Volume 15, Issue 6 June, 2016

Dates To Remember

Post Meeting

Independence Day Pic-nic (serving Corn)

Breakfast Club

VFW National Conven-tion (Charlotte, NC)

Post Meeting

Breakfast Club

Post Meeting

VETERAN VIEWS

THE AWARD WINNING NEWSLETTER

OF WOODRIDGE MEMORIAL VFW POST 1578

VETERANS OF FOREIGN WARS OF THE UNITED STATES

Inside This Issue

Post Information

Post 1578 Spring Awards

Memorial Day Silent Parade and Service

Woodridge Celebrates Independence Day at Castaldo Park July 4th!

VFW Buddy Poppy Days Update

Village Presents Our Post With $500

Post Officer Installation and Awards Ceremony

Flag Day

Memorial Day Picture Gallery

Woodridge VFW Officers 2016 - 2017

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“Dedicated to Veterans Service”

Post Officers Commander— Ray Travis

Sr. Vice-Commander— Frank Mampreian Jr. Vice-Commander— Mike Rennewanz

Quartermaster— Bob Reichert

Post Answering Machine 630-910-1578

This Award Winning Newsletter is written for ALL members of VFW Post 1578. If you have an article or any worthy event that you wish to share please call us or email us at woodridgevfw@comcast.net, or mail it to:

Woodridge Memorial VFW Post 1578 P.O. Box 8219 Woodridge, IL 60517

Visit Us On-Line

www.woodridgevfw.net

Next Post Meeting

Our next regular monthly meeting will be on Tuesday, June 28th, at 7:30 pm at Shanahan’s, 1999 W. 75th Street, Woodridge, IL 60517. Plan to attend! All Eligi-ble Veterans are Welcome!!

Meet and Greet at 7:00 pm “Safety Meeting” 9:00 until 10:30 pm

Visit us Like us on

Woodridge VFW

Woodridge Memorial VFW Post 1578 was chartered on November 8, 1983 with 33 original mem-bers. Today we are in our 33rd year of community service to the people and Village of Woodridge. Post 1578 is a proud sponsor of:

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sented these awards to the 7th grade class at Jefferson Junior High School.

We were proud and honored to present our first place Patriots Pen award to Lilly Ford, second place to Kevin Dzitowski, third place to Josh Rod-dy and fourth place to Jacob Poeschel.

We were also proud and honored to present the Extra Miler award to Francisco Godines .

On Saturday, May 21st our Woodridge Teacher of the Year, Rhonda Jackson, received the VFW District 19 award for K thru 3rd Grade at their Annual Spring Awards Ceremony held at Naperville VFW Post 3873. She received a District Plaque and a gift card to the Olive Garden!

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OUR WINNERS!

POST 1578 Spring Awards

Each Spring our Post presents our Larry Ger-vais Patriot Pen Award and our Clint DeLaby Extra Miler Award to grade school students at both St. Scholastica and Jefferson Junior High Schools.

Patriots Pen is a youth-essay writing contest en-dorsed by the National Association of Secondary School Principals, and is a nationwide competi-tion that gives students in grades 7 and 8 the op-portunity to write essays expressing their views on democracy. Contestants write a 300-400 word essay based on an annual patriotic theme. Over 120,000 students participated nationwide. The first place winner at each school receives a Certificate and a $50 gift card.

The Extra Miler award is presented to a 7th or 8thgrade student who is a behind the scenes vol-unteer and example setter. The recipient is one who does not need the accolades of others to participate, and works hard at each project. Their reward is knowing that they gave their best each day for school and fellow students. The recipient becomes a part of history at each school with their named engraved on the Extra Miler Plaque. They also receive a Certificate and a $50 gift card.

St. Scholastica School

On May 24th, our Post presented these awards to 8thgrade students at the St. Scholastica annual award ceremony.

We were proud and honored to present our first place Patri-ots Pen award to Carmel Ada, and second place to Jacob Kesterson.

We were also proud and honored to present the Clint DeLaby Extra Miler award to Alison Goulding .

Jefferson Junior High School

On June 3rd, our Post pre-

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Memorial Day Silent Parade and Service

This year’s event was the biggest yet, with the addition of the School District 68 Marching Band. The crowd was estimated at 600 with the weather being perfect!

The band began our service with our National Anthem. Several Memorial Day readings and a great speech by Mayor Gina Cunningham were followed by a 21-Gun Salute and the Knights of Colum-bus singing Amazing Grace during our Wreath Laying ceremony. Scout Cory Urban led us in the Pledge of Allegiance and Colin Mason played Taps.

Pictures by Donald Wilson Jr.

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Woodridge Celebrates Independence Day at

Castaldo Park July 4th!

Woodridge residents are invit-ed to the 48th Annual Fourth of July Picnic, which will be held on July 4th from 11:00

a.m. to 3:00 p.m. at Castaldo Park, located near the intersection of Roberts Drive and 71st Street in Woodridge. Come join in the celebration! There will be a performance by The Music Com-pany, free pony and train rides for the small chil-dren. The popular "Birds of Prey" exhibit will re-turn this year along with the antique auto show. Hot dogs, brats, chips, pop, water, and ice cream treats will be available for a nominal charge.

Our Post will be selling corn on the cob. We will also lead the Picnic in singing our National Anthem. We need help with setup starting at 9:00 am, wrapping, serving from 11:00 am thru 3:00 pm, and cleanup. All volunteers eat and drink for FREE!

Call us at 630-910-1578 and leave a message, or email us at woodridgevfw@comcast.net.

Beer is also available for adults. This event is brought to you by the Woodridge Special Events Committee, which is a group of Woodridge resi-dents who work to offer the community special events like the picnic and Santa Comes to Woodridge. The Committee relies on fellow resi-dents each year to jump in and volunteer for a two-hour shift to serve food and beverages. If you would like to help, contact Chairperson Ron Dilger at (630) 963-4262.

VFW Buddy Poppy Days Update

Our Post held its annual BUDDY POPPY DAYS drive on Friday, May 13th, and Saturday, May 14th. Don Young reports that the generous peo-ple of Woodridge donated about $3,000 to our Post’s Relief Fund. Thank You Woodridge for your Support!

Commander Ray Travis (left) and Adjutant Joe Bregin bookend Bill Nolan, owner of Doggie Diner, and present him the VFW Poppy Certificate for his generosity.

Village Presents our Post with $500

At the June 16th regular Woodridge Village Board meeting, our Post was awarded a $500 Prologis grant (donation) from the Village!

Prologis supports hundreds of community activi-ties and social causes in its areas of operation. In 2013, Prologis donated more than $1.3 million in cash and in-kind donations to charities and or-ganizations in need. Over 43 percent of this came from the Prologis Foundation, which was formed in 2001 to support educational and chari-table organizations.

To Mayor Cunningham and the Village Board of Trustees, Thank You Very Much!

Our Post has des-ignated these funds to be used to assist our scholarships and assist funding the Larry Gervais Patriots Pen Pro-gram.

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Post Officer Installation & Awards Ceremony

On Monday night, June 13th, Post 1578 held our Installation of Officers at Shanahan’s. The In-stallation Officer was George Cramer, former National VFW Commander and one of the men who helped organize our Post 33 years ago!

Our 2016-2017 Post Officers are: Commander: Ray Travis Sr. Vice: Frank Mampreian Jr. Vice: Mike Rennewanz Quartermaster: Bob Reichert Chaplain: Don Young Jag: Don Curby Surgeon: John Sucansky 3 Yr. Trustee: Randy Braasch 2 Yr. Trustee: Rich Stiltner 1 Yr. Trustee: Henry Ristic

Annually at this event, our Post gives awards for the Woodridge Po-lice Officer of the Year and the Fire Fighter of the Year.

Fire Man 1 Neil Berkowitz was introduced by his Shift Commander. Neil is a highly motivated member of Lisle/Woodridge Fire District. In his 7.5 years of service he has already made a sig-

nificant impact in the community in which the LWFD serves.

Neil is a par-amedic fire-fighter who serves also on the Dive, Haz Mat, and Technical Rescue spe-cialty teams. He is a member of the Fire Preven-tion Bureau conducting inspections and heavily involved in public education.

He delivers public education in the schools and takes every opportunity to deliver fire safety mes-sages to children. Most recently Neil represented the Fire District during the Woodridge "Motion Ex-plosion" creating a children's fire service obstacle course. He created the props and funded the cost on his own.

Neil serves as a member of the LWFD Honor Guard and is a proud veteran of the United States Marine Corps.

Neil is truly an asset to the Fire District communi-ty and his selfless service is an outstanding ex-ample to the entire department.

Post 1578 is proud and honored to present the Woodridge Fireman of the Year award to Neil Berkowitz!

Police Chief Gina Grady introduced Officer Dan McIntyre. Dan is someone who is always here at the Police department working on “something” and always willing to take on any assignment no matter how busy he is. He has worked on nu-merous complex cases over the years and has been given assignments to go and find the bad guys; and he does! He is always prepared, dedi-cated and willing to assist anyone in the depart-ment with any assignment.

Dan created a new system for Trespass Notices and also assisted on the Village’s ordinance in-volving massage parlors. He’s also served as the case agent on several large narcotic arrests including arresting four individuals on separate Class X offences.

Left to Right: Randy Braasch, John Sucansky, George Cramer, Bob Reichert, Don Curby, Mike Rennewanz, and Ray Travis

Former National Commander George Cramer and Post Com-mander Ray Travis

Below, Outgoing Commander Don Curby receives his Certificate of Appreciation from Bob Reichert and Ray Travis

Woodridge Fireman of the Year, Neil Berkowitz

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In addition to his police work, Dan also works tirelessly with Special Olympics. In 2015 the de-partment received the very prestigious Flame Award for fund raising. He is a true warrior when it comes to this cause and his efforts and com-passion to the athletes and families is admirable.

Dan com-pleted his five year assignment in TAC in 2015 and left his in-delible mark on that unit.

Post 1578

is proud and honored to present the Woodridge Police Officer of the Year award to Dan McIntyre!

We also recognized our two District 99 high school winners of our Jim Stewart Me-morial Scholarship, Emily Tom and Alyse Dutcher.

Emily Tom graduat-ed from Downers Grove South with a 3.9 GPA. She was the captain of the Gymnastics team and enjoys golf. She will attend Michigan Techno-logical University.

For as long as Emily can remember, she has wanted to become an engineer because of her love for math and sci-ence. She plans on using her engineering skills to develop innovative ideas and technologies to give back to the community to help improve their way of life.

Alyse Dutcher graduated from Downers Grove North with a 3.85. She was the Girls Varsity Soccer Team Captain. She will attend the Uni-versity of Indianapolis. She plans on helping people by becoming a pharmacist, and hopes to

inspire others to make a difference. She also plans on giving back to veterans and promoting patriotism through volunteering with the local Indianapolis D.A.R* Chapter during her time in college. (*Daughters of the American Revolution)

Woodridge Police Officer of the Year, Dan McIntyre

Alyse Dutcher and Emily Tom

Flag Day, June 14th

If it’s early morning on June 14th, you’ll find the VFW out at Hawthorne Park (where the old mon-key shed used to be). We lit the burn barrels at 8:30 am and said our Flag Ritual at 9:00 am sharp.

Seven Post members, three Woodridge Police Officers and three invited civilians took part in this honored event. Big John Sucansky reported we retired 303 American Flags.

Each American Flag has the “Blue Field” method-ically separated from the “Stripes” with a shears and then the pieces of cloth are incinerated.

The U.S. Flag is treated with respect when it flies and should be treated with re-spect when it’s being re-tired.

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Pictures by Henry Ristic

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WOODRIDGE VFW 2016 - 2017

COMMANDER Ray Travis

SENIOR VICE COMMANDER Frank Mampreian

JUNIOR VICE COMMANDER Mike Rennewanz

QUARTER MASTER Bob Reichert

CHAPLAIN Don Young

JUDGE ADVOCATE Don Curby

SURGEON John Sucansky

ONE YEAR TRUSTEE Henry Ristic

TWO YEAR TRUSTEE Rich Stiltner

THREE YEAR TRUSTEE Randy Braasch

ADJUTANT Joe Bregin

JUST A REALLY COOL GUY! Michael Hunt