During the AARP Chapter 1100 Oct. 11 potluck lunch and meeting, Russ Miller, assistant national vice commandant, Marine Corps League, Mountain Division, presented an informative program about the history of the famous Navaho Code Talkers and how they used their native language to effectively communicate tactical military information in the WW II Pacific Theatre. The enemy was never able to ìdecodeî their language or understand the tactics they were discussing over the radio. †The result was that the Navaho Code Talkers put U.S. ground forces at an advantage in the Pacific campaigns.AARP Colorado awardsAfter the chapter meeting, 17 members traveled to the Denver Botanic Gardens for the 2017 AARP Colorado Awards luncheon. Chapter 1100 received the Gold Cup, the award for recognition as the Platinum Chapter for 2017. The cup is awarded annually to the best chapter in Colorado for community service; this is the ninth consecutive year Chapter 1100 has received the cup.††††††††Several individuals in Chapter 1100 also received awards for their outstanding service. The following members received a Community Service Award for service over many years: Charles and Shirley Karlstrum for organizing and participating in many chapter community service projects; Ray and Linda Rozak for serving individually as leaders of many projects that benefited the community; Don Dinwoodie for tirelessly working on chapter projects as well as being active in several community charitable organizations.††††††† †Don and Helen Von Gunden received the AARP Program/Strategic Priority Award for working with the chapter directly and the public indirectly to ensure that the chapter operates efficiently each year.††††††††Two other Black Forest organizations were cited for their support to AARP for community service activities in the Colorado Springs area.†Cindy Richardson received the Business Award for Chapter and AARP support as the editor of the Black Forest News & Palmer Divide Pioneer newspaper.††††††††The Black Forest Lutheran Church received the Community Partner Award for co-hosting the monthly senior social with AARP Chapter 1100, plus many other valuable community initiatives during the past year.Chapter service eventsIn September, Chapter 1100 supported the AARP Colorado-sponsored Neighborhood Walks in downtown Colorado Springs. Chapter volunteers provided administrative assistance to AARP Colorado for the Walksí three-day event.On Oct. 7, 10 Chapter 1100 volunteers participated in the Gazette Senior Life Expo at the Antlers Hotel by providing better living literature and information applicable to all ages.AARP Chapter 1100 volunteers have assisted in many community service activities throughout the years: helping move nursing home residents; conducting food drives, providing Christmas and Easter baskets for children, collecting box tops for education and soda pop tops for the McDonald House; volunteering at local schools; helping clean up and reforest after the Waldo Canyon and Black Forest fires; helping those fire victims move into new residences; and hosting a yearly document-shredding event for nine years.†The shredding objective is to ìFight Fraud, Shred Instead,î and the 2017 event shed†and recycled 15,800 pounds of paper.†The free-will donations yielded 610 pounds of non-perishable food and $1,123 in cash ó all donated to a local food bank.Chapter 1100 is the only AARP chapter in the greater Colorado Springs area. Established 45 years ago, the 60-member chapter meets at noon the second Wednesday of the month. The chapter motto is îTo Serve not to be Servedî ó membership is open to all ages.†The next chapter meeting is Nov. 8 at the Black Forest Lutheran Church, 12455 Black Forest Road. The program topic will be ìHealthy Eating over the Holidays.î†Visit the website at https://aarpchapter1100blackforest.weebly.com or call Chuck at 303-807-6933 or Stan at 719-596-6787.
