I’m calling on you to make ‘Buddy Checks’

As active Legionnaires, you and I have an important stake in our time-honored mission, services and programs. Compassionate care for disabled veterans. Wholesome development of youth. Advocacy for a strong and appreciated military. Employment and education opportunities for those who have served in the U.S. armed forces. Effective response after natural disasters. Respect for the colors of our country. Honor for the fallen. And influence to advance the needs of veterans – and of a strong America. Without strong American Legion membership, values such as these go unfulfilled. To keep them front and center, we must work together now to make personal contact.

I’m calling on posts, districts, counties and departments to coordinate a team and call Legionnaires and former members simply to see how they are doing.
Ask if there is anything The American Legion can do for them. Perhaps they have been sick, lost a spouse or just need to know someone cares. Perhaps they simply forgot to renew their membership because no one called.

More important than membership renewal – or retrieval of Legionnaires whose memberships have expired – is the personal contact to see how local veterans are doing and act accordingly if they need help. This is not a membership campaign. It’s a comradeship campaign.

The week leading up the Legion’s 100th birthday, March 11-16, is a perfect time to make the calls, but posts that have made other plans to celebrate the centennial at that time can choose another week in the centennial month if necessary.

A Buddy Check toolkit, including scripts for Legionnaires to use when making personal contact, is available online at www.legion.org/membership/buddycheck.

Remember, this organization was formed a century ago around personal contact and engagemen. This “Buddy Check” is about seeing how veterans are doing.
To discover that, it takes personal engagement.