Events
Join us at upcoming veteran events and community gatherings
2026 Events
"Non-profit Organizations and Their Impact on Healthcare in Our Community"
April 22, 2026
6:00 PM -8:30 PM
Infocision Stadium 5th floor, University of Akron
Operation Task Force Roundtable
May 9, 2026
10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
American Legion Portage Co. Post 496
City of Akron's Memorial Day Services
May 21, 2025
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Lock 3, Akron, Ohio
Tallmadge Memorial Day Parade
May 25, 2026
9:00 AM - 11:00 AM
Tallmadge, Ohio
Friendship Committee Lunch and Learn
June 20, 2026
12:00 - 2:00 PM
St Eugene's Catholic Church
Kent Heritage Fest - Veteran Presentation
July 3, 2026
5:00-5:30 PM
Hometown Bank Stage, Downtown Kent
Honor guard ceremony
July 4, 2026
10:00 AM
The Lake Campground & Swim Park, Norton, Ohio
2nd Annual Alpha 11 Veteran's Valor Golf Classic
July 5, 2026
Tee off 8:30 AM
Loyal Oaks Golf Course, Norton, Ohio
1st Annual Veterans Picnic - Portage Co VSC Hosting
July 18, 2026
11:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Ravenna City Park (165 Oakwood St.) Cunningham and Memorial Shelters
Putts Fore Patriots
August 8, 2026
TBA
Birdie Shack 2567 OH 59, Ravenna
Operation Taskforce Roundtable
September 12, 2026
10:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Sam Center, Canal Fulton
POW/MIA Day
September 18, 2026
TBA
Portage County, TBA
MAPS Resource Fair
October 1-3, 2026
TBA
MAPS Air Museum
VSO Roundtable Christmas Open House
December 5, 2026
TBA
TBA
Detachment Meetings
Alpha 11 Danbury
Last Monday of each month
3:00 PM
Alpha 11 O'Neill
Last Thursday of each month
4:00 PM
* Subject to change for holidays
May Was a Memorable Month
May ushered in many opportunities to show off our Honors Detachment. We were invited to participate in Akron's 2nd Annual Memorial Day celebration, where our President, Lee Gidden, gave a speech about the meaning of memorial day and our Detachment built the Battlefield cross, honoring James M. Tucker, who died in combat while serving in Germany in 1945. Our friends from the 555th Honors detachment joined us from Wooster to perform the rifle volleys and David Harrison played Taps to conclude the ceremony. It turned out to be a beautiful day to honor our fallen brothers and sisters in arms.
Lee then participated in the ceremony held at Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery on Sunday 5-24-2026, where he made the cover of the program!
Finally, on Monday 5-25-2026, a few of us were able to come together to march in the City of Tallmadge Memorial Day parade. Lee transported the Poppy Princess in the Mustang while the rest of us marched with our flags and banner. We may be small but we are making our presence known to our area communities so we can further our mission to help veterans and their families.
We also snuck in another Operation Task Force Roundtable at the beginning of the month!
New Year, New Goals
February kicked off the year with our first roundtable. With the new year came a new theme – “Operation Task Force”. The focus of “Operation Task Force” is to continue to invite new organizations to collaborate on helping veterans while expanding our networking and participation with our dedicated partners on important issues facing veterans in our state. We had a great turnout once again and look forward to continuing with these important gatherings where we meet new people, share stories of the work we are doing and find solutions to some of the problems that veterans face each day.
Where We Started - 2025
Golf Outing Fundraiser
Alpha 11 has been truly blessed by people who care for veterans as much as we do. Many of those people came out to support our second fundraiser at our golf outing sponsored by Aquatic Frog. The weather threw us some curveballs by raining on and off, but everyone really enjoyed themselves and we were able to raise funds to continue our mission! Thank you one and all for your generous support. We couldn't do it without you.
Memorial Day Celebration
Memorial Day is a big deal for Alpha 11. We start off our remembrance celebration each year by assisting DAV chapter #35 with placing flags on the graves of all our fallen service men and women at Hillside Cemetery. This year we had a young volunteer who assisted with placing flags and learned about appropriate flag etiquette and how to recognize all the unique symbols used to mark military graves. On May 26th we continued our celebration by participating in Tallmadge's 157th consecutive running Memorial Day parade by chauffeuring the Poppy Princess in our volunteer's red '94 Mustang "Sally" convertible and marching with our newly formed detachment from Danbury Assisted Living facility, located in Tallmadge. The ceremony that followed the parade was a beautiful tribute to all our fallen Heros. A big THANK YOU to all our members and volunteers who showed up to represent!
May VSO Roundtable with Live With Honor
May was a busy month for Alpha 11. We held our second VSO Roundtable with Live With Honor at the American Legion Portage Post 496 in Kent. This event demonstrated our commitment to working together as VSOs to ensure that our veterans are gaining access to the services that they need and deserve. Attendees came from a wide range of service organizations, not just those specific to veterans. Through engaging conversation, we learned how to adapt the way we do business to accommodate the unique needs of all veterans and their families. Thank you to Representatives Heidi Workman and Derek Hall for joining us.
Our First Official Fundraiser
March 15th marked our first official fundraiser. We served around 160 people a delicious meal of spaghetti and meatballs, salad, and dessert. Our friends from Rowdy Beans coffee roasters supplied their outstanding coffee and tea. We had 25 donated baskets for our silent auction and a 50/50 auction. A professional photographer and a professional videographer captured the true spirit of the event in pictures and our new video posted on our home page and circulating on Facebook and Instagram. To all of those who joined us, we thank you for your support and look forward to seeing you again in the future.
Building Stronger Connections
As part of our Mission, we are bringing together area VSOs to facilitate improved services for our veterans and their families. Our first VSO Roundtable was held 2/15/25 and was attended by representatives from 15 different VSOs spanning 4 counties. We spent time discussing each organization's services, challenges we face, and how we can build on these newfound relationships to support each other and the veterans we all respect and serve.
Our First Public Introduction
We had our first official introduction to the public on Tuesday 2/4/2025 at a veteran round table put on by Akron City Councilman Eric Garret Sr. The event was well attended by local area veterans along with numerous veteran service organizations which always presents as an opportunity for the leaders of Alpha 11 to make connections to better serve our veterans.
Want to Get Involved?
Join us at our next event or contact us to learn how you can support our mission.
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