March Luncheon Program

MILITARY OFFICERS ASSOCIATION MEMBERS LEARN ABOUT USF-SARASOTA-MANATEE VETERANS SUPPORT PROGRAMS

Date:  4/3/2015

Southwest FL - Our March Luncheon Program offered an informative and encouraging view into Veterans’ support programs at the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee (USFSM) campus. Our speaker, Todd Hughes, a 2014 graduate of the University of South Florida Sarasota-Manatee (USFSM) is the Veteran’s Services Administrator at USFSM. His office currently serves about 130 veterans.    Todd specifically highlighted two programs the USFSM operates in support of veterans. The Student Veterans’ Society provides all  student veterans an opportunity to voice concerns and to access a variety of service organizations that help veterans. In fact, they are hosting a  Military Appreciation Day at the USFSM campus on April 16th from 1100 until 1700, followed by a free screening of the movie, American Sniper, at 1800 in the Selby Auditorium. The event is free to the public and Todd encouraged MOAS to visit and see the dynamic USFSM veterans’ community in action. The second program Todd presented is under development, but is surely needed: The USFSM Veterans Mentoring Program. This program will match student veterans with experienced veteran mentors to assist with the transition from school to their first job. Mentors help students through networking, interview and resume skills, and articulating military experience into terms understood by civilian employers. They also provide encouragement. Todd will be looking for mentors in Fall 2015. More information may be found athttps://usfmentoring.chronus.com/p/p3/about Todd joined the Oklahoma Army National Guard the day after his 17th birthday while still in high school. He went Active Duty Army as soon as he could and spent a total of five years in the military with about two being in the National Guard and three on Active Duty. He deployed to Iraq with the 1st Cavalry Division from March 2004 through March 2005. Todd left the Army after his initial enlistment. He and his wife Jessica, whom he met in the Army, have two children, Bailey and Xavier.  Sadly, Todd and Jessica lost their home to fire about 10 days ago. Undeterred, Todd kept his commitment to present these programs to our membership. During the luncheon, 2nd VP Linda Gould collected over $1000 to present to Todd and his family. Veterans helping Veterans is what MOAS does best. MOAS is the Sarasota Chapter of Military Officers Association of America.  MOAA is the nation's largest and most influential association of military officers with 370,000 members.  It is an independent, nonprofit, politically nonpartisan organization.  For more information visit, www.sarasotamoaa.com Are you a former military officer?  Please come and join us at our monthly luncheon.