CAROLINA PIEDMONT BASE MEETING MINUTES
Meeting Date: June 27, 2026
CALL MEETING TO ORDER
• Base Commander Mike Hubbell called our meeting to order at 1349 hrs. at VFW Post #9138 located in Fort Mill, SC.
• The meeting followed our potluck meal including some fabulous homemade desserts all brought in by our base families.
INVOCATION
• Base Chaplain Raymond Fritz started off our base meeting with an invocation.
PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
• All joined in saying our nation’s Pledge of Allegiance, led by Base Commander Mike Hubbell.
USSVI CREED
• The USSVI Creed was read today by Jim Goins.
TOLLING OF THE BOATS
• Tolling for the 7 boats, which were lost during June months past, was presented by Ray Fritz and the bell was rung by Kevin Walker.
MEMBER INTRODUCTIONS
• 17 base members plus 8 ladies were present at today’s meeting.
• One new person joined our base today, Dan Johnson from Rock Hill SC. Dan located us via our base website thru the Internet and then emailed Tom Kelly that he would be planning to join us today at the VFW. Dan qualified onboard USS Nathan Hale (SSBN-623) in 1977. Welcome aboard Dan!
SPECIAL EVENTS
• None this meeting
REVIEW OF LAST BASE MEETING MINUTES
• Members are reminded that minutes for each previous month’s base meeting are posted on our Carolina Piedmont website at carolinapiedmont.org for their review. Members are encouraged to read the previous month’s meeting minutes prior to attending our next base meeting.
No comments or corrections were received on our last meeting minutes.
READING OF THE TREASURER’S REPORT
• Base Treasurer Bill Strand read our latest treasurer’s report. Combined monies in all base accounts stand at $12,133.89 as of 06/27/2026.
• Our treasurer’s report shows a number of expenses paid out related to the Burnsville weekend last month. One notable donation was to our USSVI Challenge Coin representative, Shelly Saxton, who graciously had made, and donated, 51 wooden Subvets challenge coins to recognize the Moonshine Mountain WWII Memorial.
BASE STOREKEEPER REPORT
• Jeff Nieberding, our base storekeeper, is our contact for ordering patches, vests, challenge coins, calendars, parking signs, and other USSVI items.
OLD BUSINESS
• Disbursement of Funds from our Sharing & Caring Fund:
During the month of May, when we met at Burnsville for our Moonshine Mountain tribute to the lost boats from years past, Base Commander Mike Hubbell, former Base-Commander Rick Petitt and former Base Vice-Commander John McHugh and their wives went to the Spruce Pine city office and presented the city with a check for $5,000 in recognition of all the work they performed regarding support for community members and rebuilding efforts for businesses related to the destruction caused by Hurricane Helene back in 2024.
Checks were also presented in May from our Sharing and Caring Fund to American Legion Post 43 in Waynesville NC for roof replacement ($1,000) and to former Ashville base, Base Commander Gene Ipox, who lost everything in the flooding during Hurricane Helene ($1,000).
Monies distributed were from our Sharing & Charing Fund which had leftover monies from our fund-raising conducted back in 2024 to assist people and businesses due to the impact of Hurricane Helene.
NEW BUSINESS
• VFW Payments for Months When We Don’t Meet at the VFW
A brief discussion was held regarding do we still want to provide a donation to the Fort Mill VFW Post 9138 on months when we don’t meet at their facility (i.e. during months of May when we attend the Moonshine Mountain weekend or when we have our picnics at the Catawba park).
We formerly agreed via a motion, second and unanimously voting that we would provide a $60 donation to the VFW at future times when we do not meet at their facility.
• K4K Funds Held by USSVCF for Carolina Piedmont Base
Dave Violette, after having a discussion earlier this month with the USSVCF National K4K Chairman John (Sid) Sidlovsky, presented to us that persons donating monies to the Kaps-4-Kids fund, if donated thru the National USSVI Charitable Foundation (USSVCF), can designate their donations specifically to our Carolina Piedmont base’s K4K fund and then can receive a 501(c) (3) receipt to be used for itemization on their next year’s tax returns. NOTE: Because our Carolina Piedmont base is not designated as a “non-profit” organization, donating directly to our base will not enable donators to receive this specific tax credit.
Dave informed us that monies held in the National K4K fund will accumulate interest on our balance and then monies can be requested for reimbursement for expenses of supplies when necessary to support our K4K program.
Dave found out we currently have $119.39 in monies already designated to our base, plus Dave also informed us that after he himself was reimbursed for supplies for our K4K program, Dave in turn made a donation of this same reimbursed amount (over $300) to the National USSVCF K4K fund and designated these monies to used only for our local K4K program.
Further discussion will be held on how the donation process to the National USSVCF K4K can work after Base Treasurer Bill Strand follows up with the USSVI National Treasurer to make sure we understand the process prior to proceeding in this manner. Bill will then present to our base Executive Committee the results of his discussions with National which we will then present to our base membership.
GOOD OF THE ORDER
• Kaps-4-Kids Report – Dave Violette
Dave reported that we had another successful K4K visit on June 10th to the Ronald McDonald House in Charlotte. Dave, along with John McHugh and Tom Kelly visited with a small number of young patients and their parents.
Dave said we were able to grant official Honorary Submariner awards to a young lady named Leslie, who then named her bear Roxie, which then allowed Leslie to have a fellow submariner shipmate for life. An article of this visit has been submitted to the American Submariner and hopefully it will make it into the 4th Quarter 2026 issue.
Dave’s schedule includes the following next two months’ Kaps-4-Kids visits (shown below):
7 Wednesday, July 15, 2026 11:00am-Noon Jeff Gordon Children's Center
8 Tuesday, August 11, 2026 1:00-2:00pm Levine Children's Hospital
Dave, along with Rick Petitt and Joel Tuchfeld, will be attending the July 15th event.
To other members, please respond to Dave if you are available and willing to attend any of these assignment visits, which will be made on a first response basis. You can also call Dave on his cell: 704-651-6320 if you have any questions.
Bravo Zulu to Dave Violette for his continued dedication to our Kaps-4-Kids program!
• Burnsville Moonshine Mountain Report – Rick Petitt
Rick reported there were fewer participants at the Burnsville weekend this year, but it was still a fun event for all who attended. Rick reported there were a total of 43 persons who attended.
The weather cooperated this year to allow the Tolling of the Boats ceremony to be held at the Moonshine Mountain Road memorial, which is always the highlight event of the weekend.
Our base has been coordinating registrations and activities for the Burnsville weekend for 4 years now. Rick and Cindy Petitt have personally taken on the tasks for receiving registrations, ordering mementos for giveaways, including tote bags and challenge coins this year. In addition, they arranged for a raffle of items to assist with expenses for the weekend and set up for the 50/50 raffles and managed the bingo events in the evenings. Rick reported when all was said and done for this year that our Burnsville Fund netted a profit of 156.00 dollars this year.
A big Bravo Zulu goes out the Rick and Cindy Petitt and all the other helpers who make our May Burnsville weekends a great time to remember.
• USSVI National Elections – Mike Hubbell
Mike informed us that voting for the USSVI National Elections begins this July 6th. All of the National officer positions are up for election/re-election, and even though none of the offices are contested positions, there is voting also for Regional Director candidates as well as a proposed amendment to our Bylaws, that would allow Associate Members to obtain Life Memberships, that will need to be reviewed and voted on.
Our latest issue of American Submariner magazine has a page devoted to the elections this year; that can be found on page 21 of the Second Quarter 2026 issue.
Paper ballots must be received as instructed by National Election Master Michael Bost no later than Sept. 4th, 2026 (see address published in the magazine).
Voting can also be done online, and an email will be coming out soon from “Election Buddy” providing instructions and a link directly to the voting page.
GOOD OF THE ORDER (cont.)
• Reminder USSVI National Convention Sept 6th through 11th – Michael Hubbell
Mike reminded us to begin thinking about attending the USSVI National Convention this year which is being held in Corpus Christi, Texas.
• USSVI Scholarships – Rick Petitt
Rick reported the scholarship nominees are being reviewed now by the National committee in preparation for awarding this year’s 2026 USSVI scholarship.
NEXT BASE MEETING
• Our next base meeting will be held on Saturday, July 25 at 1300 at the Fort Mill VFW. Doors open at 1230; the meal will be between 1300 to 1400 with the meeting starting around 1400.
MOTION TO ADJOURN
• A motion to adjourn the meeting was made at 1451 hours. Motion passed.
BENEDICTION
• Chaplain Raymond Fritz closed our meeting with a benediction.
RAFFLE RESULTS
• Mary Gilles won today’s meeting raffle (and surprisingly enough, she was the person who was asked to draw the winning ticket – hmmm). Congratulations Mary!
Today’s meeting attendees are listed below:
June 2, 2026, Meeting Attendees:
• Steve Bell
• Bob Bunney – Kathy
• Raymond Fritz
• Mary Gilles
• Jim Goins - Marsha
• Mike Hubbell
• Dan Johnson (1st Timer!)
• Tom Kelly – Susan
• John McHugh – Donna
• Andy Miller
• Jeff Nieberding
• Rick Petitt – Cindy
• Bill Strand
• Joel Tuchfeld – Anna
• Dave Violette -Beth
• Kevin Walker
• Raymond Zieverink – Linda
Minutes Respectfully Submitted by:
Tom Kelly
Base Secretary