Our mission is to promote the purposes and objectives of The Military Officers Association of America, Inc., Alexandria, Virginia, by fostering fraternal relations among retired, active-duty, and former officers of the uniformed services; protect the rights and interests of personnel of the uniformed services and their dependents and survivors; provide useful services for members and their dependents and survivors; and serve the community; e.g. by support of ROTC programs and the nation.

Chapter membership is open to those who hold or have ever held a warrant or commission in any component of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Public Health Service, or National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and their surviving spouses. Annual chapter membership dues are $25 per year for regular members and $12 per year for auxiliary members. If you would like to join/renew your local chapter dues online, please go to http://www.moaa.org/OnlineChapterDuesPayment/ there you will find a printable step-by-step guide on how to join/renew your local chapter dues. If you would rather not use this online option, please contact our Membership Chair, CWO4 Art Gandy at (901) 378-0745 or by email addressed to art.gandy@att.net for more information on joining the Memphis Chapter.

Our chapter holds a monthly executive board meeting and chapter dinner meeting on the third Thursday of each month at the Helmsman Complex (Bldg. S-760) at the Naval Support Activity, Mid-South. During an average year, we have guest speakers who speak to us on a wide range of topics at six to eight of our dinner meetings. Our chapter also funds four (4) local four-year scholarships ($1,250 year/per student) for college-bound seniors who enroll & remain active in ROTC. We also coordinate with over 30 JROTC/ROTC units to award MOAA medals to deserving students. Other chapter activities include setting up and manning a booth at various job fairs, Millington retiree days and at air shows and other local events. Our chapter also actively supports the efforts underway to build a West Tennessee Veterans Home in the southwest Tennessee area. Finally, twice a year we prepare/send cards to veterans in the local VA hospital and in November we collect toys/money for the USMC Reserve for Toys.

Our chapter supports MOAA’s national legislative agenda and ensures that key issues identified in MOAA’s Weekly Legislative Update are briefly addressed at our monthly dinner meeting and in our monthly newsletter. Additionally, we respond to MOAA’s Legislative Alerts by ensuring that the information is passed on to chapter members with email addresses on file. Our chapter is pleased to have Tennessee State Senator Dolores Gresham as an honorary member of our chapter.

Page 6 of the monthly newsletter provides a membership application form and Page 7 provides a listing of board members, committee chairs and service representatives by position, by name, by email address and phone number. For a copy of the latest copy please contact CWO4 Art Gandy at the address listed above. The Memphis chapter is actively recruiting new chapter members. if you are one of the large number of MOAA non-chapter members living in the Memphis ZIP Code Catchment area please consider joining the Memphis Chapter. For more information about the chapter please contact our Chapter president CAPT John Dixon, johnadam4u@yahoo.com or 901-235-6628; Treasurer James Thomasson, jthomas1430@comcast.net or 901-833-6477; or Web Master LCDR Kathy Desjarlais, gkd9@aol.com or 901-837-4736.

The Memphis Chapter which completed its 44th year of service on June 22nd serves all of West Tennessee, Northern Mississippi, & Eastern Arkansas. Our membership includes more than 270 members representing the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Public Health Service and all grades from warrant officer to flag officer. Through its various committees and auxiliary, the chapter sponsors a wide range of programs and activities throughout the year. In recognition of these efforts, the Memphis Chapter was recently selected to receive the five-star Levels of Excellence Award for exceptional performance during calendar year 2016. This is the chapter’s ninth consecutive five-star award. Our chapter publishes 12 monthly newsletters per year. This eight-page newsletter is provided to all chapter members monthly. If you would like to have a copy of the latest newsletter please call or send an email to our Membership Chair, CWO4 Art Gandy.