Northwestern Lehigh Veterans Memorial Committee

7911 Kings Highway      New Tripoli, PA 18066

610-298-2645

Meeting Minutes – March 18, 2023

Present: Steve Bachman, Donald Christ, Willard Dellicker, William Mantz, Nancy Zellner.

• Donald Christ called the meeting to order 9:10 AM at the Lynn Twp. Office.

1. 1. TREASURER’S REPORT:

• A Treasurers report was not available. The Memorial Account Balance as of February 3, 2023 is $37,008.53.

2. MINUTES:

• February 25, 2023 minutes were approved. Motion by W. Mantz, 2^nd by N. Zellner

3. WEBSITE:

• The alphabetical Master List of 2584 names including the 100 adds for May 2023, and veterans’ service information and experiences has been updated on the website.
• The “Welcome” message on the kiosk will be modified to include a second QR code that can connect users to the list of veterans mentioned above, from the memorial site using smart phones.
• The home page opens with an announcement about the 2^nd Annual Memorial Day program.
• Donations Tab was changed to state that the memorial cost was fully paid and donations are still needed for maintenance, improvements and adding future veteran’s names.

4. MEMORIAL DAY DISCUSSION AND ASSIGNMENTS:

• The Memorial Day Program draft was discussed. The following shows open items and assignments:
  1. Jerdon: Recruit a speaker to represent the Coast Guard, including bio for the program.
  2. Christ: arrange for a sound system, table for information tent, Fire Police, Porta-Potties, Boy Scout flag raisers.
  3. Dellicker: Recruit Chaplains for Invocation and Benediction, contact school for music selections and Taps. Get bios for program from Troy Christman and Nolan Hernandez. Showed the draft flier the Memorial Day Program to be placed in the NWPress in mid-May.
  4. Mantz: set up a trailer for the stage.
  5. Bachman: Food Trucks, staff information tent.
  6. Bachman: Military vehicles for ststic display.
  7. Keller: finalize the program booklet for printing by May 1.
  8. Not assigned, need help: solicit short bios for the program from Sara Smith and Chad Butters.
  9. OPEN ITEM, Committee discussed how to recognize the 100 new names in the program. Consensus was to not read each name, but to make a general statement about where names were added, they are listed in the program, and the committee will continue to engrave veterans’ names in the spring of every year. Need to finalize this item.
  10. IMPORTANT TARGET DATES:

NLT April 21 –  Finalize program details including names of all participants.

NLT April 28 – Submit bios for speakers to Dave.

NLT May   1  –  Provide the final program document to printer.

NLT May 24  –  Copy of remarks and speeches from all program participants.

5. DISCUSSION:

• A new kiosk message was taken to the printer yesterday. It mentions 100 names were engraved on the memorial since the 2022 dedication.  It has a second QR Code linked to Veterans’ name, rank, branch of service and experiences for visitors to access on smart phones.  Explains MIA and KIA symbols next to veterans names.  The printer was asked to put a different background on the message poster so returning visitors notice it was changed.
• With the revised layout for placing the 100 new names, the memorial now has 226 open spaces to add new names in the future throughout the granite panels.
• Eddie Sawyer added mulch to the memorial perimeter.
• Chris Brown will draw up some design concepts for the committee to review for expansion of granite panels in the future.

6. NEXT MEETING:

• April 22, 2023, 9:00AM at the Lynn Twp Office

7. ADJOURN:

• 9:50AM, W. Mantz motion, N. Zellner 2^nd.