At the September/October program Linda Caldwell President of the SC MOAA Council was our guest speaker. Linda Caldwell initiated and is Director of the Aiken County Hometown Hero Banner Project. The Project started in 2019 with initially 22 banners in Aiken. Now there are over 200 banners in Aiken and 125 banners in North Augusta. Linda l described the makeup of the State Council with the ten local chapter presidents in the state being members along with the usual array of board members. One difference in board makeup from the local chapters is there are two Legislative VPs, one for state legislation and one for national matters.  The State Chapter meets quarterly.  The President also meets periodically via Zoom with other State Council presidents nationwide. Currently there are 400 state councils and local councils nationwide. In South Carolina there are 7,500 national members and 1,150 surviving spouses.  Only 10% belong to local chapters or between 850-1,000 members. MOAA National has 360,000 members and is a 501(c)19 organization. This means that 75% of the membership must be veterans or current active-duty members to receive tax exemption or liability coverage. MOAA’s main purpose is to advocate for the passage veteran legislation such as the PACT Act. Linda described the annual Advocacy in Action process where the State Council Presidents meet with congressional members from their state to discuss three issues that impact that state such as protection of Tricare For Life. The state and local chapters act independently from National MOAA. This means they are not covered under National MOAA’s tax exemptions or liability coverage and must provide their own. It is imperative that state and local chapters follow copyright laws.  A local chapter in Hawaii was recently fined for using a copyrighted photo in their newsletter. As State Council President, CPT Caldwell also is a member of  the Palmetto Alliance for Military Legislation.  A Chapter coin was presented to our guest speaker by Terry Greenfield.