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View this email in your browser                                                                                          AUGUST 2020
From Our Commander 

DAV Members,

Since my last note, there is one big piece of news, we have had to cancel Fall Conference. The current restrictions placed on gatherings by Federal, State, and the venue would not allow for a viable Conference at this time. Your Department Staff are working on some exciting alternatives to bring the information you need directly to you in a safe and accessible way. I hope to have another announcement soon, to bring you an updated on what we can do given the current operating environment.

We have had some revenue in from our Department clothing program on the OSD side.  Josh V. the Director of Operations is keeping all of us updated with the latest information from our purchasing partners weekly.  I know that many of the funds that Chapters count on is from the clothing program. It may be time to start thinking of other fund raisers. I have seen some chapters doing fund raisers in their local area like a brat stand and they came up with creative ways to maintain safe social distancing.  

I would like to offer my help to any chapter with their National Annual Financial Report before you send them in.  The requirement for the AFR has changed over the last few years.  The Department of Minnesota had over 10 Chapter’s AFR rejected this past year.  I have never turn down any chapter that has asked for help on this matter.

This is a reminder, your fiscal year ended June 30th, and your AFR’s are due at the end of September. The rules have changed and now any Chapter earning under $25,000 must only send their AFR to Department. The deadline still applies. Please, reach out to me if you would like some assistance.

Thank you for your time and corporation, please stay safe and healthy.
Scott D. Berndt, State Commander 

Annual Financial Report Kit
Women Veteran Committee

In July, at the recommendation of the Department’s Women Veterans Committee, I was asked to serve as the Department’s Women Veterans Coordinator, which I happily accepted. I will be working closely with the committee to expand Minnesota’s Women Veterans Program.

Due to Covid-19, many veteran events throughout the state have been cancelled. We are lucky and honored that our partnership with the Minnesota Lynx has continued to flourish in these hard times. In years past the Lynx WNBA team has invited a female veteran to be honored, in person, at each home game. This year, because of Covid-19, they will continue to honor women veterans using a virtual format. We are excited to continue this amazing opportunity with the Lynx and our women veterans.

If you would like to get involved, have suggestions, or questions please feel to reach out to me at: Kati@davmn.org

Kati Carpenter, Women Veterans Coordinator

DSO Update

Happy August my fellow brothers and sisters. I pray your all doing as well as can be expected during these trying times. This last month has been a pretty straight forward month. Helping a total of 62 veterans with benefits, resources, and housing.

With colleges getting to ramp back up in their own capacity I have been able to assist veterans in understanding and obtaining their educational benefits. If you have any questions or would like me to assist you or your chapter with local outreach feel free to call or email me to get something established. 

Respectfully,
Alexander Kempe, Department Service Officer alex@davmn.org  (612)364-5358

New NSO Supervisor

I would like to introduce myself to everyone in the state.  My name is Matthew Jahn, the new Supervisor at the Fort Snelling VA Regional Office and an OEF veteran.

I am originally from Kearney Nebraska and I served in the United States Air Force as a Combat Engineer with the 820th RED HORSE squadron, from 2006-2012 with 2 tours to Afghanistan.

I really look forward to providing the best possible service to all of our claimants and assisting our Department and Chapters on the National Level.

As we would say in RED HORSE “Lead, Follow, or Get the Hell Out of the Way!”

From the State Adjutant 

Greetings All;

Another month has come and gone, and the news from your Department Headquarters continues to be mixed. Unfortunately, we have had to cancel the annual Fall Conference. In my six years working for this organization, Fall Conference has been my favorite event. Convention is nice, and we get a lot of the necessary business done, but I have enjoyed the ability to have longer conversations on topics with our members, the opportunity for social interaction, and much more that comes with Fall Conference. I know the Department has made the correct decision in cancelling, it just was not feasible to hold a large gathering at this time, but I will miss the opportunity to spend time having important discussions, and socializing with you all.

I would note we are working on some creative new ways to bring information to you, and I look forward to being able to release more information as we solidify our plans. One of the few positives to come out of this has been we are looking at different ways to bring our members together, and how to best get information and resources out across Minnesota. While we all look forward to a time when we can meet and shake hands, I do think some of the problem solving we have had to do now will make us a much stronger organization in the future.

There are a lot of individual updates in this newsletter that will offer you details on individual programs so I will just leave you with this reminder. The DAV MN continues to serve our Veterans, their families, and survivors throughout this trying time. I remain confident in the strength and resiliency of our organization, and look forward to brighter days ahead.

Stay safe out there,, Trent C Dilks, Adjutant

News from the National Service Office (NSO)

Ft Snelling DAV National Service Officers (NSO):

Matthew Jahn, Supervisor  *New Position*
Charles Burns, Senior NSO
Derek Schultz, NSO
John Kalbach, NSO
Brenda Culbreath, NSO Apprentice
Vernadette Velardi, NSO Apprentice

COVID-19 Unemployment Relief Program: To date, The DAV COVID-19 Unemployment Relief Program has granted 6,477 applications, totaling  $1,619,250.00 in Relief funds to help assist veterans during this pandemic.

DAV Fort Snelling Regional Office Current Operation Procedures :

The DAV National Service Office (Located at 1 Federal Drive Fort Snelling, MN 55411) remains closed to the public. We continue to assist claimants via phone interviews, emails, mail, and faxes.

The Office number is 612-970-5665 and the Office hours are from 8am – 3pm M-Th and 8am – 12pm Friday.  

If a claimant is in need of assistance and needs to speak with a National Service Officer, and they know that DAV is already their POA, they can call the DAV Vonage number at 888-604-0234, for immediate assistance.

If the claimant is not already represented by the DAV they should contact the Office at dav.vbaspl@va.gov or 612-970-5665 to schedule a phone interview for assistance.

DAV MN Enterprise Update

Greetings DAV of Minnesota Members, Volunteers, Supporters and Advocates:

We made it to August. Only five months left before we can officially start over in 2021. 2020 has certainly been a flurry of discomfort, unpredictability and confusion… and it does not seem willing to let up much. The Covid-19 pandemic in conjunction with the extreme technical issues with Savers’ online platforms have been problematic at the very least. The flair up in Covid-19 cases in Texas have severely hindered one of our vendor’s ability to purchase material from us. The restriction to 50% of consumer traffic at Savers stores does not help the situation, either.

That said, I do believe we are in much better situation today than just a few weeks ago. We have managed to get a majority of our Chapters at least partially unloaded and take a little of the stress off of the volunteers. We have staff back in the Columbia Heights office to interact with our donors and members. Both of our vendors continue to have a positive outlook for later this year into next year.  We are not out of the woods yet, but things do seem a little brighter.  

To once again recap the situation: there has been a much higher demand for places to donate second-hand items since a majority of the population has been “sheltering in place”, but since retail stores and international trade has been shut down there has been no place to deliver any items we collect. Domestically there is a huge oversupply of second-hand items because of the lack of commerce for the last four months.  The positive news is that both of our vendors are up and operating with all nine Savers/Unique stores open and Simple Recycling resuming their regional operations. As consumer traffic continues to pick up at retail locations, our delivery schedule should start getting back to something resembling our pre-covid conditions (barring any further significant COVID-19 outbreaks).

It may be repetitive, but I would like to take this opportunity to once again express my sincere gratitude to all of our volunteers and supporters that contribute so much to keep this program successful. Your time and effort on behalf of the DAV MN to perpetuate our critical programs and services benefiting Minnesota Veterans and their families is truly appreciated.

Joshua Vrtacnik DAV MN Deputy Adjutant/Director of Operations

DAV MN Transportation Update

Greetings from the Transportation Program. The COVID-19 pandemic has truly proven our resilience.  We have been leading the way for other DAV departments and programs as they start to re-open during these still uncertain times. Our DAV Transportation staff have stepped up not only to transport veterans when we ran short on volunteer drivers, but they also helped in whatever fashion possible. Our HSCs handed out food, picked up donated masks, made masks and distributed masks to their community Veterans; our DAV staff has been there to help where they are able.  
-Stephanie Zeimetz, Transportation Program Manager 320-252-1670 ext 6676 

The Twin Cities transportation program has faced several challenges over the past months.  The COVID-19 crisis combined with the rioting which plagued Minneapolis and St. Paul, has forced our program to change and modify.  As many of our volunteer drivers are in a high-risk category for COVID-19, we have been challenged by a greatly diminished pool of volunteer drivers.  Despite these challenges, the Twin Cities Program has provided service through it all and our remaining volunteer drivers have stepped up and adapted to the new procedures put into place to protect our veterans and volunteers. They have given freely of their time and consistently volunteer to drive additional days.  Though these are dark and uncertain times, our volunteers have, beyond a doubt, shined in their continued commitment of serving Minnesota veterans.  As our lives slowly return to normal, and the number of veterans in need of transportation increases, our program will prove to be stronger than ever before.  
-Gary Wagner, Minneapolis HSC 612-467-2768 

Donor Connect Update

Dear Advocates of the MN DAV Donor Connect Program.

On March 19, 2020, the MN DAV Foundation Board of Directors decided to suspend the MN DAV Donor Connect Program because of the Covid-19 Pandemic and the risk of donating and dispersing medical equipment to our venerable age group of Korean and Vietnam Veterans.

This memo is to inform you that the MN DAV Foundation Board of Directors for the same reason mentioned above decided to keep the program shut down and revisit it at the end of the year.

This means we will not accept Durable Medical Equipment donations nor will we facilitate the disbursement of medical equipment.     

I appreciate your understanding in this decision to help minimize health risks and maintain a clean and healthy environment for our MN DAV Veterans and/or their family members.

Sincerely,
Stephen Whitehead, Executive Director

Copyright © 2020 Disabled American Veterans of Minnesota (DAV MN), All rights reserved.


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