Pandemic doesn’t stop support for Legacy Scholarship

Deanna Woodburn rode on the back of her father’s motorcycle for over a week last August. The trip was one she had been waiting for – a promise made by her father that would happen when she turned 18.

Deanna and her father, American Legion Department of Illinois Membership Director Chad Woodburn, rode together in the 2019 American Legion Legacy Run.

“It was so much fun,” said Deanna, the secretary for Auxiliary Unit 635 in Normal, Ill. “I always wanted to go on the ride because I thought about my dad and grandpa (the late Terry Woodburn, who was the longtime Department of Illinois adjutant and former chairman of the National American Legion Riders Advisory Committee) going on the ride.”

The annual Legacy Run raises money for The American Legion Legacy Scholarship Fund, which provides scholarships for children whose parents lost their lives while honorably serving on active duty on or after 9/11, as well as for children of post-9/11 veterans with a combined 50 percent or higher VA disability rating.

To her surprise, Deanna became a recipient of the scholarship she rode thousands of miles in support of and helped fundraise for.

“I was so happy. I never thought I would actually get it,” said Deanna, who is starting her sophomore year at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I. “I started to cry so hard because, I still get emotional thinking about it, I not only got a big hug from my mom but I felt this huge hug and it wasn’t someone physically there … it was someone spiritually there. Just gave me this huge hug and it was my grandpa. I could hear him talking to me and he said, ‘I am so proud of you.’ It’s like he’s still trying to take care of us.”

Safety concerns surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic have canceled the 15th annual Legacy Run – the primary fundraiser for The American Legion Legacy Scholarship Fund – that was scheduled for this month. However, donations to the Legacy Fund are still vital to continue providing scholarships to youth like Deanna. So The American Legion has created a tiered donation program to provide an alternative way for individual American Legion Family members to contribute to the fund.

Donations to the Legacy Fund through this program are accepted now through Sept. 30 at www.legion.org/riders/legacyrun/donation.

Tier 1 – $15. Donors receive a thank-you card signed by the national commander and American Legion Riders chairman.
Tier 2 – $25. Donors receive a 15th Anniversary challenge coin.
Tier 3 – $50. Donors receive a 15th Anniversary Ride t-shirt.
Tier 4 – $75. Donors receive a Legacy Run 15 years in review booklet, the ride’s main patch and a “Quarantined 2020 Riding in Spirit” rocker.
Tier 5 – $250. Donors receive all the above items.

Additionally, The American Legion maintains a reward program that recognizes $500 and above donations made by individuals, posts or departments. These donations are either sent in to national, presented at the national convention or donated at stop points on the Legacy Run. The reward structure for those donations are:

The first $500 donor receives a plaque with a Legacy Run coin affixed within. The plaque has five coin slots for consecutive years.
Each year after every $500 or more donated, another coin is awarded (minimum donation amount received for all five years is $2,500).
When the plaque is filled with five coins, another plaque is awarded and the reward program starts over.