Dear Navy League Tampa Council Members,
Greetings from the Board of the Tampa Council of the Navy League
of the United States! 2009 is about to arrive! 2008 went by quickly for the Tampa Council
as is the often the case when things are busy! I know some of you may not know now active the
Council has been as we have been remiss in keeping membership regularly informed of our events and programs…but that
will be remedied soon as we have very recently reached out to all members who have outdated email addresses.
Starting in January 2009, we intend to email membership monthly to let them know what’s going on.
Please let me take the time now to reflect on what we have done as a Council in 2008!
We started the year by celebrating Navy Week
with the highlight being the visit of USS TAYLOR (FFG 50). About the same time, we co-hosted the
annual “Salute to the Coast Guard”. We then held our annual Installation Dinner where we formally
installed several members to the 2008 Council Board. The next event was added this year – celebration
of the Chief Petty Officers’ Birthday (1 April) at MacDill AFB Beach. Then, in May, it was time for
our annual recognition dinner to honor the outstanding local high school seniors who earned a slot at one of the three sea
service academies, or in one of the nation’s NROTC units. In August, we hosted the Annual Sea Cadet
Picnic at Lowry Park where we took the time to honor the fine young men and women who participate in the Sea Cadet program.
The fall saw two big events for the Council – the Tampa Navy Ball (hosted by CENTCOM this year but strongly supported
by the Navy League), and the Annual Sea Services Recognition Dinner where we recognized top performing enlisted Sailors and
Marines from several area commands. Throughout the year, we work closely with the Council’s
four adopted ships, the local Sea Cadet division, NJROTC Units, and USF NROTC unit by providing substantial financial support,
and by taking the time to participate in their events which recognize their top performers. We concluded
2008 with our annual Holiday/Toys for Tots Dinner at the Colonnade Restaurant on 11 December. An enjoyable
evening was had by all and we were pleased to host five senior Naval Officers from the International Coalition with remarks
provided by Rear Admiral Juergen Mannhardt, Superintendent of the German Naval Academy!
2009 is already shaping up to be a banner
year for the Tampa Council as we intend to do all of the above again and add even more to our platter by awarding a minimum
of $5,000 in scholarships, by doubling our Sea Cadet support, and by adding an event to recognize the Individual Augmentees
(IAs) who deploy from (not with) her/his unit. We also intend to devote more energy
to communicating regularly to our membership to include our first “recruitment” social where we invite our membership
to bring a guest “on us”. More to follow on this!
We would love to see you at a Navy League function or two. Please try to make
it out to one or two! Every year, we host a minimum of four dinners, two picnics, and a ship reception.
We certainly hope at least one of them fits your schedule! We will be emailing event info to you
but feel free to go to www.tampanavyleague.org should you want to plan ahead! We have also posted the 2009 Board
Meeting dates on the website as well. All meetings are held in the 3rd Floor Conference Room
at the Faircount Media Group US Headquarters building at 701 North West Shore Boulevard (right next to the I-275 West Shore
Boulevard exit).
We, the
board of the Tampa Council appreciate your support as we know that we could not offer the many rewards to the men and women
of the Sea Services without YOU! We are always looking at ways to improve and need your feedback on what
we can do better and different to support the Sea Services. Members’ suggestions have led us to hold
two annual events – the Sea Cadet and CPO Birthday Picnic Celebrations! PLEASE let us know what we
can do to better serve you and to show the members of the Sea Services how much we appreciate their sacrifices for us to keep
us free and allow us the freedoms we cherish.
On behalf of the Board, I thank you in advance for your support!
Warm
Regards,
Chris Paddock
President
