GFWC-MFWC President's Special Project
Suzanne Byrd Poynor
|
 |
Our Theme
Our theme for the 2012-2014 administration is Honoring Past Gifts While Celebrating the Present... Freedom to Volunteer!President's Special Project -
Veterans and Military Emergency
Needs Fund
The United States has been blessed with many GIFTS. One of these is FREEDOM. Through the years, brave women and men have fought battles to ensure this FREEDOM. As GFWC-MFWC begins our President's Special Project, many of our clubwomen dedicate their volunteer efforts to HONORING PAST GIFTS as well as CELEBRATING THE PRESENT by participating in projects and programs to enhance the lives and memories of those who fought selflessly with great sacrifice to guarantee our FREEDOM.
My father, Victor Lewis Byrd, was one of these men. He was part of the Mighty Eighth Air Force in WWII. He flew as a waist gunner on a B-24 Liberator, out of the 466th Bomb Group at Attlebridge, England. On April 1, 1944, he and his crew were on a bombing mission to Brunswick. They had eleven people on board, ten crew members plus a photographer. As they flew low so the photographer could get some good photographs, they ran into some intense flak and were badly crippled. They were given the orders to bail out. My father was one of the three survivors who evaded capture by the Germans and was picked up by a French family who kept him hidden several months until the Allied armies reached the area and liberated him.
Many of our club members can share their own stories from wars, past and present, of loved ones who are HEROES of the United States of America. My father, Victor Lewis Byrd, always was my hero!
For the next two years, please join me as we participate in programs and projects that better the lives of our veterans and service men and women in our communities, state and internationally by CELEBRATING THE PRESENT, their accomplishments, with honor and appreciation. We, also, want to pay tribute to the legacy of PAST GIFTS. May God continue to bless the United States of America!
The 2012-2014 President's Special Project will honor our veterans and celebrate the bravery of those currently in military service for the United States of America. We will lend support to our Mississippi Veterans Homes in Jackson, Collins, Oxford, Kosciusko and Gulfport by conducting projects that let our veterans know how thankful we are for the sacrifices they made for our FREEDOM.
Our clubwomen will reach out in their communities to families of those who are currently serving in the military. To those who are away from their families, clubwomen will provide words of encouragement and care packages for them. We want to touch our veterans and military in our communities, state, national and international. Any project that benefits veterans or our active military will be included in the President's Special Project. An Emergency Need Fund for our Mississippi veterans and active military of our State will be established.
We thank these brave men and women for the freedom that we enjoy each day in the United States. These freedoms provide the foundation on which our GFWC-MFWC clubwomen have the choice to volunteer, FREEDOM TO VOLUNTEER! May God Bless America!
Suzanne Byrd Poynor
GFWC-MFWC President
2012-2014