January 2022 President’s Report

January 21, 2022

President Report

As we begin the New Year, we will be moving forward to establish a permanent location to do business and continue to promote the rich military history of New Jersey and the surrounding region. It is anticipated that there will be a demand to participate in several events with the Mobile Museum. This will require significant resources to effectively manage all our established programs. I encourage all our membership to participate when there is a call for participation.

Bryan Branson continues to manage the Mobile Museum in an outstanding fashion. During the winter months he has arranged to relocate the Mini Mo allowing an electrical connection to support two heaters providing heat to protect the video screens. He also has a preventive maintenance program to ensure the trailer can be safely deployed. Bryan will cover more on the Mobile Museum at today’s meeting.

There has been a significant amount of activity occurring at the Lawrence House. Roy Plummer has assumed the role of Manger of the facility. He has obtained display cases and conducted work parties to prepare for a grand opening in the spring. Roy will provide a full report at today’s meeting.

We have established a Finance Committee to effectively manage the finances of the organization. The committee members are Bryan Branson, Joanne Tilghman, Don Cammus, Roy Plummer, Mick Shanklin, Sandy Conville and Robert Dutko. The committee will be responsible to establish an operating budget, monitor Income and Expenses utilizing a new software program, file the Tax Return for the previous year and manage the PayPal and Facebook monetary programs.

We are still investigating programs and automatic renewals that were setup by our previous Treasurer Oren Carrol. Bob Vonbargen has a complete file that he has that we can review to determine actions that were previously established.

Today we will be meeting at the Town and Country Diner, thanks to Bryan Branson for making the arrangements. It will also be available as a Zoom meeting for those individuals who cannot attend in person. There will be a considerable number of items for discussion as we plan to move forward in 2022.

I want to thank the Marc Iroff, Roy Plummer, and Bob Vonbargen for continuing to effectively manage the Armed Forces Heritage Museum along with all the committee chairman and members who are supporting the goals of the organization. Today’s meeting will generate several action items for the coming months preparing us to effectively operate.

Respectfully Submitted,

Robert S. Dutko, Sr.

AFHM President