Our chapter's mission is to promote the purposes and objectives of the Military Officers Association of America; to foster fraternal relations among retired, active, reserve, and former officers of the uniformed services; to protect the rights and interests of personnel of the uniformed services and their dependents and survivors; to provide useful services for members and their dependents and survivors, and to serve the community and the nation. National dues are free for the first year for all active officers and warrant officers, including those serving in the Guard and Reserve. For other membership packages available, please go to their web site, http://www.moaa.org/ or contact them at msc@moaa.org; (800) 234-6622; (703) 549-2311.

Chapter membership is open to anyone who holds or has ever held a commission or warrant in any component of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Public Health Service or National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and their surviving spouses. Dues are free for the first year and $15 annually thereafter. Our chapter also has associate members, who are surviving spouses of all members, plus widows and widowers of any deceased individuals who would, if living, be eligible for membership; and honorary members, who are immediate family members of any Lehigh Valley officer or warrant officer who dies from combat related injuries. For further information please contact COL Bill Harris (610) 217-3511; wthiii3@rcn.com.

Our dinner meetings feature guest speakers and have included elected officials, veterans office administrators, law enforcement officials and representatives from national headquarters. At the May meeting cash awards are presented to the top cadets at Lehigh University Army ROTC, Allen HS Navy JROTC, Dieruff HS Air Force JROTC, Wilson HS JROTC and Panther Valley HS Army JROTC. Our chapter also provides MOAA medals to top cadets and second lieutenant bars at commissioning. At our November meeting chapter members donate gifts for the Marine Reserve's Toys for Tots program. We are hosting the MOAA state convention in Bethlehem on 14-15 Sep 12. For more information please go to our state website, www.pa-coc.org. You can register online or by mail. VADM Norb Ryan, our national president, will highlight our speakers. All MOAA members and those eligible to join are invited, including spouses and friends.

We actively lobby the state legislature on various bills; most recently we helped a coalition of organizations prevent a house-passed bill (HB 2191) on payday loans from reaching the senate floor. We will actively fight this legislation in the fall when the senate reconvenes after Labor Day and remain committed to creating a cabinet-level Department of Veterans Affairs, which will greatly benefit our veterans. We also meet with various veterans organizations to coordinate support for statewide legislative initiatives. For more information contact LTC Jack McDowell, jackmcdo@ptd.net, 610-866-1691.

Our chapter leaders for the 2010-12 term are: President - COL Bill Harris, USA-Ret.; 1st V-P - LTC Erik Walker, USA-Ret.; 2nd V-P - CDR Nick Remy, USCG-Ret.; Secretary - CW4 Dick Menne, USA-Ret.; Treasurer - LCDR Bob Frederick, USN-Ret.; Past President - LCDR Bob Frederick, USN-Ret.; Auxiliary - Mary Omdahl; Chairman, Legislative Committee - LTC Jack McDowell; Chaplain - Suzanne Frederick; Board Members - LTC Charlie Huch, USA-Ret.; Maj Nate Kline, USAF-Ret.; COL Mike Vath, USA-Ret.; Maj Charles Taylor, USAF-Ret.

In our 44th year, our members hail from the greater Lehigh Valley area in mid-eastern Pennsylvania. Dinner meetings are held at various local restaurants on the third Thursday of March, May, September and November. No meeting is held in January due to the possibility of inclement weather. Our July meeting is a social outing and is usually held on the third Thursday, based on the venue. Our chapter's executive committee (board) meets on the second Thursday of January, March, May, July, September and November. The breakfast meeting is held at Wegmans in Bethlehem. Our chapter currently has 100-plus members made up of currently serving, former, and retired officers and their survivors from all the armed services, including the National Guard and Reserve.