May 2025 Meeting Minutes 📝
COMMANDER’S COALITION MEETING
May 7, 2025, 10 A.M.
American Legion Post 13
Minutes/Notes
Attendees: Ed Hood, John Folsom, Frank Roycraft, Courtney Thomas, Amanda Daughtry, Amber Yarusso, Gail Ernst, Fred Ingley, Alex (Butch) Topicz, Grant Kimball, Roxann Dressel, Lillian Simmons, Mike Simmons, Sarah Parker-Pike, Tony Minichiello, Rob Winchester, Dennis Hall, Tina Caldwell (Spears), Doug Ingram, Mike Hazell, Henry Lowery, Andy Janacek, Mary LaBatt, Craig Benner, Susie Caplowe, Dan Hendrickson, Cindy Laskowski, Tom Napier, Brian Caldwell, Shawn Schwartz, L.J. Stuckey, Kaitlyn Grimes, Gordon Lightfoot, Paula Hubert, Eric Smith, Marc Dickieson, Ben Ringvelski, Tom McCluskey, and Marianne Trussell.
Ed Hood, Commanders Coalition Communications Coordinator. led attendees in a salute to the American Flag and the Pledge of Allegiance to the American Flag to open the meeting and a salute to the American Flag to close the meeting. He asked Eric Smith to deliver a prayer to open the meeting and close the meeting. Ed welcomed everyone, reminded everyone to sign in, to speak up, identify themselves and their organization, to silence their phones, specifically reminded everyone that there are to be no politics or personal attacks, and invited Frank Roycraft to begin. See comments below.
Frank Roycraft, Commander, VFW Post 3308. Corey Simon was given a bill to introduce; he thought he understood the bill but did not. The bill was an anti-gaming bill that would also impact VSOs that have machines. Corey Simon thought a loophole would let VSOs out but it would not. Frank and others went to the legislative committee and no one understood the bill; covers were important because when they saw all of the covers; the bill died. It will be back next year!! His big take away is the importance of covers and the bill!!
Marc Dickieson, Commandant, Marine Corps League Chapter 472. The Marine Corps League meets on the third Thursday of the month at Chow Time at 1800 hours. A monthly fundraiser is held at the Ace Hardware in Killearn where Krispy Kreme donuts will be sold on the first Saturday of the month. Please buy your donuts. Contact him for more information.
Alex (Butch) Topicz, FRA Branch 34, CVMA 20-12. No report.
Eric Smith, Big Bend Honor Guard. Reporting for Chuck Howell. The Big Bend Honor Guard (BBHG) performed military honors at 19 interments in April at which an average of 9 BBHG members were present. The BBHG also reported approximately 340 volunteer hours to the Veterans Administration. Since the cemetery opened the BBHG has performed 1,362 interments.
Tony Minichiello, American Legion Post 49, Monticello. He has tickets for guns’ raffles. Drawing will be held May 26. The Post 49 supports AmVets 1776.
Courtney Thomas, Mayor Dailey’s Office. No report.
Grant Kimball, Culley’s MeadowWood Funeral Home. If you are with Women Veterans Unite, please see him after the meeting. As he previously announced, he is trying to bring the new Vietnam Wall to Tallahassee. One of the criteria is that he needs to form a committee; VSO input, news media, etc., all help is appreciated. Also, funds are needed, volunteers, etc. See him for more information. He also shared Culley’s news and information.
Gordon Lightfoot, Commander, AmVets Post 1776. Amvets had a great golf tournament last week. Thank you to all and especially Nell Hewitt and Richard Duley. He attended a meeting of principals to talk to them about the American Heritage Tours which includes Michael Terhune’s 911 Beam Memorial. Waiting to schedule tours; a flyer was available.
Mary LaBatt, DAR, Caroline Brevard Chapter. No report.
Fred Ingley, MOAA, Tallahassee Chapter. No report.
Gail Ernst, Air & Space Forces Association, MOAA. No report.
Andy Janacek, Akin Akinyemi, Leon County Property Appraiser’s Office. No report.
Kaitlyn Grimes, Tallahassee Police Department (formerly with Mission BBQ). Hello friends. On May 22 at 9 am on the steps of the police station on 7th Avenue there will be held a memorial honoring officers fallen in the line of duty. On May 24 from 11 am to 1 pm at the Fairgrounds will be the Public Safety Water Event. Be prepared to get wet. The Tallahassee Police Department is hosting the June 2nd Tuesday lunch at the National Guard Armory. During Armed Forces Week Mission BBQ will provide every veteran a free sandwich. The schedule is provided in the flyer but you can come by any day: Monday 5/12 is Army; Tuesday is Marines; Wednesday is Navy; Thursday is Air Force; and Friday is Coast Guard. On Saturday May 28 come in for your free sandwich from 11 am to 2 pm for Lunch With Heroes.
Susie Caplowe, Tallahassee Veterans Legal Collaborative. Veterans are doing a wonderful job distributing food. Veterans get community service hours. Donations for gas would really help.
Dan Hendrickson, President, Tallahassee Veterans Legal Collaborative. Every Thursday a legal clinic will be held at American Legion Post 13 from 3-5pm. Set up begins at 2pm. Please be there to help. Agencies attend; the tax collector’s office attends and lots of others. More mentors are needed; please help as veterans would love to have someone to talk to. The legislature will be back for a special session to address the budget. See Dan for resolutions passed.
Tom McCluskey, American Legion Post 13. No report.
Doug Ingram, Blinded Veterans Association. He reported on his involvement with the Greg Tish Show “Thank You For Your Service”. There is an opportunity for free advertising for veteran events. Contact him for more information. May is all booked but he is looking for speakers for June and the rest of the year. Not too far in advance please. The program has an audience of 50,000.
Nicole Dempsey, Department of Veterans Affairs, Communication Engagement and Partnership Coordinator. No report.
Tina Caldwell (Spears), Quality Care Manager, Right at Home. No report.
Eugenia Simmons, Director, Tallahassee National Cemetery. Flyers were available re Memorial Day. Memorial Day for 2025 will be observed on Saturday, May 24 at 1 pm. There will be interments that morning. Flag placement will be at 3 pm on Thursday, May 22, and Flag removal will be on Tuesday, May 27 at 8:30 am. On April 29 at Post 13 the VA hosted and honored volunteers from the TNC. The TNC is open from 8 am to 4:30 pm. Please stop by or call.
Paula Hubert, Vice President, Women Veterans Unite. There will be an all women veterans workshop on June 6-8 at the Al Lawson Center a FAMU to help female veterans re benefits, etc. It is free to all veterans. Doors open at 8 am; breakfast and lunch will be provided. Tickets are on sale for a variety of baskets at a variety of ticket prices. Friday evening at 6:30 pm there will be a special show at the Challenger Learning Center
Andy Janacek, Akin Akinyemi, Leon County Property Appraiser’s Office. No report.
Henry Lowery, United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps League, AmVets Post 1776. No report.
Craig Benner, Veteran Advocate, Florida Dept. of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles. June 13 is the FLHSMV Annual Veterans Recognition Day at 12 noon. Tables can be set up by VSOs at 11 am. If you have questions or are not on his email list and want to be, please call or see him.
Shawn Schwartz, Gold Star Mother. Her daughter is a veteran and died in 2022. She is from Decatur County, Georgia; she is here to gather information and pass on information.
L. J. Stuckey. Retired veteran and also from Decatur County. No Report.
Sarah Parker-Pike, Department of Veterans Affairs, National Suicide Prevention Coordinator. 988 is operational!! There have been no changes.
Amanda Daughtry, Case Worker, Congressman Neal Dunn’s Office. Give her a call if you need help. Introduced Amber Yarusso.
Amanda Yarusso, Congressman Neal Dunn’s Office. Previously worked with Senator Corey Simon. Reach out to her or Amanda.
Ben Ringvelski, Commanding Officer, NROTC Unit FAMU and professor of naval science. No report.
Cindy Laskowski, Commander, American Legion Post l3. On Memorial Day Post 13 will be at Oakland Cemetery. The ceremony begins at 11 and ends at 12 noon. The speaker will be Henry Lowery, Jr.
Roxann Dressel, Commander, American Legion Post 114, Crawfordville and 1st Vice Chair of American Legion District 2. The Second District meeting is May 17 at 10am Eastern time and 9 am Central time. Registration is an hour before. Location: AL Post 100, 3627 US 90, Marianna. There are enough riders for a Post 114 Riders Group.
Lillian Simmons, American Legion Post 114. No report.
Mike Simmons, American Legion Post 114. He is the leader of the rider group for Post 114. They are affiliated with the group in District 2. See him for more information.
Dennis Hall, Army National Guard, Big Bend Honor Guard. The 2nd Tuesday lunch in June will be hosted by the Tallahassee Police Dept. Next week the 2nd Tuesday Lunch will be held on May 13; lunch is at noon (arrive 1130 or so) at the National Guard Armony at the corner of Capital Circle SE and Easterwood Drive. The meal will consist of pork and chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, tea, water, and banana pudding. Everyone is welcome, especially veterans. There is a flyer on the tables from the Springtime Tallahassee 20th Century Krewe. They are ready to volunteer if and when you need help and helpers. They want to be involved and volunteers are available.
Brian Caldwell, Big Bend Hospice. The Big Bend Hospice Spring Fling Fundraiser “Take Flight in the Garden” will be on Thursday May 15, at 6 pm at Tallahassee Nurseries. Tickets are $150; please call 850-878-5310 or visit BIGBENDHOSPICE.ORG/SPRING-FLING for tickets.
Mike Hazell Veteran Wellness Coalition. Connecting veterans to prevent suicide.
Tom Napier, Honor Flight Tallahassee. This year he went as a veteran (previously he was flight director) and as a veteran he was able to see things he had never seen before. The weather in DC was rainy off and on. No one’s spirits were dampened. For him it was the best Honor Flight especially at night when all veterans were welcomed home in Tallahassee.
John Folsom, American Legion Post 13, Chaplain for AL District 2. Memorial Day 2025 at the Tallahassee National Cemetery will be on Saturday, May 24 at 1 pm. The American Legion will hold its ceremony at Oakland Cemetery on Monday, May 26 from 11 am to 12 pm. The VFW will honor veterans at its cemetery on Memorial Day from 11—12 at 5801 Fox Road, Tallahassee.
Ed Hood, Commanders Coalition Communications Coordinator. One can’t post things on Facebook regarding raffles for guns if you do you are suspended for 30 days. He is suspended for 30 days. He received the following from John Patoja, President, Vet Tally, Inc.: "To help establish the context of why we put on the Veterans day parade, we (VET Inc) would like to include some demographics information that we feel will help put things in perspective. We are attempting to gather how many veterans we have in the Big Bend area, hopefully broken down by county. Next we would like to break that number down into by branch. The hardest item we wish to get is where we know normal sources of information would deem privacy concerns, and this is where we ask our local VSOs if one of their members fits into one of these criteria as well as if they wouldn't mind if we share this information. The two criteria are: The oldest living combat veteran (which I'm pretty sure is our 104 years young Mr. Joe Williams), name, branch, rank, age and tours (whatever they allow to be published). The oldest living non combat veteran, name, branch, rank, age, "era", and list of duty stations. We may break this down by branch, but I am not sure if we can get all of that information, the biggest need is determining the oldest combat and non combat veteran in the area. This is information that we would like to keep as accurate as possible each year we print the handout, so we may also need a point of contact for some of this information going forward. Right now, I think our biggest need is an overall count, which we can determine if VSO just report their current membership count (we'll figure out how to eliminate duplicate memberships), and who's the oldest non combat veteran in the area (this will be a tough one), perhaps VSOs can just report the age of their oldest non combat veteran, if that applies.” Grant Kimball interjected that Culley’s (he) may have this information.
Marianne Trussell, Chair, Support Committee for the Tallahassee National Cemetery, Inc. Marianne thanked Eugenia Simmons for her briefing on Memorial Day (remember - Be On Time!) and Eric Smith for the Big Bend Honor Guard report and volunteer hours for April. The next meeting of the Support Committee will be Tuesday, July 15 at 5 pm at the TNC conference room. The meeting usually lasts 1 hour and everyone is welcome.
The meeting ended with a prayer by Eric Smith and Ed Hood leading a salute to the Flag.
The next Commander’s Coalition Meeting will be held on Wednesday, June 4, 2025, at 10 am at the American Legion Post 13 at Lake Ella.