AOH Ohio President's Blog

Greetings, brothers;
It has been a busy autumn for me and the past two weekends were spent in Board Meetings, both National and State.

State Board Meeting

I will first address the State Board Meeting, which was held on Saturday, October 15th at Tara Hall in Columbus. Our thanks to the ladies in Franklin County who provided all of us with a nice luncheon.

We started out with a joint AOH/LAOH meeting and discussed several items of interest. We talked about the 2011 convention in Youngstown and about the next state convention in 2013 in Dublin, Ohio. All information is not available as of yet but Franklin County is working on it and will give us the data as it becomes available. We did vote on having a somewhat shorter convention, with it starting later in the day on Friday and all day on Saturday. It is felt that this might help lower costs and improve attendance.

The books of the Joint Ways & Means Committee were audited and everything came out okay. Our thanks to Jim Wade and Mary Lehman for their work on getting this accomplished.

We talked about the latest joint fundraiser, which was kicked out during the joint meeting. It is called “The Pot of Gold” and offers prizes that everyone likes……that being cash! The grand prize winner will receive $500 and two additional winners will receive $100 each. The tickets are $5 each or 3 for $10. There is only one catch……WE ALL NEED TO SELL TICKETS! Please do your part and sell some tickets for this fundraiser. The proceeds go to fund our Ohio Hospitality Room in New York next July.

Speaking of the National Convention, we did touch on that subject, too. It will be held at Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, NY from July 9 to July 12, 2012. As you are all aware, our own Danny O will be running for National Treasurer. Be sure to try to come out and show your support.

We then split up and the men and women had their own meetings. Some of the topics brought up at our meeting were:

• Ron Hagan (Secretary) reminded all divisions to make sure their 990 forms have been submitted to the IRS. He would also like a copy of the form sent to him for his records.
• Ron Hagan also reminded the group to be sure to submit their Form 9s & Form 11s in a timely manner. This is especially important this year to ensure we have all the allowable voting delegates for the National Convention.
• Jack Looby (Deputy Director-SW) stated that he continues to work with Clermont County in helping them with trying to increase their membership.
• Mike Finn (Historian) said he received a thank you note from Fr. Sullivan at St. Colman’s in Washington Courthouse. We had sent a donation to assist in their repairing the Hibernian stained glass window at their church. He said there will be a rededication ceremony at St. Colman’s on Sunday, October 30th at 9:00am. All Hibernians are welcome and encouraged to attend.
• Edward Brannan (Catholic Action Chairman) said he was going to send a letter out to all divisions, introducing himself and asking for the names of the division Catholic Action Chairmen.
• John Coy (Veterans Affairs Chairman) said he will be getting with all division for their Veterans Affairs Chairman. He just recently took over this position and will be sending out information soon.
• Bob Harper said he was still working on the issue of grave markers for veterans. He spoke with the National Veterans Affairs Chairman, J.J. Kelly at the National Board Meeting last week and was forwarding information to him on this issue.
• The FFAI Trip to commemorate Bloody Sunday will be held in January. Sean Pender is organizing the event. More information is on the National Website.

A lot of other items were discussed and information will be relayed from the respective Chairmen.

National Board Meeting

The National Board Meeting and President’s Banquet was held in Philadelphia on Saturday, October 8th. Below is a summary of some of the items discussed:

Spoke a bit on upcoming National Convention in NY next July

• Spoke about working with archeologist on Duffy’s Cut, where a possible 57 Irish died under unusual circumstances. 8 remains have been found, thus far; one had a bullet hole in his skull.
• Spoke about the Commodore John Barry Project and how work is progressing but much work is needed in the area of fund raising.

• Look for address labels coming. Proceeds go to Hibernian Charities. Use them on all your correspondences.

• As of January, 2012, the new assessments will be filed (from $8 to $12). This will, no doubt cause some divisions to drop some of their non-paying members.

• Has mailed out the membership lists to all Division Financial Secretaries. They need to look over these very closely and send in a Form 40 on any that need changed. Some divisions still have some deceased members on their roles as they have not sent in the proper paperwork. It costs the National Board $.50 for every digest that is returned. If a division did not receive the membership list or their traveling cards (to be sent out in November), it means either the Financial Secretary’s name is not current or the division did not pay their previous year’s assessments. Call Tom’s office if you have any questions.
• He also wants to make sure that divisions send in their Form 9 in January of each year so the National Board has an up-to-date record of officers, especially the President and Financial Secretary.

• The National Right-to-Life Breakfast and March will be held in Washington, D.C. on January 23rd. Call him if you plan on attending or even if you are going to be in the area anytime during the year.

• We need to continue to recruit! This needs to be the focus of every meeting. They are coming up with a recruiting video that will be available soon. Another good way to recruit is through social networking, such as Face book.
• Old members need to be recruited, as well. This means those who are current members but no longer attend the meetings. Maybe there is a reason, such as loss of a job, working, or whatever.
• Make sure to mail out renewal notices and don’t just include it in the newsletter. Many times, a wife is the one who pays the bills and the member just “forgets to do it”.

• Not pleased with the response to sending in information on the history of the states.
• Mike wants each State Historian to get with Division Historians and send in a history of their division or the State, which ever the case may be. Send the information to Mike McCormack

• Check out the Hibernian Charity Web Page. You can make a donation on this site, by using PayPal.
• Some of the charities are Project St. Patrick, Commodore Barry Gate, Hunger Project and Rosaries for the Troops.
• Ed Wallace mentioned the importance of filling out the checks properly. They should be addressed to “Hibernian Charity”. Then, in the memo section, list which charity you want to receive the donation.

• Tonight’s banquet marks the culmination of the celebration that has been ongoing this year.
• Jere Cole mentioned that they still have a supply of Commemorative Coins. Contact him if you would like to purchase one.
• Ed also spoke of the Project St. Patrick cards and how they can be used when a member passes away. The donation goes a lot farther than flowers.

• The convention runs from Monday, July 9 through Thursday, July 12.
• Room costs will be $115 per night
• They are still working on the cost of the convention package.
• There will be overflow hotels available and also an RV park nearby.
• They are getting a reduced price at Cooperstown for the Baseball Hall of Fame.
• For the “free night” there will be a pub tour in Syracuse (30 min.) with a bus provided. There will also be a boat cruise (60 min.) and a bus will also be provided for that. There will also be a concert at the hotel.

• Reach out to your members in need; let us take care of our own first. During this economic time, there are a lot of Hibernians out of work and in financial distress.

• Matt Morrison received his work authorization 48 hours before the meeting. He thanks all of AOH and their help over the past many years. There are 15 others in the U.S. who are in a similar situation.

• A reminder to all veterans to use the Veterans Crisis Line.
• He reminded the group of the Archdiocese of Military Services which serves all military around the country. He later asked for a donation for them.
• He reminded those of Irish American Heritage Month – for Irish Heritage, Culture & Custom.

• Pat is in the process of updating the Major Degrees Manual. He said the manual will eventually be on a disk. He still warns that this is NOT to be shared with anyone outside the Major Degree Team.
• He did give copies to those on the Degree Teams so they can be reviewed, notes made and then sent back to him. He hopes to be completed by the end of the year.
• There is still talk of trying to get a Degree Team out west. The host division or divisions would have to come up with some of the monies needed to get the team there. There is always a Major Degrees Ceremony at the National Conventions.

• Sean said there would be a Bloody Sunday Memorial March this coming January. The dates are (approx) January 26 through February 4. They plan on 3 days in Derry, 3 days in South Armaugh and 3 days in Belfast.
• Sean has a limited number of Bloody Sunday prints available, both framed and laminated.

• “Let’s Meet at the Barry Gate” will be the phrase used in the near future for cadets to meet with visitors, since the gate will be outside the walls and less security is needed.
• They said they need to raise up to $200,000.00 for the complete project.
• The gate is underway and will be unveiled in November or December of this year.
• There are packets available that tell how divisions can raise money for this project. It is our project and the money needs to come from within.

• Voting members voted on the 10 nominees for Life Membership
• Voting members voted on the nominees for the Hibernian Charity Board
• It was moved and approved to send $5000 to the Notre Dame Fund
• It was moved and approved to send $1000 to the Medal Honor Grove Committee for further work needed at the grove. It will go through Hibernian Charity.
• It was moved and approved to send $500 to the Archdiocese of Military Services.

Fraternally,

Joe Casey
Ohio State President