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As a 501(c)19, Veteran Organization, the
Northwest Florida Military Officers
Association solely focuses on the needs of
those presently serving and those who have
served. Our recent Community Outreach
initiatives include:
2018:
Veterans Stand Down; 2019:
Purchased kitchen equipment for One
Hopeful Place Homeless Shelter; 2020,
2021, & 2022:
Purchased commissary gift cards for
distribution to E4 and below enlisted
families at Thanksgiving; 2022, we
partnered with the Daughters of the American
Revolution (DAR) and purchased and placed
wreaths on Veterans’ graves. In 2023,
we will again purchase gift cards for junior
enlisted families, partner with the DAR, and
unveil a new initiative…Valentines for
Vets. Please help us to continue our
work in the community by clicking the
donation form below.
2023
Fort Walton Chamber of Commerce thanks Dave
Parisot
Paul Singleton honored by FWB Chamber of
Commerce
Chapter member
Lt. Col Paul Singleton, USAF, Ret, was
honored by the Greater Fort Walton Beach
Chamber of Commerce on June 2nd with their
‘Above and Beyond’ award, and made ‘King for
the Day’ in front of approximately 300 local
business people. Paul has been a part of the
Chamber’s Ambassador Committee for 39 years
and has personally participated in over
1,700 ribbon cutting ceremonies for new
businesses. This is in addition to the
thousands of other volunteer hours Paul has
given to multiple non-profit organizations
in our local area. As a result, the Chamber
has added Paul’s name to this award and it
is now known as the ‘Paul Singleton Above
and Beyond Award’. Congratulations, Paul,
and thank you for what you have done and
continue to do to support our community.
(see photo below).
Fort Walton Beach
Memorial Day Service
The morning
started early at 7:00AM in the morning when
35 JROTC cadets from Fort Walton Beach High
School approached the gravesites of 1,800
military Veterans, hand saluted and placed a
United States flag at their headstones. By
9:00AM, over 1,800 graves had been
decorated. Per JROTC instructor Mark Batcho,
Col., USAF, Ret., this is one of their
annual events with the most cadets
participating. The JROTC also provided the
color Guard for the service to present the
Colors. Several of our members
participated in the service. Lt Col Frank
Roberts recited the poem “In Flanders
Fields” by John McRae after the National
Anthem. Chapter members T. Patt Maney, BG,
USAR, Ret., and Chuck Merkel, Jr., Major,
USA, Ret., helped read the ‘Roll Call of the
Deceased’ which included about a dozen of
our Chapter members. (see photos below).
NWFMOA
Receives MOAA Foundation Grants for 6th
Consecutive Year
On May 12th we
were notified by the MOAA Foundation that we
received two Community Outreach Grants this
year, our sixth consecutive year our Chapter
has received grants. The first grant of
$1,500 is for a continuation of one of our
Community Outreach projects from the most
previous three years, i.e., to purchase
commissary gift cards for young enlisted
families (E-4 and below) at our local bases.
The second grant, for $2,800, is to
participate in the 2023 Veterans Stand Down
this fall by purchasing cold weather
clothing and toiletry items for needy
Veterans in our area.
This will be our fourth consecutive year of
purchasing Commissary gift cards in $25
denominations to distribute to local junior
enlisted families. We plan to again partner
with the First Sergeants Associations at
Eglin, Hurlburt, and the 7th Special forces
Group(A) and the Hurlburt Military Family
Assistance Center to get the gift cards to
those in greatest need. In our Community
Outreach projects for 2020, 2021, and 2022,
we distributed a total of 610 gift cards at
a combined value of
$15,250. Of this total, the MOAA Foundation
provided $11,325 and $3,925 was from local
donations.
Military Family Appreciation Day
The Greater Fort
Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce hosted the
Military Family Appreciation Day at the Fort
Walton Beach Landing Park on Saturday, April
15th from 11:00AM to 5:00PM. Chapter members
who staffed our NWFMOA booth on the first
shift were (from left) Bob Gramm, Dave
Parisot, Fred Westfall.
Below
are those at our booth for the second shift.
From left are Jim Shoff, George Hanks, Fran
Hendricks, Dick Solt. The third shift was
rained out. We thank you for sharing your
weekend time for the benefit of our Chapter
and local community.
Valentines for Vets
A new community
event for 2023 was “Valentines for Vets”.
For nearly 65 years, the Northwest Florida
Military Officers Association (NWFMOA), an
affiliate of the Military Officer
Association of America, has been making a
difference in the lives of Veterans in the
Okaloosa and Walton Counties. One of its
community outreach initiatives this year was
to partner Bob Hope Village with Longwood
Elementary School, whereby second grade
students made Valentines and delivered them
to the residents on Valentine’s Day. This
endeavor allowed the students to express
their appreciation for the service and
sacrifices made by this Veteran community
and their families through the gift of a
handmade Valentine. The students presented
their Valentines to the residents during the
annual Valentine Day Brunch at Bob Hope
Village.
Valentines for Vets was first enacted in
1996 by General Ron Fogleman, Air Force
Chief of Staff, and was intended to support
the Department of Veteran Affairs weeklong
National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans.
Today, the VA has expanded the salute to the
entire month of February and has renamed it,
National Salute to Veteran Patients Month.
The NWFMOA invites everyone to recognize a
Veteran’s service and sacrifice especially
on Valentine’s Day. To view additional
pictures, click
HERE. This program was coordinated
by our Chapter President, Fran Hendricks.
Chamber of Commerce "Business After Hours"
On January 19th
our Chapter had an information booth at the
“Business After Hours” event of the Greater
Fort Walton Beach Chamber of Commerce, held
at the Emerald Coast Science Center. At the
booth, our displays highlighted Chapter
membership, our Community Outreach programs,
and our Scholarship programs. (See photo)
2022
Our Outreach Efforts Are Noticed and
Appreciated by MOAA
The email below was received from MOAA
National
Major Parisot,
Thank you very much for providing this final
report for the Northwest Florida Chapter’s
2022 Community Outreach Grant.
We appreciate your detailed information
regarding the grant fund use in your report.
It was also great to see the photo/summaries
of the presentation of grant funds to the
representatives of Eglin AFB, Hurlburt
Field, and the Hurlburt Military & Family
Readiness Center – subsequently then
providing the commissary gift cards to those
who needed them most.
This information has been added to our
records, and we appreciate the continued
efforts and support that you and your
chapter members provide to those in the
military community each and every day.
We also passed along your kind message to
Amanda Centers, and know that she is looking
forward to the upcoming January 6th
presentation in Florida as well!
As a reminder, our 2023 Community Outreach
Grant application is currently open, and we
hope you will consider applying for a grant
before the application window closes on
February 28, 2023.
Please let us know if you have any
questions, and thank you again.
With thanks,
The MOAA Development Team
December
17: Participated
Participated in “Wreaths Across America” at
Beal Cemetery in Fort Walton Beach by
helping place holiday wreaths on Veterans’
gravesites; chapter members contributed $300
to the Choctawhatchee Chapter of the
Daughters of the American Revolution to
purchase 20 wreaths “In Memory of Deceased
Members and Spouses of the NWFMOA”. (See
Defender articles for December 2022 and
January 2023)
November 11:
Chapter members & spouses
participated in Veterans Day services at
local cemeteries; Lt Col Frank Roberts gave
the history of and recited “On Flanders
Field” at the Beal Cemetery service (See
Defender article for December 2022
November 8 and 10:
Distributed 255 commissary gift cards valued
at $6,375 to the First Sergeants
Associations at Hurlburt Field, Eglin AFB,
and the 7th Special Forces Group
(A), and to the Military Family Readiness
Centers at Hurlburt Field and Duke Field.
(See Defender articles for December 2022)
September 1:
NWFMOA assisted the Greater Fort
Walton Beach with publicizing the 75th
Anniversary of the United States Air Force
on September 13th at Northwest
Florida State College.
NWFMOA used its Defender newsletter
and ‘e-mail blasts’ to members plus
announcement of the event at the Chapter
luncheon on September 1st. (See Defender for
September 2022)
August 5:
Led by Chapter First Vice
President Fran Hendricks, NWFMOA had a
“Spotlight Table” display and made a stage
presentation at the monthly First Friday
Breakfast of the Greater Fort Walton Beach
Chamber of Commerce, attended by over 250
local business members. (See Defender
article for September 2022)
July
7:
NWFMOA Scholarship Fund presented a
$4,000 scholarship to University of West
Florida AFROTC Cadet Colonel Blayne Johnson.
This scholarship was in memory of Deceased
Chapter member Lt. Gen. Leroy Manor, USAF,
Ret. (See Defender article for August 2022)
May 30:
Chapter members & spouses
participated in Memorial Day services at
local cemeteries.
Fourteen Chapter members and spouses
had passed away during the previous 12
months. (See Defender for May 2022)
May 5:
Held the annual Scholarship Luncheon
at the Fort Walton Yacht Club, attended by
85 Chapter members, JROTC scholarship
awardees, JROTC instructors, 2022 MOAA Medal
awardees, 11 local high school appointees to
military academies, and Business Gold
scholarship donors. (See Defender article
for June 2022)
April 19:
Received notification that MOAA Foundation
has awarded a community Outreach Grant of
$4,000 to purchase commissary gift cards to
be distributed to local airman and soldier
families in ranks of E-4 and below. This is
the 5th consecutive year our
chapter has received a grant from the MOAA
Foundation. (See Defender article for May
2022)
April 18:
Several Chapter members
attended the “Final Goblet Ceremony” of the
Doolittle Raiders at Northwest Florida State
College, when the goblet of the last
survivor of the Doolittle Raiders, Col.
Richard Cole, was inverted in the display
case by his son and daughter.
April 2:
Six Chapter members staffed our NWFMOA
information booth at the 50th
anniversary celebration of the 919th
Special Operations Group at Duke Field. (See
Defender for May 2022)
March:
NWFMOA assisted the Greater Fort Walton
Beach Chamber in publicizing the “Final
Goblet Ceremony” of the Doolittle Raiders
via ‘email blasts’ to Chapter members.
2021 :
November 11:
Several chapter members and spouses
attended Veterans Day services at local
cemeteries.
Chapter member Lt Col Frank Rogers
recited the poem “On Flanders Field” at the
Beal Cemetery service in Fort Walton Beach.
(See Defender for December 2021)
October 11:
NWFMOA Scholarship Fund Board of Directors
established the Educational Support Grant
(ESG) Program to provide grants of up to
$500 per year to local JROTC units who
request financial aid for otherwise unfunded
needs. (See Defender for November 2021)
August 23:
Charlotte Eschmann, wife of chapter
member Col. Karl Eschmann, was inducted into
the Hall of Fame by the Okaloosa County
commission on the Status of Women in the
Military category. (See Defender for October
2021)
May 31:
Several Chapter members and spouses
participated in Memorial Day services at
local cemeteries.
May 6:
The NWFMOA Scholarship Fund held its
annual Scholarship Awards luncheon at the
American Legion hall in Fort Walton Beach.
Eight scholarships totaling $21,500
were awarded to local JROTC cadets.
In addition, the 2021 MOAA Medals
were presented to seven junior-year JROTC
cadets, and a senior at Choctawhatchee High
School was recognized for her appointment to
the USAF academy. (See Defenders for May
2022 and June 2022)
April 15:
NWFMOA was awarded two MOAA
Foundation Community Outreach Grants
totaling $3,750.
A grant for Community Outreach was
for $2,500 and a MOAA COVID Relief Grant was
for $1,250.
The two grants will be combined to
purchase commissary gift card for local
active duty junior enlisted families in
ranks E-4 and below.
This is the 4th
consecutive year our Chapter has received
grants from the MOAA Foundation. (See
Defender for May 2021 and October 2021)
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