2011-06-16 Veteran Advisory Committee Minutes

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Veterans Advisory Committee Page 5 June 16, 2011 Mr. Minoru Hanato reported there were a lot of marines helping at the recent planting. They did a great job in the replanting area. Veterans Cemetery III – West Hawaii Brochure Prepared by Bronsten Kalei Kossow – Eagle Scout Candidate Chairperson Fox said she has worked with a lot of professionals in a lot of businesses that have never ever in all of her years in the military given her a product anywhere near this brochure. She said she is extremely pleased with the final product which is very professionally done. (Members applauded Kalei’s work). Chairperson Fox asked him where the funding came from. Kalei responded that he received private donations from various groups. Director Fitzgerald wanted him do a short presentation of what he went through, he had to overcome a lot of hurdles when working on the mapping. Bronsten “Kalei” Kossow said he started the project almost a year ago on July 10, 2010. It was suppose to be completed for Veterans Day and he discovered it is all about becoming a leader and found that out the hard way. It took from May 1to May 20, 2011 to input all of the information he received from Mr. Hanato relating to the history and rules and regulations. He coordinated a volunteer project to check each headstone at the West Hawaii Veterans Cemetery and write down each name. That list was compared with the list from the County. He said that version is now in the computer and is also an insert of the brochure. He coordinated additional volunteer improvement projects at the cemetery such as painting tables and putting wood chips in the median. Chairperson Fox asked him how old he was. Kalei responded that he is 16 years old. Kalei reported that they currently have 5,000 printed brochures and printed 400 inserts for the West Hawaii Veterans Cemetery. The cost to print the 5,000 brochures was $900 and he raised a little over $2,000. Chairperson Fox again thanked him and commended a job well done. The brochure is outstanding, above and beyond what we expected and better than a lot of professional documents. Co-Chairperson Brulee-Wilson also paid high compliments to Kalei, stating that his attention to detail and emotional workmanship is outstanding. She also would like to have something like this done for the cemeteries on the East side and include all of the information relating to who qualifies for what during burials. OVS Director Greg Jackson expressed his appreciation also and told Kalei that he met him on Oahu a couple months ago at which time he received a copy of the brochure. He shared it with Frank Salvas who is the Director of the National Cemetery Administration