new membership database and the financial database. Online Community updates will also be unavailable during this timeframe. Thank you for your understanding and patience. If you have any questions, please e-mail us at service@navyleague.org.
IX. Announcements
1. Seapower is going digital
Now available . . . The Digital Edition of Seapower!
• It is online and interactive, with all the features of Seapower's print edition.
• This means faster delivery, fully searchable text and a clickable table of contents.
• No software is needed. Simply receive and read each issue of Seapower right on your computer.
Test drive Seapower's digital edition at http://www.seapower-digital.com/seapower/sample/. Further announcements will be in Seapower and at www.navyleague.org.
2. New Department of Defense Speaker program – “Why We Serve”
The Department of Defense (DOD) has announced a speaker program to provide uniformed service members participating in the Global War on Terror (GWOT) as speakers to community groups. Councils can submit their requests directly to DOD by visiting www.WhyWeServe.dod.mil and completing the online request form.
3. Operation Homefront Expands Relationships
Operation Homefront, (see http://www.operationhomefront.net/) a Navy League partner dedicated to the support of the families of deployed military personnel, has signed an agreement with Wal-Mart, the world’s largest retailer, to provide free toys and gift cards to military personnel at major bases over the 2006 holidays. Wal-Mart is also a participant in the Department of Defense’s America Supports You program.
Finally, Operation Homefront signed a Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Defense at Navy League Headquarters on October 12, 2006, with Allison Barber, DASD for Internal Communication and Public Affairs, doing the honors. Veteran Affairs Secretary R. James Nicholson was also in attendance, see http://www.operationhomefront.net/news.asp.
4. Navy League Membership Presentation
A new PowerPoint presentation has been released for council use in recruiting members. The presentation is available on the Navy League website at http://www.navyleague.org/councils/ppt_presentations.php.
Member Services
service@navyleague.org
www.navyleague.org
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