The SAME San Antonio Post and its members continue to support the SAME Strategic Plan—from supporting wounded warriors to awarding scholarships to recognizing the dedication and commitment of its volunteers.
A round-up of recent activities during 2016 exemplifies the efforts of the Post and its members to achieve the Society’s goals and objectives.
Providing Wounded Warrior Support
On Nov. 3, 2016, a total of 12 volunteers from the San Antonio Post—Clayton Perry, F.SAME, Kay Grosinski, Kisha James, Dick Kochanek, F.SAME, Ashley Martinez, Patrice Melancon, F.SAME, Mark Mikhail, Lisa Rabinowitz, Lauren Sampere, Jeff White, Pierce White and David Yang, F.SAME—supported the Warrior and Family Support Center (WFSC) Bingo Night at the San Antonio Military Medical Center.
The WFSC provides coordinated services to patients, next-of-kin and extended family members with the primary focus on wounded warriors. The center provides a friendly, comfortable environment in which to take a break, watch a movie on big-screen TVs, play video games, check email or use the internet, select a book or magazine to read, make a phone call, enjoy a meal or just grab a cup of coffee.
The San Antonio Post volunteers helped the caterer, also sponsored by the Post, unload the a meal of lasagna, green beans, bread sticks and salads with all the fixings, set up for the evening meal and served the wounded warriors and their families. The Post volunteers served over 100 meals and packed up the leftovers for their lunch the next day. As always with these wounded warrior activities, the volunteers had a great time supporting the event and attendees.
Installing Officers & Awarding Scholarships
At its Holiday Celebration Gala on Dec. 2, 2016, the San Antonio Post installed its new officers for 2017 and presented the six individual college scholarships to its named scholarship winners.
Randy Brown, Executive Director of the Air Force Civil Engineer Center, and Deputy TEXOMA RVP Patrice Melancon, F.SAME, officially installed the 2017 new officers: Amy Shirlberg (Vice President/2018 President-Elect), Marie Masbad (Secretary), Sam Hutchins (Treasurer), Eric Wilbur (Director of Professional Growth) and Bonnie Hopke (President)
Post Scholarship Director Lindsey Maddox also organized the presentation of the named scholarships to the six winners during the Holiday. Each of the winners received a $5,000 check with their scholarship.
The named scholarship winners were:
- Melissa Glass, Sophomore, Texas A&M, Biomedical Engineering, GPA 4.0 – General Edgar Jadwin Scholarship
- Glen Colby, Senior, Texas A&M, Aerospace Engineering, GPA 3.54 – Colonel William A. “Bill” Myers Scholarship
- Ryan Carr, Junior, University of Texas, Math, GPA 3.33 – Brigadier General Hubert O. “Hub” Johnson Scholarship
- Travis Kotzur, Senior, University of Texas-San Antonio, Biomedical Engineering, GPA 3.98 – Larry Martin Small Business Scholarship –
- Daniel Guerrero, Senior, University of Texas, Civil Engineering, GPA 3.16 – Thomas C. Russell Scholarship
- Brandon Towlson, Sophomore, University of Texas, Mechanical Engineering, GPA 3.89 – John Hill Carruth Scholarship
Although not presented at the event, four other college students will also be receiving Post General Scholarships for a total of $5,000 more – Sean Whitney, Senior, Texas A&M, Aerospace Engineering; Allen Vorholt, Junior, Texas A&M Galveston, Marine Engineering; Sterling Burdine, Senior, University of Texas, Civil Engineering; and Destinee Garcia, Sophomore, University of Texas.
The San Antonio Post’s 2016 Holiday Celebration Gala was a great evening of camaraderie to ring in the holiday season and to honor some well deserving members and outstanding students.
Post Members Receive RVP Medals
At the San Antonio Post’s Sept. 13, meeting three outstanding members received 2016 TEXOMA RVP medals for their dedication and service to Society, Region and Post: Young Member Marie Masbad, Frank Corey and John Enyeart. The awards were presented by Past TEXOMA RVP, Glen Turney F.SAME (filling in for Steve Houser TEXOMA RVP) and Post President Steven Holt.
Marie Masbad, was the Post’s Young Member of the Year in 2015 and has served as the Post’s Assistant Secretary, Secretary, Leadership Lab Social Director and on the Small Business, Education & Mentoring Fund Golf Tournament and Holiday Celebration Committees since becoming a SAME member. She was also one of the SAME Young Members sponsored to the Emerging Leaders Alliance Conference in 2015. Marie was re-elected this year to serve as the Post Secretary for 2017 and continues to serve on the Post Committees.
Frank Corey is the Post’s Director of Sustaining Members, a Post Leadership Lab graduate, a Past Leadership Lab Director and serves as the chair of the Leadership Lab Advisory Council. He has been the key to the Post’s winning of the membership streamer over the years and in 2015 helped the Post achieve the largest overall membership gain in the Society. He serves as one of the senior leaders that has helped mentor the Post’s Leadership Lab students over the past five classes.
John Enyeart has served as the Post’s Readiness Director for the last five years. His efforts have helped the Post earn the Emergency Preparedness and Infrastructure Resilience Streamer with distinction repeatedly over the past years. He also implemented the concept of integrating a Post Readiness Workshop with one of our regular Post meetings to provide knowledge about readiness/resilience issues to a maximum number of Post members. John also organized Post tours of the Bexar County/City of San Antonio Emergency Operations Center, Texas Sustainable Energy Research Institute and San Antonio Water System Aquifer Storage and Recovery and Desalinization Facility to further enhance Post members awareness of local emergency preparedness processes and energy resilience.
The dedication of these three outstanding Post members makes them deserving of the RVP Medal recognition.
Post Member to be Deputy RVP
San Antonio Post Member Col. Patrice Melancon, F.SAME, USAF, a past San Antonio Post Board member and President, has been selected by TEXOMA Regional Vice President Steve Houser to serve as the Deputy TEXOMA RVP. She will then replace Steve as the RVP after the 2017 JETC in May 2017.
Patrice also is a colonel in the Air Force Reserves, and, as announced on Nov. 17 by Maj. Gen. Timothy Green, USAF, Air Force Director of Civil Engineers, she has been nominated for promotion to brigadier general. In her military role, she serves as Mobilization Assistant to Gen. Green at Air Force Headquarters in Washington, D.C.
Patrice supports the director in installation support functions at 166 Air Force bases worldwide with an annual budget of more than $11 billion. She also supports organizing, training and equipping the 52,000-person engineering force for planning, development, construction, maintenance, utilities and the environmental quality of Air Force bases worldwide valued at more than $251 billion. This support also includes services for housing, fire protection, aircraft crash and rescue, explosive ordnance disposal and disaster preparedness.
Patrice served as a Senior Project Manager and Engineer with CDM Smith for 15 years, overseeing projects for various federal clients/programs including the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Army, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program. She now serves as the Watershed Engineering Department Manager for the San Antonio River Authority where she leads a team of 25 to protect and enhance the creeks and rivers of the San Antonio River basin
Patrice is just another example of the many outstanding members that the San Antonio Post is blessed with.
(Contributed by Dick Kochanek, F.SAME, San Antonio Post)
