Camp Minutes 2019

Col. Louis R Francine Camp # 7

Meeting Minutes

November 9, 2019

A very productive meeting of the Camp was held on Saturday, November 9, 2019, with 17 Brothers present. A number of items were brought up for the Camp’s consideration.

Minutes approved.

Moment of silence for former Brother Joe Treppicone.

Treasurers report Checking: $1,342.63 Benevolent Fund: $176.26 Total $1,528.89. PayPal account $ 30.05

Brother in distress/sick report: Brothers John Makos PDC, Fred Mossbrucker PDC and Cora Kenny.

Old Business:

In going through old minutes, we found a few committees that had no Brother on them. The following are the committees. In the case of some of the committees, the members will change upon the election of new Camp Officers.

Standing Committees

By-Laws Committee:

Frank Tomasello

Jeremy Lacey

Investigation on Application:

Camp Junior Vice Commander

Duane Conant PCC

David Hann PDC

Remembrance Day Committee

David Hann PDC

Benevolent Fund:

Camp Chaplin

Camp Treasurer

Camp Commander

Fund Raising Committee:

Bryan Sigmund

Paul Lader PCC

Scott Hann

Paul Tucci

Special Committee:

125th D.A. Russell Post #68 Rededication

Frank Tomasello

Fred Mossbrucker PDC

David Hann PDC.

The Commander’s award:

This award will be awarded will be given at the Commander’s discretion to any person or business that he wishes to recognize for outstanding service. The award will be in the form of a certificate.

Commander Tomasello expressed that he would like to see all Brothers write up a small biography on their ancestors that we could place on the website.

New Business:

Dues are now due for 2020. Dues are $30.00. Please make your check payable to Francine Camp # 7. You can bring your check to the next meeting or mail it to: Scott Hann 205, Vail Court, Mays Landing NJ 08330.

On Saturday, November 2, the Camp dedicated a “last Soldier” marker in honor of Private Samuel Morey, Company I, 13th Pennsylvania cavalry. Morey was the last Civil War veteran of Atlantic County. It was an outstanding ceremony. Commander Tomasello received a round of applause from the Camp for all of his hard work. Commander Tomasello will write a letter of thanks to the baker who made the cake for the event, certificate of appreciation will be given to Beck’s Band who provided the music and a donation of $50.00 to the Mays Landing Presbyterian Church use of the Fellowship Hall, the chairs used at the ceremony and for Rev. Ash offering the invocation

Final plans for Remembrance Day were discussed. Thursday night we have a tour by Ken Rich, Friday night we will meet a Hoss’s steakhouse for a Camp dinner. On both Friday and Saturday night the Camp will meet for a get together at the Best Western.

Since the meeting took place a few days before Veteran’s Day, the Camp recognized our Brothers who served in attendance, and we extend our thanks to all Camp Brothers who have served.

Just a reminder to please wear your Francine Camp shirts at all events. We stil have a number of Camp polo and tee shirts for sale.

Nominations were held for Camp Officers. The following were nominated and elected. The Officers will be installed at the next meeting.

Commander: Wayne Grant

Senior Vice Commander: Charlie Morgan

Junior Vice Commander Bryan Sigmund

Secretary David Hann PDC

Treasurer Scott Hann

The following are the events so far for next year. More events will be added as the year progresses

Saturday February 8, 2020: Camp meeting. 10:00 a.m., at the Atlantic County Library West, located at 451 South Egg Harbor Road in Hammonton. This meeting Officers will be installed at the February 2020 meeting. Dues will be collected at the meeting.

Saturday April 11, 2020: Camp meeting. 10:00 a.m., at the Atlantic County Library West, located at 451 South Egg Harbor Road in Hammonton. This will end dues collection for 2020.

Saturday May 9, 2020: Joint SUVCW/SCV ceremony at Finns Point National Cemetery. We will meet in the Finns Point parking lot at 10:00 AM.

Monday May 25, 2020. Memorial Day in Hammonton.

Saturday May 30, 2020 Traditional Memorial Day Service Greenmount Cemetery, Hammonton. 6:00 PM. Rain or Shine.

Saturday June 13, 2020. New Jersey Department Encampment (138th).Toms River, NJ

Saturday August 8, 2020: Camp meeting. 10:00 a.m., at the Atlantic County Library West, located at 451 South Egg Harbor Road in Hammonton. This begins the Commander’s challenge.

Saturday, September 26, 2020. 125th anniversary of the dedication of the DA Russell Post # 68, GAR monument located Greenmount Cemetery. We are going to start working on the commemoration of this event.

Sunday October 18, 2020. Batsto Country Living Fair. Set up time. 9:00 AM

Saturday November 14, 2020: Camp meeting. 10:00 a.m., at the Atlantic County Library West, located at 451 South Egg Harbor Road in Hammonton. This ends the Commander’s challenge.

With no further business the meeting was adjourned at 1:00 p.m., with the next meeting slated for Saturday February 8 , 2020, at 10:00 a.m., at the Atlantic County Library West, located at 451 South Egg Harbor Road in Hammonton.

Submitted in F, C & L,

Dave Hann PDC

Col. Louis R Francine Camp # 7

Meeting Minutes

August 3,2019

A very productive meeting of the Camp was held on Saturday, August 3, 2019, with 16 Brothers present. A number of items were brought up for the Camp’s consideration.

Minutes approved.

Treasurers report Checking: $735.26 Benevolent Fund: $176.26 Total $911.52

Brother in distress/sick report: Brothers David L. DeCasien, William Righter and Ted Rockelman

There was a moment of silence in honor of Past National Treasurer David Mc Reynolds.

Old Business: The joint Col. Francine SUVCW/Pvt. Pool Camp SCV, dinner at Fred and Ethel’s was a success. While the camp did not make any money on this it was a nice time and great camaraderie between the two organizations. At this dinner the Brothers of the Francine Camp got the chance to see the Lambert/Combs award that the camp received for recruiting the most new brothers. Past Department Commander Fred Mossbrucker, and Camp Commander Frank Tomasello both received the Kearny award for recruiting the most new brothers.

New Business: Department Junior Vice Commander approached the camp about helping with a cemetery cleaning project. The Lawnside Cemetery is in dire need of help. There are a number of graves that are unmarked in the cemeteries and need of a good clean up. There are a number of United States Colored Troops buried there. We will look into offering what assistance we can in getting the cemetery cleaned up.

On the subject the cemeteries the camp was mentioned in the Hammonton Gazette about the work that we did at Oak Grove Cemetery on Memorial Day weekend. We were also mentioned in the Oak Grove Cemetery newsletter.

This meeting starts the Commander’s Challenge which is the purchase of luminaries for the annual Gettysburg Remembrance Day Illumination at the Gettysburg National Cemetery. For those that have not witnessed it is a very impressive sight. The luminaries can be sponsored in honor of a family member, your Civil War ancestor, a veteran in your family and even a member of the Seventh New Jersey. The luminaries are $18.63 apiece and the monies raised helps the Gettysburg National Park. Please make your check payable to the Gettysburg foundation, indicate who you wish to have the luminary and honor of and please mail it to me at 440 Clark Drive, Hammonton, NJ 08037.

The camp approved to expenditures. One for $18.63 for a luminary in honor of Col. Louis R Francine, and the second for $55.00 for the last veteran marker that will be used for the ceremony honoring Samuel Morey the last Civil War veteran of Atlantic County.

September 28, 2020 will mark the 125th anniversary of the dedication of the DA Russell Post # 68, GAR monument located Greenmount Cemetery. We are going to start working on a commemoration of this event which has been slated for Saturday, September 26, 2020.

The genealogy program has been great but it seems that we are not getting the return as far as getting new brothers. We are going to try do something in a new direction such as building family trees for people at indoor events.

There was discussion of reviving the old “Grand Reviews” that we can do at the libraries. One thought was to have brothers with access to ancestry.com help people in finding a Civil War ancestor.

We are on the lookout for other fundraisers. Just a reminder that we still have the beautiful Francine Camp hat pins available for only five dollars each, and we still have tee shirts and polo shirts for sale. The tee shirts are $15.00 and polo shirts are $20.00. I know we have a number of Brothers who live out of state. If you would like a shirt, I could mail one to you for an additional $5.00 postage and handling. If interested please let me know.

Brian Sigmund showed the Camp a bass drum he had made. This will make a great addition in the parades that we march in and maybe eventually we could even have our own Francine camp fife and drum Corps.

On display at the meeting were the Francine camp jackets that we are having made. We would like to have an order ready by September 14. We need a minimum order of 5 jackets. The jackets are made in America and the embroidery is done locally. These jackets are custom order. Sizes small to extra-large are $140.00 Size is 2XL are $145.00. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to purchase one of these jackets. Any jackets ordered after the date will be subject to a shipping charge from the manufacturer. We would like to get these jackets in bulk so don’t miss out. If you have any questions please let me know. You can make your check payable to the camp and mail it to our treasurer please indicate size and if you want your name embroidered on the front. Please send your checks to Scott Hann 205, Vail Court, Mays Landing NJ 08330

The Camp now has a PayPal and Vemo account. We can now take credit cards. The only thing is that if you use a credit card there is a 2.9% + 30 cent fee if you use PayPal and a 3% charge if you use Vemo. The Camp will absorb this fee. However, if you have a Pay pal or Vemo account there is no charge.

We have a Women’s Auxiliary that is in desperate need of members. If you know of an interested female please bring her to any of our camp functions.. We have five women now in the auxiliary and it would be great to see this group grow.

Commander Tomasello reminded the Brothers that he would like to see more ancestor biographies on the website. Please write something up and send it to me.. Please take the time to write something up to honor your ancestor. We are also looking a creating a “virtual cemetery” on “Find a grave” to link all of our ancestors.

We have a very special event coming up on Saturday, November 2. The camp will be dedicating a marker in honor of Private Samuel Morey, Company I, 13th Pennsylvania cavalry. Morey was the last Civil War veteran of Atlantic County. We have a number of things to do as we want to make this a great event. We need all brothers on board with this, as your help will mean his success of this event. So far we have only a few brothers have stepped up to help with this event.. There are a number of areas where your assistance would be appreciated.

Sunday October 20, 2019: Country Living Fair Historic Batsto Village. Set up time 8:30. Event runs from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Saturday November 2, 2019 10:00 AM. Ceremony marking the last Civil War soldier in Atlantic County. It was Private Samuel Morey Company I, 13 Pennsylvania Cavalry. Private Morey is buried in Union Cemetery in Mays Landing. We will mark his grave as the last veteran from Atlantic County. He was the last surviving member of General Sewell Post 47. We plan to make this a nice event and will need all brothers turnout for this one as well was all members of our SVR unit. We are asking all Brothers that are not SVR members to please wear your camp polo shirt and dark pants.

Saturday November 9, 2019: Camp meeting. 10:00 a.m., at the Atlantic County Library West, located at 451 South Egg Harbor Road in Hammonton. This ends the Commander’s Annual Challenge. This meeting will also serve as nominations for Camp officers. If you are interested in running for an office please let us know. Officers will be installed at the February 2020 meeting.

While I know we are few months away from Remembrance Day in Gettysburg, we had some discussion about the event. We decide to change a couple of things the first being that we’re going to forgo the annual breakfast on Sunday. The reason is that many people plan to leave early and it was hard to get everybody together. This past year we all had dinner on Friday night at Hoss steakhouse and it was a great time. We had a private room and we really enjoyed ourselves. We thought it might be a nice way to kick off the weekend. We will get a consensus from the group on what time and how many would like to attend.

Another item that we are going to change is the annual ceremony at the 7th New Jersey’s monument. We are still having the event at 1 o’clock on Friday, and that will not change. However, we realize that sometimes it is a bit of a hassle as many people arrive on Friday to run back to their hotel room to change into their uniform to make it out to the ceremony. Therefore this year uniforms will be optional. Another reason for this is we have to remember that we are a descendant’s organization and not a reenacting group, plus it might give us a chance to show off our nice new Colonel Francine Camp jackets.

We also spoke about a few changes concerning the SVR.

One, for official Remembrance Day events, ONLY Membership medal, SVR medal and Unit Citation badge will permitted. No other form of "decoration" of any kind will be permitted. Our goal is to keep everyone UNIFORM. Any brother who does not wish to comply with this directive will not be permitted to march in the parade nor stand guard at the cemetery. No exceptions.

Capt. Mossbrucker. will be issuing orders on Friday and we need them to be followed. We get a lot of notice from the top brass of the SVR as well as fellow SUVCW brothers, so let’s keep the impression looking good. I also spoke to Bethany Yingling who handles the luminary program on Saturday night, and we are permanently on the Remembrance Day luminary honor guard roster. So each year we have the same timeslot, so like I said we are getting noticed and I am very proud to be a member of this SVR unit.

Good of the Order. Brother Chuck Gordinier brought in a reproduction tower Enfield musket and an original 1864 Allin musket which had been converted into a breech loader. We thank Brother Chuck for sharing them with the Camp.

With no further business the meeting was adjourned at 1:00 p.m., with the next meeting slated for Saturday November 9, 2019, at 10:00 a.m., at the Atlantic County Library West, located at 451 South Egg Harbor Road in Hammonton.

Submitted in F, C & L,

Dave Hann PDC

Camp Secretary

~

Col. Louis R Francine Camp # 7

Meeting Minutes

April 6, 2019

A very productive meeting of the Camp was held on Saturday, April 6, 2019, with 17 Brothers and1 guest present. A number of items were brought up for the Camp’s consideration.

Minutes approved.

Treasurers report Checking: $1,862.06 Benevolent Fund: $176.26 Total $2,038.32

Brother in distress/sick report: Brothers Dan Lewis is doing better. Please keep Brother John Kenny and Cora Kenny (daughter of PCC Shawn Kenny) in your thoughts and prayers. Condolences also to past Department Commander Clark: McCullough who recently lost his wife.

There was a moment of silence to commemorate the 157th anniversary of the battle of Shiloh.

Old Business:

The T-shirt contest is over for this year. The winners are Shawn Pratt and Wayne Grant. Congratulations Brothers! The T-shirt contest will start again on May 1 and will and on March 31. We came up with some rules and they are as follows. You can wear your Camp polo shirt, and the two categories are as follows. The first is a minimum of five pictures all in a different locations. The second is either the furthest or most unusual place. All pictures will be posted on Facebook. The winners will be announced at the April 2020 meeting. Winners receive a $15 gift card to the store of their choice.

Speaking of tee shirts will still have tee shirts and polo shirts for sale. The tee shirts are $15.00 and polo shirts are $20.00. I know we have a number of Brothers that live out of state. If you would like a shirt, I could mail one to you for an additional $5.00 postage and handling. If interested please let me know.

On display at the meeting were the Francine camp jackets that we are having made. They are absolutely beautiful you can see what they look like on the Facebook page and I’ve sent an email out with the pictures attached. We would like to have an order ready by April 30. The jackets are made in America and the embroidery is done locally. These jackets are custom order. Sizes small to extra-large are $140.00 Size is 2XL are $145.00. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to purchase one of these jackets. Any jackets ordered after the date will be subject to a shipping charge from the manufacturer. We would like to get these jackets in bulk so don’t miss out. If you have any questions please let me know. You can make your check payable to the camp and mail it to our treasurer please indicate size and if you want your name embroidered on the front. Please send your checks to Scott Hann 205, Vail Court, Mays Landing NJ 08330

We have set a date for the dinner meeting at Fred and Ethel’s restaurant in historic Smithville Village. The date is Tuesday, June 25 at 6:30 PM. There will be a set menu that everyone can order off of and the costs are anywhere from $17-$22. That includes tax and tip. We will have a program at the meeting. Wives are welcome to join us and we will have a small program rather than just a meeting. The food at Fred and Ethel’s is wonderful and I know that you will have an enjoyable time. We hope that you can attend and if you have any questions please let me know.

Commander Tomasello would like to know how many Brothers would be interested in a tour of Laurel Hill Cemetery, in Philadelphia. Laurel Hill holds the remains of a number of Civil War soldiers including our own Camp namesake Colonel Francine. The tour is $15.00 per person with all proceeds going to the cemetery.

The Francine Camp hat pins are in. They are fantastic and we will sell them for $5.00. Our thanks to Commander Tomasello.

The Camp now has a PayPal and Vemo account. We can now take credit cards. The only thing is that if you use a credit card there is a 2.9% + 30 cent fee if you use PayPal and a 3% charge if you use Vemo. The Camp will absorb this fee. However, if you have a Pay pal or Vemo account there is no charge.

We have a Women’s Auxiliary that is in desperate need of members. If you know of an interested female please bring her to any of our camp functions. We have five women now in the auxiliary and be great to see it grow.

Commander Tomasello reminded the Brothers that he would like to see more ancestor biographies on the website. Please write something up and send it to me.. Please take the time to write something up to honor your ancestor. We are also looking a creating a “virtual cemetery” on “Find a grave” to link all of our ancestors...

New Business:

We have a number of events that are coming up and we ask everybody to please let us know if you can make these events.

Saturday May 11, 2019: SUVCW/SCV Memorial Service Fins Point National Cemetery. 10:00 AM. Please meet at the Finns Point Cemetery parking lot at 9:45

Wednesday, May 15, 2019: 7:30 PM Hamilton Historical Society Speaker Series Buried Civil War Past Mays Landing Presbyterian Church 6001 Main Street Mays Landing, NJ. Speaker is our own Frank Tomasello.

Sunday May 19, 2019: Antique Bottle Show. Historic Batsto Village. Set up time 8:30. Event runs from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Saturday, May 25, 2019: 10 AM. Cleanup and flagging of Oak Grove Cemetery in Hammonton. The address is 500 North White Horse Pike Hammonton, NJ 08037. The cemetery is across from the old Ideal clothing store. Rain date is June 1. Please make sure that you wear old clothes as we will be getting dirty cleaning headstones.

Monday May 27, 2019: Memorial Day Parade Hammonton. We need to assemble at South Egg Harbor Road at 10:15 a.m. We can meet at the Hammonton Historical Society at 9:45. All SVR members in parade dress. All Camp Brothers in Camp polo shirts and khaki pants.

Thursday May 30, 2019: Traditional Memorial Day Program Greenmount Cemetery, Hammonton. Ceremony starts at 6:00 p.m. We need to assemble at the cemetery by 5:30. All SVR members in parade dress. All Camp Brothers in Camp polo shirts and khaki pants. Let’s have a good turnout for this.

Saturday, June 8, 2019 9 AM New Jersey Department Encampment. Toms River. We need delegates and if you are interested in attending please let me know and we can all car pool together. I will have more information shortly.

Saturday June 15, 2019: 10:00 AM Blessing of the Mullica River 4332 Pleasant Mills Road, Pleasant Mills, NJ. We need an honor guard for this event. It is at the old St. Mary’s Cemetery in Pleasant Mills and is very close to historic Batsto Village. There is one Civil War soldier buried in the cemetery and the event has a good turnout of anywhere from 75 to 100 people. It is local and we should support this event.

Saturday August 3, 2019: Camp meeting. 10:00 a.m., at the Atlantic County Library West, located at 451 South Egg Harbor Road in Hammonton. This begins the Commander’s Annual Challenge.

Sunday October 20, 2019: Country Living Fair Historic Batsto Village. Set up time 8:30. Event runs from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Saturday November 2, 2019 Ceremony marking the last Civil War soldier in Atlantic County.

It was Private Samuel Morey Company I, 13 Pennsylvania Cavalry. Private Morey is buried in Union Cemetery in Mays Landing. We will mark his grave as the last veteran from Atlantic County. He was the last surviving member of General Sewell Post 47. We plan to make this a nice event and will need all brothers turnout for this one as well was all members of our SVR unit.

Saturday November 9, 2019: Camp meeting. 10:00 a.m., at the Atlantic County Library West, located at 451 South Egg Harbor Road in Hammonton. This ends the Commander’s Annual Challenge.

While I know we are still several months away from Remembrance Day in Gettysburg, we had some discussion about the event. We decide to change a couple of things the first being that we’re going to forgo the annual breakfast on Sunday. The reason is that many people plan to leave early and it was hard to get everybody together. This past year we all had dinner on Friday night at Hoss steakhouse and it was a great time. We had a private room and we really enjoyed ourselves. We thought it might be a nice way to kick off the weekend. We will get a consensus from the group one what time and how many would like to attend.

Another item that we are going to change is the annual ceremony at the 7th New Jersey’s monument. We are still having the event at 1 o’clock on Friday, and that will not change. However, we realize that sometimes it is a bit of a hassle as many people arrive on Friday to run back to their hotel room to change into their uniform to make it out to the ceremony. Therefore this year uniforms will be optional. Another reason for this is we have to remember that we are a descendant’s organization and not a reenacting group, plus it might give us a chance to show off our nice new Colonel Francine Camp jackets.

We also spoke about a few changes concerning the SVR. One is for that weekend only wear your membership medal and your SVR medal. We want to keep everybody as uniformed as possible. Fred will be issuing orders on Friday and we need them to be followed. We get a lot of notice from the top brass of the SVR as well as fellow SUVCW brothers, so let’s keep the impression looking good. I also spoke to Bethany Yingling who handles the luminary program on Saturday night, and we are permanently on the Remembrance Day luminary honor guard roster. So each year we have the same timeslot, so like I said we are getting noticed and I am very proud to be a member of this SVR unit.

Speaking of the SVR there is a new unit commanders medal and a past unit commanders medal. I have purchased two of them and Capt. Fred Mossbrucker will wear the unit commanders medal and since I am the past unit commander I will be wearing the past unit commanders medal. These medals will take the place of our current SVR medals.

Good of the Order. Past Department Commander Fred Mossbrucker updated us on Bill HJR 59 which is a bill to make May G AR/SUVCW month the state of New Jersey. As of the preparation of these minutes it seems that the Bill is moving forward and we will keep you updated as soon as we find out.

Past Department Commander Fred Mossbrucker also updated us when the National Civil War Memorial that is planning to be built in Tanneytown, Maryland. The driving force behind this is Gary Casteel and the work he’s doing is absolutely beautiful. If you would like to see some of his work I suggest you visit his studio is located across from Cemetery Hill adjacent to the National Cemetery.

Past Camp Commander Paul Lader spoke about the Memorial Day program at Laurel Hill Cemetery. The event is scheduled for Sunday May 26.

One other item coincided with our meeting was it was 153rd anniversary of the founding of the Grand Army of the Republic.

There was no Patriotic Instructor’s report

With no further business the meeting was adjourned at 1:00 p.m., with the next meeting slated for Saturday August 3, 2019, at 10:00 a.m., at the Atlantic County Library West, located at 451 South Egg Harbor Road in Hammonton.

Submitted in F, C & L,

Dave Hann PDC

Camp Secretary

~

Col. Louis R Francine Camp # 7

Meeting Minutes

February 2, 2019

A very productive meeting of the Camp was held on Saturday, February 2, 2019, with 18 Brothers and 2 guests present. A number of items were brought up for the Camp’s consideration.

Minutes approved.

Treasurers report Checking: $1,844.19 Benevolent Fund: $176.26 Total $2,020.45

Bother in distress/sick report: Brothers Dan Lewis is doing better. Please keep Brother Bill Righter and John Kenny in your thoughts and prayers. The Camp send its condolences to the family of Paul Lader, who recently lost his Father-in-law and Brother Sam Squire on loss of his wife. Brothers you are in our thoughts and prayers.

Old Business: On the subject of the “Good Cemeterian” Brother Bryan Sigmund has been very busy raising funds towards the purchase of cleaning products. Through his efforts more than $300.00 has been raised. The Camp approved the purchase of five gallons of product. Brother Gordinier picked up the product to save us shipping charges. We now have a good supply to last us for a while

Commander Tomasello would like to know how many Brothers would be interested in a tour of Laurel Hill Cemetery, in Philadelphia. Laurel Hill holds the remains of a number of Civil War soldiers including our own Camp namesake Colonel Francine. The tour is $15.00 per person with all proceeds going to the cemetery.

The Gettysburg Bus trip is on! The cost is $65.00 per person and includes dinner at Picket’s buffet and a tour. One of the tour ideas is to walk the movements of the 7th New Jersey at the Battle. The date of the trip is Saturday March 16, 2019. We will leave from the Shoprite parking lot in Hammonton. We must sell out the bus to make this worthwhile. We will not hold seats without payment! If we cannot sell out the bus, there will be no trip. Please send your checks made payable to Col. Francine Camp # 7 to Scott Hann, 205 Vail Court, Mays Landing, and NJ 08330. So far the turnout is less than expected. If the trip does not sell out by March 2, it will be cancelled.

At the last meeting the Commander instituted a Camp tee shirt contest. We came up with some rules and they are as follows. You can wear your Camp polo shirt, and the two categories are as follows. The first is a minimum of five pictures all in a different location. The second is either the furthest or most unusual place. All pictures will be posted on Facebook. The winners will receive a $15.00 gift card to a place of their choice. The winners will be announced at the April meeting.

Speaking of tee shirts will still have tee shirts and polo shirts for sale. The tee shirts are $15.00 and polo shirts are $20.00. I know we have a number of Brothers that live out of state. If you would like a shirt, I could mail one to you for an additional $5.00 postage and handling. If interested please let me know.

New Business: The Francine Camp hat pins are in. They are fantastic and we will sell them for $5.00. Our thanks to Commander Tomasello.

The Camp now has a PayPal and Vemo account. We can now take credit cards. The only thing is that if you use a credit card there is a 2.9% + 30 cent fee if you use PayPal and a 3% charge if you use Vemo. The Camp will absorb this fee. However, if you have a Pay pal or Vemo account there is no charge.

The Camp is looking into having Camp jackets made. It will have the Camp name on the back along with the SUVCW logo. We will set up a date to go down to Eagle Embroidery and look at jackets.

We have a Women’s Auxiliary that is in desperate need of members. If you know of an interested female please bring her to the next meeting in April!

Commander Tomasello reminded the Brothers that he would like to see more ancestor biographies on the website. Please write something up and send it to me. He has set a date of March 15. Please take the time to write something up to honor your ancestor. We are also looking a creating a “virtual cemetery” on “Find a grave” to link all of our ancestors...

We are looking at setting up a dinner at Fred and Ethel’s Restaurant in Smithville. This will take place in the summer and rather than a meeting we will have a guest speaker.

We are now collecting dues for 2019. Dues are $30.00. Please send your checks made payable to Col. Francine Camp # 7 to Scott Hann, 205 Vail Court, Mays Landing NJ 08330. Dues must be paid by no later than April 6 or you will be dropped.

The Camp approved an expenditure of $100.00 for 10 frames for the framed ancestor’s certificate project by Bryan Sigmund.

Brother Bryan suggested that when we reply to e-mails that we just reply to the person sending them rather than replying to all.

Another fund raising idea by Brother Bryan is a camping trip in Chatsworth. Please see the website for details.

Commander Tomasello is looking to have pens made up for the Camp that we could use as a give a way.

Last soldier project. Commander Tomasello spoke about the last Civil War Veteran from Atlantic County. It was Private Samuel Morey Company I, 13 Pennsylvania Cavalry. Private Morey is buried in Union Cemetery in Mays Landing. We look to mark his grave as the last veteran from Atlantic County It is possible that he was the last surviving member of the New Jersey Department GAR.

There was no Patriotic Instructors report.

Good of the Order. Commander Tomasello presented Bryan Sigmund with the Commander’s Certificate for all of his work on behalf of the Camp. Congratulations Brother Bryan!

Saturday March 16, 2019: Gettysburg bus trip. 7:00 AM. We will leave from the Shoprite parking lot in Hammonton. Seats are on a first come first paid basis. Cost is $65.00 per person.

Saturday April 6, 2019: Camp meeting. 10:00 a.m., at the Atlantic County Library West, located at 451 South Egg Harbor Road in Hammonton. This ends the collection of dues for 2019.

Saturday May 4, 2019: SUVCW/SCV Memorial Service Fins Point National Cemetery. 10:00 AM. Please meet at the Finns Point Cemetery parking lot at 9:45

Monday May 27, 2019: Memorial Day Parade Hammonton. We need to assemble at South Egg Harbor Road at 10:15 a.m. We can meet at the Hammonton Historical Society at 9:45. All SVR members in parade dress. All Camp Brothers in Camp polo shirts and khaki pants.

Wednesday May 30, 2019: Traditional Memorial Day Program Greenmount Cemetery, Hammonton. Ceremony starts at 6:00 p.m. We need to assemble at the cemetery by 5:30. All SVR members in parade dress. All Camp Brothers in Camp polo shirts and khaki pants. Let’s have a good turnout for this.

Saturday June 8, 2019: Annual New Jersey SUVCW Department Encampment, Toms River. More details to follow.

Saturday August 6, 2019: Camp meeting. 10:00 a.m., at the Atlantic County Library West, located at 451 South Egg Harbor Road in Hammonton. This begins the Commander’s Annual Challenge.

Sunday October 20, 2019: Country Living Fair Historic Batsto Village. Set up time 8:30. Event runs from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM

Saturday November 2, 2019: Camp meeting. 10:00 a.m., at the Atlantic County Library West, located at 451 South Egg Harbor Road in Hammonton. This ends the Commander’s Annual Challenge.

With no further business the meeting was adjourned at 1:00 p.m., with the next meeting slated for Saturday April 6, 2019, at 10:00 a.m., at the Atlantic County Library West, located at 451 South Egg Harbor Road in Hammonton.

Submitted in F, C & L,

Dave Hann PDC

Camp Secretary