The American Legion Department of South Dakota challenged each post to raise $753 to send one veteran on an honor flight; some posts donated thousands of dollars.
The “Send One” campaign of the American Legion Department of South Dakota challenged its more than 200 posts to fundraise and sponsor one local veteran on a Midwest Honor Flight. Cost to send one veteran is $753.
More than $180,000 was donated by South Dakota Legion posts in about eight months.
“We had a lot of posts that went way above and beyond. It was amazing,” said Department Adjutant Kevin Hemel.
The campaign got underway last summer following the South Dakota’s department convention. It was an initiative brought forth by the Membership and Marketing Committee as a service project to provide more visibility statewide on what the Department of South Dakota does for its veterans and communities, and to help a local organization that serves veterans in the state. Midwest Honor Flight serves veterans in Northwest Iowa, South Dakota and Southwest Minnesota. The committee also created the hashtag #sdlegionserving that posts used for any fundraising efforts held for the campaign and news media coverage.
The initial goal was to raise $50,000. This amount would allow the department naming rights for a Midwest Honor Flight. That amount was raised within three months. And “the money just grew and grew,” said Travise Flisrand, the department’s Membership and Marketing Committee chairman and past department adjutant.
With donations surpassing the goal, the department has already paid for nearly two Midwest Honor Flights along with theirs, which will be named the South Dakota American Legion Mission 13 Honor Flight. It leaves early October.
“No one could have imagined the way the posts pulled together,” Flisrand said. “It has been amazing to witness the achievements of our posts, the community engagement, and the incredible support of our veterans.”
The first check of $126,150 was presented on Veterans Day 2021 to Midwest Honor Flight President and Director Aaron Van Beek. The final check will be presented at the department’s state convention this June.
“We are grateful to have the South Dakota American Legion sponsor a flight for our veterans who are so deserving of this once-in-a-lifetime experience,” said Van Beek, a Sons of The American Legion member. “If America thought it was important to build a memorial to their service and sacrifice, Midwest Honor Flight believes it’s important for them to visit their memorial before it’s too late. This is a way to show our appreciation and say thank you to those who served, and we are grateful to each of the American Legion posts throughout the state of South Dakota that participated in this ‘Send One’ campaign for showing their support and gratitude for military veterans in such a generous way.”
Two donations kicked off the campaign – $10,000 from the South Dakota American Legion Foundation and $6,280 from Post 88 in White. “Post 88 kicked it off in a positive direction,” Flisrand said. The donation from Post 88, located in a town of less than 500 people, inspired other posts to act.
Post 88 Adjutant and District 5 Commander Matt Lagerstrom received calls from other posts “thanking me for embarrassing them into action,” he said. As an example, Post 15 in Sioux Falls, the largest post in the state, donated $7,500. “The post commander brought up that if a community of 500 can raise $6,200, we can raise more than that. That’s how he was able to engage the post and go out and raise what they did. By having an example from a smaller post, we pushed them to work harder. That’s something that my post members really take to heart; that’s been a huge boost to their morale. To be the spearhead that got everybody else going on it.”
Post 88 raffled off a zero-turn riding lawn mower, generator and power washer that together retailed for over $7,600 but the post was able to get it all for a reduced cost of around $4,500. The post printed 500 raffle tickets for $20 apiece. Between the raffle tickets and in-kind donations, the post raised over $11,000 which helped to offset the upfront raffle costs.
“It was a very proud moment,” Lagerstrom said. “Being able to enjoy that community support and really reflect upon what our community is all about. That was very gratifying. It became quite a civic pride to raise the money that we did.”
Lagerstrom added that the support “was a team effort. We’ve got a great group of guys, and we found a good cause and we were able to get the message out that hey this is important, and the community agreed. That’s what made it so successful.”
Three Korean War veteran members from Post 88 had the privilege last fall to participate in a Midwest Honor Flight and another one will be on the South Dakota American Legion Honor Flight.
Throughout the state, posts large and small held fundraisers such as pork loin dinners, pancake breakfasts, sweet corn sales, raffles and more to raise donations for “Send One.” But like Posts 88 and 15, many went beyond the sending one veteran. For example, Post 164 in Spearfish raised $3,559 through donations from the post, Auxiliary unit, Sons squadron and Legion Riders chapter; Post 25 in Madison raised $5,000 through its Thanksgiving Poultry Party; Post 63 in Lake Preston raised over $20,900 through fundraisers and community support; and Post 33 in Sturgis raised $6,024.
“Once we accepted the challenge, we figured ‘yeah, we’ll send one.’ Then we got to talking about it and thought wait, we can send more than one,” said Post 33 Commander Craig Sanderson. The post sponsored eight veterans on a Midwest Honor Flight through 50/50 raffles, silent auctions, spaghetti dinners and more. “We notified the radio and (news) TV what we were doing. People would come in and ask, ‘Is this the place for the Midwest Honor Flight?’ They would just hand us money. The community just got behind it.”
Thanks to the “Send One” campaign and outstanding efforts of South Dakota Legion Family members, 84 veterans will be sponsored by and on the South Dakota American Legion Honor Flight this fall.
“Being a Sons of The American Legion member and a proud family member of five Army servicemembers, I am so proud of the work of these veterans, their post families, and their communities for making this South Dakota American Legion Mission 13 possible this fall,” Van Beek said.
- Honor & Remembrance