Newsletter Input – President’s Column
The end of summer starts a new season for your Camden-Kings Bay Council. Our first three monthly dinners feature Sea Service activities locally and beyond. In December we will have our annual Toys For Tots Brunch (Sunday, Dec 3, 1:00 PM at Osprey Cove). In January we hope to have an informal gathering including Base leadership, and in February our biggest fund-raiser, the Dessert Auction, will happen at the Submarine Museum.
The December Brunch is important in another way: it is our Annual Meeting. Under our BYLAWS our officers include President, President-Elect, Secretary, Treasurer, Judge Advocate, the Past-President, one or more Vice Presidents and up to four additional Directors. The president serves a two-year term with no consecutive terms allowed. The term of the President-elect is one year beginning with the start of the president’s second year and automatically assumes the office of president the next year. All other officers and directors are elected for one year or until their successors are selected. Almost all the Board members have been serving since before the “stand-down” for COVID; most will probably offer to stay on in some capacity. BUT as we get more active, we need more help and new ideas. Please see the article later in this Newsletter about the Board and Elections. If you are interested in serving on the Board or on a Committee, please let me know at President@KingsBayNavyLeague.org or talk with any Board member.
St. Marys’ “Horse and Cow,” the east coast version of this legendary submarine-themed Pub and Grill, opened in late August near the movie theater in the shopping center at the foot of Spur 40/Charlie Smith, Sr. Hwy. Look for the miniature yellow submarine out front. We had hoped to celebrate the opening with a zoom meeting with our sister Council in Bremerton, but it turned out they had a soft opening the day after hurricane Idalia, and we missed it. The walls of the Pub would give the walls of Submarine Museum a good contest for the most submarine memorabilia, the sea stories are plentiful, and the food is good.
Many readers of this Newsletter are members of our Council, but many are not. If you are in that second group, please consider joining. While we enjoy our dinners and speakers and other social events, our role in the community reaches well beyond them. Under that broad umbrella of supporting the men and women of our sea services we interact with Kings Bay Submarine Base and the Coast Guard MSST in a myriad of ways, assisting where we can and welcoming them into the local community. We volunteer at our local VA Clinic and buy, gather and deliver “wish list items” to veterans at the Lake City Medical Center. We administer two scholarships. We honor the MSST Enlisted Persons of the Quarter and all the local Enlisted Persons of the Year at a celebration dinner. We provide financial support to the Camden County High School Naval Junior ROTC and local Sea Cadets. Some of this involves “sweat equity” – hands-on participation. All of it involves money. We get our resources from donations, events such as the Desert Auction and membership dues. If you aren’t a member – Individual or a Community Affiliate business, please join our team. There’s a Membership Application attached to this Newsletter, or go to the web site at KingsBayNavyLeague.org.
I hope to see you at one of our monthly events, and at the Annual Meeting on Dec 3. Please see the article on Board elections – we need your help.
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