Although we do have limits on bunking aboard the ship, we do have a plan in place to house excess folks on the Yorktown. But, it would be extra helpful if you will email me your attendance intentions ASAP. If you want to arrive as early as Wednesday the 2nd of April, we can make that work. John Hudak and myself will be aboard that night.
PARKING: This is a BIG issue right now. I have been asked to give Patriots Point them a daily car-count so they can make a plan for us. We probably cannot accommodate RVs or trailers on this trip, so call me ASAP if you have thoughts along those lines. All general public parking at PP is now PAID PARKING ($30/day), EXCEPT in the employee lot, which is where Laffey Association members can park for free. There will be a security guard at the entrance to the employee lot, so be ready with your PP ID badge to prevent being turned away.
The Spring Workparty will kick off on Friday, 4 April. Organized work will begin on Saturday the 5th, although we will have to work within the standard constraints of our having to have minimal impact on the larger weekend tourist presence. Monday – Friday we can obtain burn permits for welding & grinding and are able to close some walkways to enable cleaning or painting activities, giving us a little more flexibility on those days.
Our primary goal for this workparty will be to tackle some exterior painting and to continue to improve the Aft Fire Room. This involves welding, grinding, filing, painting, cleaning, safety netting installation. Additionally, we have a specific list of projects that the Association is working on, which involve electrical, light metal work, welding/fabricating, organizing/cleaning, administrative paperwork, meal prep/cleanup and supply-run errands. So, regardless of your skill set or strength, we do have many meaningful ways for everyone to contribute.
Males over 18 may stay on board the Laffey. Meals for all workers are paid for by the Association.
We have Laffey Workparty T-shirts, medium – 2XL, sweatshirts, and ball caps (kids and adult sizes, and our new “724” variety) on hand. We also have FREE hard-hat inserts for your ball cap to reduce head injuries.
If you are going to attend a workparty, please make sure that your Laffey membership is paid-up.
Joyce Hanau, Laffey Association Membership Chairperson: membership@laffey.org 347-439-2452
Membership online application: https://laffey.org/wordpress/index.php/members/
If you have some of these items sitting around your home, we could use them on board to help reduce our workparty expenditures:
Food in cans or jars.
Clean rags.
Cleaning solutions of all kinds.
Cleaning supplies: sponges, buckets, 3M pads
Shop supplies: Sandpaper, steel wool, work gloves, paint brushes, any other expendable shop supplies you have lying around.
Each work day will begin with coffee ready at 7AM, then breakfast will begin around 7:30 – 7:45. At 8AM, as we are finishing up breakfast, we will have a short briefing to lay out the plan for the day. At the end of the day, at 5PM-ish, we will have a “hotwash” debrief- reviewing what was done that day and letting us what you need for the following day. We will do this each day, so please do your best to be present for these so we can all communicate most effectively. If you do not have a “new” ID badge, issued within the last five years, I will get you lined up to have one issued on Monday morning, until then, find a buddy to get you on the pier. Please note, the badge issuing individual and location changed in summer 2024.
Folks… the future of our Association and our work contributions to the Laffey are in your hands! We really need for each of you to take an active role in recruiting new work party participants. We are down to a small and finite group of our original crewmembers that are still able to attend work parties. If every member of our Association could recruit just one son, daughter, or grandchild of a crewmember to come join us, we could continue our work into the future. If relatives are not available, think about Veterans you know or patriotic friends who would like to give back and ask them to contact me via phone or email.
Please send these links to friends:
https://www.volunteermatch.org/search/opp3843713.jsp
https://laffey.org/wordpress/index.php/work-party/
Regards,
Mike Honsinger
President, USS Laffey Association
President@Laffey.org
MikeHonsinger@SBCGlobal.net
281-923-4969