Notes and Highlights from the Leadership Conference

BY SHARON HOBBS, AVVA PRESIDENT

By the time you read this, the 2026 VVA National Leadership & Education Conference will be history. It was good to see our members participating in the educational sessions. Although AVVA had no seminar of its own on the agenda, we enthusiastically supported the “Six Choices for VVA’s Future” presentation through research and development. Here are a few AVVA highlights.

On Thursday, AVVA held its Awards Luncheon. As our guest speaker was unable to attend, we announced the recipients of AVVA’s annual awards after the meal. The Commendation Medal is AVVA’s highest honor, and this year’s recipient was Joanne Blum, AVVA National Treasurer.

Annual awards were announced by Awards Chair Tony Gigli. There was no Member-of-the-Year because there were no qualifying nominees. Five members received Fellowship Awards: Roland Mayhew (Kansas Chapter 604); James Gregory (South Carolina Chapter 780); Shirley VanDenHeuvel (Wisconsin Chapter 351); Anthony Corbella (New Jersey Chapter 12); and Marleen Levi (New York Chapter 126).

VISTA awards were presented by acting Program Chair Nina Schloffel. Members reported 21,580 volunteer hours during the past year. Diana Gilpin (Florida Chapter 1059) reported the most hours, followed by Linda Meyer (Tennessee Chapter 1004), who recently passed away, in second place and Linda Yates (Tennessee Chapter 1004) in third.

Region 3 submitted the most volunteer hours overall, while Tennessee was the top state and Tennessee Chapter 1004 reported the most chapter hours. The AVVA Annual Membership Meeting took place after the luncheon.

This year’s original Project Friendship recipient did not attend or participate in the Leadership Conference, so the AVVA Board of Directors decided to redirect the funding to another worthy organization: Hope4Veterans, a Jacksonville-area nonprofit serving military women and their families.

Hope4Veterans provides programs and resources designed to reduce isolation, prevent suicide and homelessness, and build stability for military women and their families. AVVA will be issuing Hope4Veterans a check for more than $21,000. While changing the Project Friendship recipient is highly unusual, we believe Hope4Veterans is a worthy organization that will put your generosity to meaningful use.

All in all, the Conference was a success, and AVVA was delighted and proud to be part of this unified achievement.

As the late poet Mattie Stepanek said, “Unity is strength... when there is teamwork and collaboration, wonderful things can be achieved.”

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