Community engagement results in membership boost

American Legion Veterans Memorial Post 347 in Lady Lake, Fla., is the largest post in the organization with more than 6,650 members. The post had the biggest growth in membership with over 286 new members, not including transfers from the headquarters post, to achieve 103 percent in membership for the 2018-2019 year. It’s Post 347’s 31st consecutive year of having an all-time high in membership.

The post, which is near The Villages where 19,000 veterans live, grows its membership by keeping active in the community. To name a few of its efforts, Post 347 sends 10 young men to Florida Boys State; sponsors Boy Scout Troop and Cub Pack 244; hosts Village Honor Flight sendoffs and returns; supports JROTC programs, summer reading at the library for youth and other local youth programs such as baseball and soccer; provides financial support for a school lunch program at an elementary school for children in need; and delivers food baskets to less fortunate families for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Post 347 also pays for the rehabilitation of any veteran that enters the addiction program at the House of Hope in Wildwood; pays the dues for World War II veterans, members with 50 or more continuous years, active-duty servicemembers, and 20 members at a nearby correctional facility. The post sponsors activities for Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Fourth of July and serves a Thanksgiving dinner. The post’s parking lot and hall is used for emergency relief efforts, and in the last year alone Post 347 has donated more than $120,000 to memberships, American Legion programs and charities, and other and local events and programs.

The American Legion Dispatch wants to hear from posts on the ways they increased membership for 2018-2019. To share, email Dispatch at dispatch@legion.org.