National Organization
Message From Association Past President

Bob Pray, CAPT USCG-Ret. (Chris ’01)
October 26, 2000

On 15 September the Executive Council of the National Parent’s Association elected me to be the new president for the coming academic year. My management team includes:

V.P. - Cliff Meeks (Corey ’02)
Treasurer - Denise LaRue (Liam ‘00)
Corresponding Secretary - Henk LaBrie (Henry ’03)
Recording Secretary - Frank Garcia (Kevin ’03)

In my acceptance speech at the general meeting I noted the many accomplishments of my predecessor, Bob Mohr. Under Bob’s guidance, we doubled our charitable contributions and were able to buy a 15 passenger van for the Academy to use as a liberty van for our cadets. It was the first time the Parent’s Association had been able to make major gifts two years in a row. (In ’99 we donated an 8 passenger van.) We increased our membership by 200% to our highest total ever and we amended the by-laws to give each and every executive council member a permanent job. New local chapters were started and dormant chapters revived. Bob and his management team did a lot of good work for our association and our cadets this past year and as they depart their offices I would like to say "Bravo-Zulu" or well done!

But, we can’t rest on our laurels. New challenges and old ones will continue to face us in the new year. We need to keep up our efforts in recruitment and fund raising. Our membership is continually turning over and even though last year was our best year ever in fund raising, it is still pitifully small when you consider the number of potential donors.

Web sites and email lists have improved services to our members but they have also presented us with new challenges that we must meet and solve. Our lack of any paid staff has led to problems in responding to requests for association name tags. We must and will do better on name tag delivery in the future. This year for the first time, we are going to ask the parents of graduated cadets to stay on with the organization. At the next meeting of the executive council, I intend to offer a motion to add a new membership category of Life Member or Parent Emeritus.

I see the Parent’s Association as having two primary goals:

1. Provide a support network for our parents.
2. Provide support for our cadets.

During my year in office I will attempt to keep these two goals in the forefront of everything we do. I can be reached at:

Don’t be afraid to tell me how you think we are doing or to offer a suggestion or two.

Sumus Vobiscum

Bob Pray
CAPT USCG-Ret.
CGA ‘70