A new year for creating and sustaining a culture of growth.
Dear American Legion members,
As your new Membership & Post Activities Committee chairman, I hope to help you successfully meet our organization’s strategic goal for creating and sustaining a culture of membership growth. And with National Commander Charles E. Schmidt’s new member goal of 100,000, we need to keep the membership thermometer rising.
I encourage all of you help the membership thermometer rise and earn the commander’s “Carry the Legacy Forward” membership pin by recruiting three new members. You can set up a table at your local grocery or hardware store and just ask!
Another way to achieve new members is by placing a greater emphasis on the Legion’s Four Pillars of service. Each pillar is supported by a cadre of programs, so I encourage post commanders to engage their post in one or more of the programs if they are not already doing so. The following are just a few programs of the Four Pillars that you can support:
Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation: System Worth Saving, post and department service officers, homeless veterans outreach and VA voluntary service.
National Security: Blood Donation Program, disaster preparedness and illegal immigration.
Americanism: Boys State and Boys Nation, Legion Baseball, Oratorical Contest, Junior Shooting Sports, Youth Cadet Law Enforcement Program, Boy Scouts, Operation Comfort Warriors, flag education, Legacy Scholarship and Veterans in the Classroom.
Children & Youth: The Child Welfare Foundation, Family Support Network, Temporary Financial Assistance, April is Children & Youth Month and child safety.
The time is now team American Legion! Let’s tell
America who we are and what we do in communities across this nation. You can start by publishing a summarized version of your Consolidated Post Report in your local newspapers; highlight what you do for veterans, servicemembers, their families and children and youth. Imagine communities nationwide reading about The American Legion! Call it a media blitz, but I say it’s long overdue. Your department adjutant has a list of media contacts for your state.
Thank you for the opportunity to serve this great organization as your Membership & Post Activities Committee chairman.
- Dispatch