Attendees:Jason Kaatz, Hannah Deutch, Steve Zeitz, Bill Singer, Jerry Farris, Monte Mayer, Maxwell Colon, Jerry Burns, Mike London, Ed Goldwasser, Warren Dolny, Sheldon Ohren, NMI Pres Norman Rosenshein, NC Allen Falk, Sid Wakser, Alan Cornblatt, Mrs. Bailor
Staff: NED Herb Rosenbleeth, DOO Larry Richardson, Nikki Salzman
Subject:Visions of JWV in 2015
- Where will we be 3 years from now?
- We’re still going to be a top national veterans organization
- We’ll have smaller membership and fewer local Posts
- We need to make more efforts to spread ourselves around the country/have more of a presence in more states
- We may need to redefine what it means to be a Department
- We may need to change how many people are needed to make a Department
- We need to get grants or benefactors to get more funds
- We need to get more engaged with local ROTC programs
- We need to invest money and put out ads in publications that are appealing to veterans –Army Times, etc.
- We need closer ties with military bases – that’s our future, we’ll find new members there
- Remember: JWV is free for in-service members
- Younger people do not want to go to meetings and conventions
- We need to rely more on the internet to connect with them
- The internet is the best way to introduce our organization to younger people
- We need to get younger people to be active and into positions of leadership
- If young people see other young people in leadership roles, it will get more of them to join
- It’s hard to get them to run for an office because they feel like they’re insulting their elders
- We have to ask them to step up and let them know that we want them to be a part of running this organization
- Many of the Posts or other echelons have commanders that have been in charge for too long
- Have to get people to relinquish their control – getting young people involved in leadership will keep them in our organization
- There are three main points that we should use in appealing to potential members – people should be able to relate to at least one point if not all three
- Veterans
- Israel
- Anti-Semitism
- We need to push for more patron members
- They give us income
- Can give us fresh ideas
- We need more exposure in our communities
- Need to go back to being vocal advocates against anti-Semitism
- People are more likely to be involved if they know that we’re out there doing something
- We need to be involved in events locally
- Wear our hats, our jackets, etc
- The more proud we are, the more interested people will be in us
- Because of the age profile of our organization, we could end up losing almost half of our current membership
- We need to figure out how to operate in a different way with our money
- We need to bequeath some money in our wills to the museum and JWV
- We need to consider doing an official training for our future leaders – more than we currently do – something similar to what VFW currently does.
- We need to have the next generation of leadership ready for the transition of leadership that will come as the WWII generation passes away
- Just having our new leaders read the manual is not enough
- We do a lot of work with sending packages overseas and working with the service academies
- We need to make connections with more people in the upper ranks of the military – the Jewish Generals, Admirals, etc
