Task Force Meeting Minutes – Feb. 13, 2018
World War One Commemoration Task Force
Meeting Minutes
February 13, 2018
Welcome and Announcements (accept meeting minutes) – Dr. Finkelstein- deferred because the meeting minutes were not available.
“Catching Up” items – Membership
100 Cities, 100 Memorials Submission Update and fundraising- A grant was submitted to apply for the grant for the restoration of the WWI memorials. We are waiting to hear. Notification in early April. Three thousand dollars have already been donated for the project when it is implemented. Frank will coordination the collection of funds for this project. Funds will be deposited in John Marshall through the AHS. All expenses for the project will be approved by AHS and any balance will be retained by AHS. Cynthia and Allison need to be included on correspondence related to donations. We expect an event will be coordinated with the express purpose of raising funds. Frank will be taking the lead on this. The county will also be asked for some funding.
Decal Competition- The WWI decal did not receive enough votes to win. Large turnout.
Recent Events (Kazin Lecture)- small but reasonable attendance, interesting talk, several questions asked by audience. Video from presentation linked to the website.
Arlington Historical Society Essay Contest Update-
Essay has been distributed to all high school students via social studies classes. Essay is also being promoted on AHS and via the County Council of PTAs. Anyone who has a twitter account is asked to tweet the contest. Here is a sample tweet that includes a link to the essay announcement:
World War I Essay Contest Open to All Arlington High School Seniors. Details at https://drive.google.com/open?id=1nEYqp35Y0dmUEGG0BNnDTsQWYue0hKHk
The WWI Commission will be looking for a potential way to the winning essay to be included in the 1918 Armistice Celebration.
County Fair and Mobile Tour Bus Update – Zenia Simpson. In March there will be an inspection of the county fair site to make sure we can get the mobile bus tour at the fair. If approved, we can move forward. It is expected that this will be approved. The county fair will be August 15th -19th.. Commission members should put these dates on the calendar for potential volunteering.
Community Service- possible idea for service project
Valor Run– this is a race and it can now be a virtual run for donations to support women veterans and the Women’s Memorial at Arlington Cemetery. This occurs on May 20th and could incorporate running around the Arlington Cemetery and we could promote as an outgrowth of our committee. Consider partnering with one of the local running groups that might be interested. It might be worth looking at Girls on the Run as another contact. One thought is to contact it with our upcoming Nov. 18th Working with local groups might allow them to do the planning..
Suicide Awareness Month Event- Brendan is absent so event not solidified yet. Will report at a later date.
Upcoming Events/What’s Next – Membership
WWI Poetry Event (March 15, 2018)
AHS Lectures (March 8, June 14, 8 November 2018)
WWICC Podcast Opportunity—in order to get on the schedule, we need to sign up. It was suggested that we wait until after we get notified regarding the grant.
Public Access TV Episode Opportunity (Craig)- This is a free opportunity for WWI presentation with a talk show format or potentially do a tour of the cemetery i.e. The World War One walk. Allison will look into this. Episodes are usually 30 minutes or one hour. Another idea might be to have the winning essay student on a public access show. Craig will coordinate this event. First show possibility is April. Details to be finalized in March. Reach out to the historical society for an opportunity to do the show.
Veterans’ Day/Culminating Event (TF Role, possible unveiling, music, uniforms, publicity)- planning needs to start in March, only some preliminary plans have been made. Veteran groups have been contacted and they will be meeting in May. One question is whether the memorial project will be ready for unveiling at the Armistice celebration. A timeline will be established to try to make the project ready for November. Another question is where we can get uniforms for a potential six person group. High demand but we will seek it out. Allison has a contact and she will try to find some uniforms.
Allison has met a person at the book store who will do a presentation on the Scottish Dragoons – will be added to the list of presentations
Other Items:
Virginia Tourism Grant- eligible to apply, due March 27th we will seek up to 10,000 in funding to promote understanding of WWI and the Nov. 18th , 2018 event. We received the grant last year and will use some of the same language in the grant this year.
AHS Spring Banquet will include some tribute to WWI- details to follow after plan goes to the Board of Directors at the March board meeting.
Please email Allison if you have any WWI events for the calendar
All start thinking about events for the November celebration