President's Message, November, 2024
Greetings Brothers:
As Catholic brothers in our Eucharistic rite, we are in Ordinary time. Our next Holy day of Obligation is November 1 – All Saints Day. We must not forget November 2, All Souls Day. Actually the entire month of November is dedicated to the Souls that are in Purgatory whilst they purge from their sins in hopes that they shall gain entry into the eternal harvest of heaven. We notice the colors of the vestments of our Clergy remains green, until the last two days of the month, marking the beginning of Advent. Here we observe the vestments change to purple, representing a time of penance. We are indeed moving towards HIS day.
Brothers: We’ve had a very robust start to the end of our Calendar year. The division hosted the County AOH Communion Breakfast on October 20 with a mass at St Anastasia’s in Harriman and a breakfast, catered by T&M at our Hall. We were welcomed by Fr Bladi Socualaya, who spoke with eloquence towards our endeavors and a familiarity to our Good works during the mass. It was very gracious of him and I am grateful for his hospitality! The County’s attendees were over 25 brothers and we made up the majority of that group, well done. At our breakfast, which was sponsored by Division 2 we were further granted wisdom by our own brother Charles Bohan, who has spoken about our Division’s history, with names of Brothers from our past as well as the significance of the Irish American Unity conference, which is a nationwide, nonpartisan nonsectarian, human rights organization working for justice and peace in Ireland. They are headquartered in Washington D.C. We have further information regarding their membership and a means for you to join with them if you are so inclined. The TJM (formerly known as the Tom McCarthy Food Bank Benefit) went off without a hitch, which is a great thing. This is our own fundraiser, and you should all be justifiably proud of your part in this. I would be remiss if I hadn’t mentioned the superlative input by Brother Michael Beck. Michael and I had a conversation regarding the mechanics of such an undertaking and he simply grabbed the mantle and ran with it! Well done Brother Michael, and thank you so much!!
This Sunday November 3, 2024 at 2pm we shall host the Grand Marshal’s Installation of the Mid-Hudson St Patrick’s Parade. This is an extra special event as our own Billy Coffey himself shall own the streets of Goshen, NY. We shall have Paul Cray, catered food ala T&MIIgo, Pipe and Drums, Sheehan/Gormley school of dance present plus all the Aides to the Grand Marshal. We should have an especially good event and although that weekend shall have come and gone by publication of this letter, I would expect that we are all in attendance! Another accomplishment that the AOH as a County has achieved most recently was the honor of placing First for AOH Divisions marching in the NYC St Patrick’s Day parade. Hillary Beirne, the Parade C.A.O. has offered his congratulations citing the manner in which our Flag Bearers performed as especially endearing towards our success.
We had recently been considering how to incorporate our Christmas meal, which is constructed with the many helpful hands of our Division’s assistance and our Ladies AOH’s impeccable aid, but primarily by the culinary expertise of Brothers Jimmy Dillon and Clint Halcomb; and execute our December drawing of the TJM simultaneously. Members had come up with an idea that we should hold a mass on 12/15/2024 at 11:00am, followed by the Christmas meal and the Drawing of the TJM. We put our heads together and had a conversation with St Mary’s Fr Chris Algano and he was fully onboard with this venture! We’ll have a mass in our hall, which is brilliant, serve a scrumptious meal, and dole out winnings to some lucky folks! It is going to be a wonderful Christmas and we are going to have a terrific end to our year. This will be my last official act as President of this great division.
Brothers, my term as President has come to an end. I thank you for your support in that role and thank you for your patience and willingness to put forth a positive energy towards our Division. We are sitting in a comfortable position with the Advent of the TJM fundraiser, which coupled with our Ireland 32 raffle makes our Division/Home Corporation vibrant and strong. I am proud of all the brothers I have been involved with, both new and seasoned, and I am humbled with the assistance that has been so generously offered. I will offer my assistance to our new leadership when they are in question or need. With that in mind, our elections for the administration of our Divisions business shall be directed towards our next men in line. I am therefore asking you to give your full support to our current Vice President Brother Brian Archer when he runs for the position of the President of the division. Likewise I am asking you to vote for Kevin Thomas as Vice President of our division. Brothers Clint Halcomb and Greg Lang are to remain in their current positions of Treasurer and Financial Secretary respectively and I would ask that you support them also. Lastly we would have Brother Mike Burke as Recording Secretary. I have confidence in these men as worthy gentlemen and I would ask that you also hold them in the same esteem and vote for them. Our Division is strong, and the future looks bright with each of them.
Thank you brothers for your support! I am forever yours in Friendship, Unity, and Christian Charity,
Kevin M. Strommer