Solicit smiles this holiday season

The holiday season can stir up different emotions and needs, which makes it a perfect time to perform Buddy Checks for your fellow veterans. See how they are doing, what they may need, and give them a voice to talk to. 

American Legion Department of Massachusetts District 4 Commander Scott Conner said it well when he shared with The American Legion that through Buddy Checks “you’re not soliciting money, you’re soliciting smiles.” 

This is very true. Conner added that, “We don’t leave them behind on the battlefield and we certainly aren’t going to leave them behind at home. The goal is to create a feeling of purpose with the phone call and that it will be become easier to do in the future.”

The American Legion has a Buddy Check toolkit to help you get started on making phone calls. You can download it 

 legion.org/buddychecks. Conner undertands that for some Legionnaires the desire to make Buddy Checks is there but how to start can be a setback. To help the 55 posts in his district make Buddy Checks, he sent each post commander and adjutant a PDF of the Buddy Check Toolkit and their post membership roster that he downloaded from MyLegion.org. 

“When I started doing Buddy Checks, there wasn’t a single veteran that I contacted who was annoyed that I called,” Conner said. “They were grateful that somebody called, somebody offered assistance of any type, to remind them that there’s veterans in your community and we’re all here to serve each other. I just really enjoyed that … just the genuineness of the Buddy Check program.”

I encourage each of you to make at least one Buddy Check during this holiday season. And solicit that smile.