SEPTEMBER 3, 2008
Hi Lone Star parents,
As we at the Womack house are getting ready to share Parents weekend with our daughter, Trayce, I want to take
this opportunity to let you know what our Lone Star parents association has accomplished this past year, what we
have planned for parents weekend, and what goals we set for this next year.
With your help, here is what we have done. We have most of our Texas parents in our directory. We were able to
raise a little money last year (mostly through our “Coastie Cadets” shopping links at www.nummanfunds.com ).
Approximately a dozen and a half families were able to attend the Dallas and Houston area Holiday Balls with their
cadets. All of the cadets from Texas received a small cookie package during the “Dark Ages” in February, and
Swabs received a relief package during 2nd week of Swab summer. On June 14th, fifty-two of us gathered for tours,
lunch, and boat rides at Coast Guard Station, Galveston to welcome our new cadets (Class of 2012) and preps.
There is a 3+ minute video of the event on our Lone Star chapter website: www.uscgatxparents.org.
In activating our new Parents association last fall, the primary goals we set for our first year were: to support each
other and lay the foundation for providing tangible support for our cadets; to raise our level of participation in local
holiday balls; and to provide information and some kind of Welcome Aboard event for our new cadets and preps. I
am pleased to report that we accomplished all of those goals, and some of them with outstanding success! Thank
you for being a part of our association.
We are now looking to the future, and to building on the groundwork that has been laid. We particularly want to get
up and running to provide actual support to our cadets and to raise the funds we need to actively show that support.
We also need to get more members of our group to take active roles in the club, as Class reps to the Board, as
committee chairs, and/or as project chairs, so we can grow strong for the future and provide more ways to improve
our cadets’ academy experiences.
Our goals for this coming year are:
1. Good participation at the general membership meeting on Parent Weekend, as per our bylaws.
2. Adding 4 Class Rep positions to the board . Class Reps will act as liaison between the cadets and the
association. Some responsibilities of this position might include: letting us know of any special needs for that class;
gathering items for quarterly newletter; recruiting volunteers for projects; and making sure that we are not overlooking
any Texas cadet (or prep) when we send out invitations or care packages.
3. Instituting a quarterly newsletter.
4. Fundraising through sales at our Parents’ Weekend table and other times through our websites.
5. Being able to give gifts from the association to each graduating Firstie.
6. Sending care packages to each Texas cadet (and preps) during the “dark ages” (usually February around
Valentine’s Day) and during final exams each semester.
7. Encouraging more participation with the Holiday balls in both Houston and Dallas.
8. Instituting dues to help cover the expenses associated with accomplishing the above agenda.
9. Having group identification, such as a t-shirt, to promote pride and recognition that we are supporting our
cadets (See the separate email with t-shirt ordering information)
According to our By-Laws, officers serve terms from June 1 – May 31 and each of the current officers on the
Executive Board will continue in our positions through May 31. However, the Board has voted to add 4 new Board
positions for the Class Reps starting this fall, and by next spring we will need one or more new officers. Please
decide how you can serve our group: Class Rep to the Board, committee chair, project coordinator, or “Worker Bee”
volunteering a few hours – manning our Chapter table during Parents Weekend; putting together goodie bags for Pre-
Exam or Dark days mailings; helping with decorations or soliciting a few donations for the Holiday Balls. If there is
some other capacity in which you would like to serve, please let anyone of the current board know.
Here is how we plan to accomplish the above.
1. EVERYBODY: Come to Annual Parents Weekend general membership meeting , unless you can’t come to
New London that weekend (but your cadet is also invited – we’ll have food and drinks) or unless it conflicts with your
cadet’s activities that weekend;
2. Recruit volunteers from 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 for Class Rep , committee chairs, project chairs;
3. Have Class reps coordinate care package & Ball invitation mailings, and solicit newsletter items;
4. Have a more active Chapter table in Leamy for Parents weekend, where we will sell bumper stickers, face
tattoos this year (as well as the spirit beads that had so many takers last year). We need some volunteers for 1-2
hour time slots at the table on Friday and Saturday.
5. Plan and conduct fundraising activities in order to provide nice goodie bags (three times a year) and to give a
gift in May to each graduating Firstie.
6. Please consider how you can help with either of the balls, even if you cannot personally attend. Contact
Nicole Merritt if you can help with the Houston area ball. Contact Catherine or myself if you can help with the Dallas
area ball (contact info on the website: www.uscgatxparents.org )
7. We have to institute dues. Our Board members gladly underwrote our activities the first year, but we need
dues in order to guarantee our ability to provide even minimum support activities (our website, a goodie bag for every
Texas cadet, and a Welcome Aboard event for our incoming families). We hope that each family will see the goals we
have, and the benefit we can bring to our cadets, and will participate at one of the following membership levels:
$25.00 Sponsor; $50.00 Bronze Sponsor;
$75.00 Silver Sponsor; $100.00 Gold sponsor.
Each of our 4 officers have committed to the Gold level membership to show our commitment to our Lone Star
Chapter. Please carefully consider what level you can afford. All levels are important and help us to provide some
special support to our Texas cadets
8. You will receive an order form in today’s email for a custom designed , low cost, Chapter T-Shirt.
We are excited about the year to come. We hope that you too will catch our excitement about making this year a
great one, in true Texas fashion. Please join us in supporting our cadets and the Coast Guard this year.
With that in mind, let me encourage you to be sure to join the national Parent Association. While we are directly
supporting our cadets, the CGAPA is supporting the Corp of Cadets by providing the transportation / liberty vans, big
items for company day rooms, items for teams and clubs that are not provided for by the academy. And of course
there are the list-serves where you can join, ask questions, and get some great advice.
We will be posting this letter, links to a membership form, a link for the national Association wepage, and other
important information we want you to be able to access, on our website- www.uscgaTXparents.org Please be sure to
check there every now and then for new items of interest. We would love pictures to post there from our membership
too. If you have ideas on how we can make the website better let us know. If you have ideas on how we can be a
better association please let us know that also.
As I close, I want to first thank Catherine, Nicole, and Maria for all their hard work this past year. I look forward to our
working together again this coming year. I also want to thank each of you for sharing in the success we have had so
far, and I look forward to what we can do together this next year.
See you parent weekend!
In Your Service,
Angel Womack, President