Legion Family caravan boosts membership

Legion Family caravan boosts membership

For the Department of Illinois American Legion Family, December is a time of preparation for its annual membership caravan that occurs in January.

The caravan began 18 years ago when the department noticed a decline in membership after the holiday season, never moving more than two percentage points during the month of January. To get membership back on the minds of Legion Family members, the caravan of 10 to 20 department, Auxiliary and Sons of The American Legion members visit 19 posts in several districts over the course of nine days in January. Letters are mailed to all 800 posts to notify members of where and when the caravan will stop so members will turn in membership cards. Last year, the caravan collected 2,000 membership cards.

Since the caravan began, Past National Commander Marty Conatser of Champaign, Ill., said membership numbers are now no less than five percent in January.

"It causes members to have to go out and work membership in January – to get the renewals or sign up new members so they have something to turn in at the caravan," Conatser said. "Instead of the big Christmas lull, it gets us back to doing what we know we should have been doing all the time, which is focusing on membership.

"And ours is truly a family caravan. We make it a big issue during our travels that we are the Legion Family."

A national leader also participates in the caravan to discuss important Legion issues, answer questions and promote the chosen fundraiser. Last year, the caravan raised nearly $5,800 for the Legion’s National Emergency Fund program. And this year’s national leader will be Past National Commander Dan Dellinger.

"The caravan is a motivational tool for us," Conatser said. "It increases membership, it gets us back to working membership, and it gives us a chance to take a national representative to an individual post. Many of posts will say that they never had a national officer visit before. So it’s an honor that out of 800 Illinois posts, only 19 get selected. We sell that as a positive."