A note from the Skipper...

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Greetings from the Africa!  I have now had the pleasure of seeing all of the Mad Foxes across the three different deployment sites.  Your spouses are doing great and making a difference across the world flying a variety of dynamic missions as well as taking care of Sailors.  Your Mad Foxes are doing great and time is flying by.  I sincerely appreciate the love and support that you give your family members which allows them to work so hard and do well.  Deployments are not always easy for both spouses as well as the service member.  And yet, we both have ways to make it better.  On deployment, your spouse keeps busy by working out, studying, doing their "ground job" and bounding with their deployment family, i.e. their crew.  At home, the OSC is a great way to provide support for each other through monthly events as well as the Over The Hump Party.  Also, the Family Readiness Group (FRG) is for both officer and enlisted spouses to work together and support each other.  The power of a Team will always make things better.  Thanks for looking out for each other.

In addition to checking out the FRG, I hope you have had an opportunity to check out the Patrol Squadron FIVE Facebook page.  It is a great way to keep up with the Mad Foxes.

I know there are lots of great activities coming up to include:
25 February 2011 - FRG Meet and Great
5 March 2011     - OSC Over The Hump Party at Copeland's
12 March 2011    - FRB Over The Hump Party at the NAS Jax Bowling Alley

Again, thanks for you support of the Mad Foxes!

Sincerely,

Skipper JJ

Ronald McDonald House...

A BIG  "Thank You" to all of those who helped make our Ronald McDonald brunch a HUGE success!  It was such a great opportunity to work at RMH and make a difference in our community.  We had rave reviews on our spread and it was wonderful to see the smiling faces on these families who are going through such difficult times.  We plan on making this a regular thing and we are really looking forward to doing it again next month!  If you are interested in helping out by either supplying food, donations, or your time, please contact either Sarah or Fallon.  Enjoy the pictures we took of our time spent at RMH!

 

January update...

Hello everyone!  Its so hard to believe but we are already two months down!!  As of January 23rd, we have a new board.  We are all so excited to get things rolling and are really looking forward to this year.  The new board is listed at the top of the blog so you can get to know who we are!  If you need anything, please don't hesitate to contact any one of us.  By now you will have all received an email (or two) from our "official" email...vp5osc@gmail.com...please don't hesitate to contact us with any questions, comments or suggestions!


At the January meeting we had a lot to discuss.  Here's a look at what's going on.  Hope to see you all at the February meeting.

**Meetings**

·      Will be held the second week of each month

·      Date will be decided by the host/hostess

·      Social time from 6:30-7pm; Business starts at 7pm

**Email**

·      All VP-5 OSC correspondence will go through the official OSC account vp5osc@gmail.com

·      Please email the board directly and respond to this email as it will be checked often by board members

·      Please notify the Call Tree Chairperson if you know of someone who is not on the email list/call tree.

**Bylaws & Voting**

·      We will be making some amendments to the bylaws to clarify board position responsibilities in addition to some financial pieces.  

·      Updated bylaws will be typed and sent out for a vote…please check your emails!

·      All amendments need to be voted upon by ALL “dues-paying” members of the OSC. 

**Dues**

·      It was proposed that dues be changed from $40.00 per year to $50.00 per tour.  Dues could be paid $20, $20, $10, or one lump sum.

·      Dues are OPTIONAL (with the exception of board members) and only “dues-paying” members get to vote.

·      Please remember “you don’t have to pay dues to come to a meeting.” Everyone is invited.

**Other Items**

·      We are going to have a “suggestion box” at each meeting where people can make suggestions or comments anonymously to the group.  We will discuss these issues/concerns and resolve them at the meeting or get back to them as soon as we can solve the problem or find the information that was requested.

·      We will be sending out a survey in February to assess needs and expectations from the group.  We would love your feedback and appreciate your input as it is very important to us that we make this OSC our own.  It’s a collaborative group effort and everyone’s opinion matters.

·      We will have a Homecoming Committee that will be Chaired by one of our members.  If you would like to volunteer, please send us an email and we will put you in touch with our Homecoming Committee Chair.

·      Please bring some items to donate to the care packages that we will be assembling for our IA’s.  We will collect these items at the next meeting on February 26^th.  We have 3 IA’s at this time so please bring 3 of whichever item you choose.  A list will be sent out via email discussing what we need.

**Call Tree**

·      Call Tree will be initiated every month prior to each meeting as a reminder for the upcoming meeting.  If you are not getting your calls a week prior to the meeting, please let the Call Tree Chair know so that the Call Tree lead can be reminded. 

·      Call Tree will also be initiated in case of an emergency.  It is vital that you always inform Tempe of changes to contact information and make sure that your information is updated correctly at every meeting.