June 1, 2015:    Vietnam War Dead Cenotaph Benches Fundraising Is Complete

A week ago today we publicly announced our plan to place two memorial benches in remembrance of local area veterans who died in the war in Vietnam at the Arvin Cemetery of the South Kern Cemetery District.  On May 9, 2015, we’d made our members and anyone who attended this year’s Gathering of the Bears (GOTB) aware of this effort.  Donations began coming in that very first night.  I’m pleased to announce that thanks to our members, those GOTB attendees, email, phone calls, and direct personal appeals, we have all the funding in hand necessary for the two benches and have paid for them in full earlier today.   

As promised, we wanted to let you know we’d reached our funding goal so you don’t send a donation if you hadn’t already pledged to do so.  There are always worthy causes and needs in the Arvin-Lamont area and we’ll be back to ask for donations again someday for something else.  We’re aware that members of AHS Classes of the 1960’s are exploring placing a memorial bench on the Arvin High School campus. As that moves forward, we’re 100 percent supportive of their effort.  As soon as we know more about that plan, we’ll share it here and on our web-site to provide you with the contact information you’d need to become a part of that worthy cause. 

Until then, let me thank all of you again who’ve worked with us on this entire project since its inception back in late 2012.  The Vietnam Veteran’s Memorial Plaque with eighty-two names is in place outside the principal’s office at Arvin High School and we update it yearly as the names of Vietnam Veterans who were not initially recognized become known to us.  Next May 30, 2016, we’ll dedicate these two Cenotaph Benches at the annual Memorial Day Observance at the Arvin Cemetery.  Once again I ask that you save that date now and plan to be there with us to honor these local men who gave their lives for the principles of Freedom.

May 2014:    The SilverTips Alumni Network has completed a two-year effort to place a Vietnam Veterans Memorial plaque on campus at Arvin High School.  Currently there are 79 names on the plaque with four more to be added at the next engraving.  There remain empty plates for those Vietnam Veterans we haven't identified yet.  Once identified, there names will also be added in the future.  To identify a Vietnam Veteran that may be missing from the memorial, first go to the main page of this web site and scroll through the Veterans names lsited in the left ahydn column to be certain that the name of the person you are wanting to identify hasn't already been placed there.  If the name is missing, please send their name, their branch of military service, and their class year.  They must be Arvin High School alumni to be enetered there or on the plaque, but they do not have to have graduated from Arvin High School.  Our belief has always been that if you attended Arvin High School for even one day, you're an alumnus and a Bear.

March 2010:     SilverTips Alumni Network ships two large boxes of pencils, pens, markers, file folders, binder clips, and other classroom supplies valued at approximately $250 to Army Specialist Sean Noonan (AHS 91') who is in the US Army in Afghanistan.  Sean is gathering supplies for schools in Afghanistan that don't even have items as basic as pencils and paper.