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Report - VVA Chapter 1069 Christmas Party, December 9, 2020
[posted on: 12-13-2020]

2020 Christmas Party Chapter Vice President Leonard Sternadel

Texas VVA Chapter 1069 held its 9th annual Christmas Party at Mikeska's BBQ in El Campo. Approximately 40 members, spouses & guests attended the Christmas party. Attendance was lighter this year due to the Covid virus, but still a great turnout! Social distancing and face masks were the order for the event. The Social hour lasted from 6:00 PM to 7:00 PM. Wine, beer, punch & snacks were enjoyed before the meal, with a gift raffle following the meal and a short meeting led by Chapter Vice President, Leonard Sternadel (see photo at left). The evening dinner was catered by Mikeska's BBQ. The membership enjoyed chicken fried steak, buttered mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, salad, with peach cobbler & ice cream for dessert. The Mikeska staff really did a wonderful job preparing and serving the meal. NOTE: Leonard received special recognition during the meeting portion of the party, so be sure to read the entire report!

Above photo - A big thanks goes out to Dana Sternadel for providing the poinsettia plants for the party! They were later raffled off to chapter members at the close of the party.

A good turnout despite the current situation. Thanks to all those that attended!

A big thanks goes out to chapter members Louis & Carolynn Milder for all the decorating work. And thanks to all those who helped put this party together.

And thanks to the Mikeska's, for again allowing VVA chapter 1069 use their banquet room this past year for our monthly chapter meetings. We all appreciate it.

Approximately 40+ folks attended the party.

The evening meal was of course catered by Mikeska's. The membership enjoyed chicken fried steak, buttered mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, salad, with peach cobbler and ice cream for dessert. The Mikeska staff really did a wonderful job preparing and serving the meal.

Photo above shows Chapter Vice-President Leonard Sternadel playing party host after the meal. Leonard was filling in for Chapter President, Frank Laitkep, who was unable to attend the party.

Above photo - Leonard also conducted a bit of chapter business during an abbreviated meeting. And then played Host for the rest of the evening.

In above photo, chapter member's (Mark Pilcik) spouse, Burnadette Pilcik, requested to give a short presentation during the meeting. She told a story of her recently learning about something called an "Honor Blanket", from a friend of hers. Exactly what is an Honor Blanket, she wondered?

In short, an Honor Blanket is a special quilted blanket, for the purpose of honoring someone (1) who has served in our nation's armed forces, and (2) who has served & helped our Veterans. I (Bob) found an article on a website about an American Legion post, that has created a project called "Blankets of Honor". If you're interested, use the link below to learn a bit more about their project and exactly what an Honor Blanket is.

Well, Burna thought this would be the ideal gift for one of our chapter founders and for someone who has been our chapter President for approx 7 years (since its inception in 2012), and is our current chapter Vice President... "Leonard Sternadel"! As we all know, Leonard is a 20+ years Army, and has been involved with Veterans for a long time in one way or another, and has accumulated many awards. Use the link below to review some of Leonard's Veteran-related achievements the past years. The link will take you to a webpage on our chapter website.

So as the above photo shows, Burna decided to quilt an Honor Blanket for Leonard, to honor him for his 20+ years of military service and all his volunteer work for Veterans, and to also serve as a sort of going-away gift for Leonard. As we all know, the Sternadels will be leaving El Campo early next year to move to La Grange ... Texas (not France). And as you can see, it is a very beautiful blanket! However, when Burna presented the blanket to Leonard, we weren't quite sure if he liked it or not...

Above photo ... Oh yeah! HE DEFINATELY LIKES IT!! Congratulations to Leonard, on a well deserved gift and award!

The photo above shows the special embroidery that Burna put in one corner of the Honor Blanket. Now that's first class!

Honor Blanket on display.

Showing blanket pattern details...

Great job Burna!!

Photo above shows the various gifts that were later raffled off to membership.

Photo above shows Leonard and other helpers handing out the gifts to the raffle winners.

Above photo says it all - The chapter thanks Leonard and Dana for all the hard work they put into organizing our 2020 Chapter Christmas party. We's also like to thank all the other members and spouses who helped put this party together and helped during the party. We can't do it without your help.

In closing the chapter would like to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Let's all pray that 2021 will be a better year than 2020.

And finally, you may use the links below to read the reports and see the photos from VVA Chapter 1069's past 8 Christmas Parties - enjoy!

8th Annual 2019 Christmas Party Report & Photos

7th Annual 2018 Christmas Party Report & Photos

6th Annual 2017 Christmas Party Report & Photos

5th Annual 2016 Christmas Party Report & Photos

4th Annual 2015 Christmas Party Report & Photos

3rd Annual 2014 Christmas Party Report & Photos

2nd Annual 2013 Christmas Party Report & Photos

1st Annual 2012 Christmas Party Report & Photo

One final note - At the year's end, it may be a good time to remember and say a prayer for those chapter members who are no longer with us. Since the chapter began 8 years ago in 2012, our chapter has lost 8 members. Click on the image below to visit our chapter's "Memoriam" webpage.

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! Hope to see you all at the January 13th Chapter meeting.

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