America 250 chairman briefs national convention on initiative to celebrate nation’s 250th birthday.
When she was 11 years old, Rosie Rios witnessed the United States’ bicentennial. She even still has her bicentennial quarter.
But more than memories of that celebration, the former U.S. Treasury secretary carries feelings she experienced as she watched the fireworks overhead.
“I remember thinking to myself that if my mother could leave everything behind in Mexico, if she could come to this great nation and raise me and my eight siblings on her own, with the help of our church, and somehow send all nine of us off to college, that anything was possible,” Rios said. “So on July 4, 1976, I felt like I was, and still am, the American Dream.”
Almost 50 years later, Rios is now leading the entity geared toward helping Americans celebrate the nation’s 250th birthday, She’s chairman of the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission, also known as America 250 and whose mission is to inspire Americans to celebrate and commemorate the nation’s 250th birthday through a variety of programs and initiatives. Rios shared the commission’s mission with delegates to The American Legion National Convention in Tampa on Aug. 27.
“This is not just about a big fireworks show on July 4, 2026,” Rios said. “This milestone gives us an opportunity to reflect on our past and what we want to be 250 years from now. It’s a chance for all of us to ask, ‘What is the spirit of America?’ And to me, a few ideas capture the essence of the American spirit, but none better than the spirit of America focused on service. Public service is part of the fabric of our nation.”
Rios said America 250 is “building a movement that will last long past the fireworks, with tentpole programming that is unprecedented in scope and scale,” she said. Included in that is America Gives, an initiative that challenges businesses, non-profits, schools, youth groups, faith-based networks and organizations of all kinds to commit to increasing their level of volunteering and impact starting on Jan 1, 2026, through Dec. 31 of next year.
“America Gives will be the largest service initiative in the history of our country,” she said. “Our goal is to aggregate all the volunteer hours in this country. And we hope to keep that momentum going even long after 2026. Whether it’s mentoring a student, volunteering through your local Legion (post) or lending your time to a cause that matters to you, every hour of service makes a difference.”
Rios also talked about the Our American Story initiative, which is collecting thousands of recorded interviews from every state centered around themes of identity, service, community, and personal legacy. Along each stop, the initiative will feature local activation events, media opportunities and community engagement activities. A select set of stories will be preserved at the Library of Congress; others will be shared with the public through collaborations with documentary filmmakers, broadcast outlets and digital platforms.
“This will be the largest oral history project in our country,” Rios said. “It’s our effort to collect and preserve America’s stories. We are hitting all 56 parts of our country: all 50 states, the District of Columbia and all five territories.”
Rios asked the Legion to support America 250, noting that every state has a program chairman. “A lot of your priorities and your values align with what we’re trying to do at the U.S. Semiquincentennial Commission,” she said. “Your focus on service, on mental health and, of course, on civics education is something that we all want to aspire to also contribute to on this journey to our 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.”
- Convention