As The American Legion prepares to celebrate its 103rd birthday March 15, a perfect way to celebrate is to make Buddy Checks.
The American Legion’s Buddy Check program initally started for posts to conduct them twice a year — the week of American Legion Birthday and Veterans Day. Since the program has demonstrated success, posts conduct them year round.
As The American Legion prepares to celebrate its 103rd birthday March 15, a perfect way to celebrate is to make Buddy Checks. Ask your members and other veterans about their wellbeing and how the post can support them. To get started, download the Buddy Check Toolkit at www.legion.org/membership/buddycheck.
Ron Rising, PhD, a service officer at American Legion Post 141 in West Palm Beach, Fla., got started on making Buddy Checks by first downloading the toolkit. “It provided me with a clear and concise approach to getting a Buddy Check program accomplished,” he said. He then asked the post adjutant for a list of Post 141 members and made a database of phone numbers from the list. “I solicited help from our post members and put together a team of eager volunteers. Using the Buddy Check script, we called our members.
“Our response from the contacts we made was overwhelming. Many were ecstatic to hear from us. Nobody was unreceptive. Most were glad that we made an effort to call them. The feedback from the post team members was a sense of accomplishment and pride in a job well done.
“Overall, the mission was accomplished. Not only did we get a gauge of our post’s health, but we were also able to get a more precise snapshot of our post member database. We did get quite a few renewals and members saying they would try to stop by the post more often. It was a great experience, and we plan on making it a regular effort.”
- Dispatch