On October 12, as part of “Military Mondays” at SUNY Brockport’s Student Union, several dozen students sent an estimated 200 letters to U.S. Congressional Representatives and U.S. Senators, urging action on current legislation affecting benefits for veterans and their families. This teaching/learning civic event was led by the Genesse Valley Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America (GVC MOAA), a non-partisan, non-profit Veteran Service Organization (VSO) whose primary mission is to preserve and protect earned benefits for all members of the uniformed services and their families.
Facilitated by GVC MOAA’s Colonel Tim Vaughan (U.S. Air Force, Retired) and Commander Keith Harris (U.S. Navy, Retired), interested students were guided to the MOAA’s Legislative Action Center (moaa.quorum.us), a website that allows anyone, veteran or otherwise, to easily submit letters to their two U.S. Senators and U.S. Representative advocating passage of current legislation before Congress that directly affects benefits for veterans. After entering identifying information, the website automatically identifies the user’s Congressional team, provides information on each veteran-related bill before Congress, and generates a sample letter to send. The user can modify the content as they wish and then electronically submit the letter. Previous users of MOAA’s Legislative Action Center report that most submitted letters garner a response from Representatives and Senators.
Colonel Vaughan summarized the event: “Our original goal was to provide information and a computer if the students wanted to submit a letter right away. We were ready to spike the football if just one letter was submitted during the event. The actual response was overwhelmingly positive, and we are grateful to the many students who participated, most of whom submitted a letter to Congress for the first time in their lives.” Commander Harris added, “Virtually every student directly knew a veteran, whether it be a parent, a sibling, a relative, or a friend. It was a true affirmation that there appears to be no generation gap in communications when it comes to taking care of our veterans.”
Active Duty or formerly served U.S. Military Officers, or Warrant Officers, wanting to learn more about GVC MOAA and MOAA’s Legislative Advocacy should contact Colonel Vaughan at tvaughan@gvcmoaa.org. VSOs seeking to participate in SUNY Brockport’s Military Monday should contact the Coordinator of Veterans Programs, Kari Pardun, at kpardun@brockport.edu.
Provided information and photo.
Photo: Colonel Tim Vaughan (U.S. Air Force, Retired) assists a SUNY Brockport student in using MOAA’s Legislative Action Center (moaa.quorum.us), a website that allows anyone, veteran or otherwise, to submit a letter to their two U.S. Senators and their U.S. Representative to advocate for legislation before Congress affecting benefits for veterans and their families.
