'The right purpose in the community'

A 29-year career in the U.S. Army gave Legionnaire Vickie Smith-Dikes the confidence and leadership skills to believe successfully starting a new post in her city of Columbus, Ga., was possible.

But believing doing something is possible and doing it are two different things – normally. But they’re not in the case of Smith-Dikes and her fellow Eddie L. Roberts Post 333 charter members.

Chartered in May 2014, Post 333 grew to more than 1,100 members last year – half of which are active-duty military personnel – and, as of late September, the post already had more than 450 paid up for this membership year.

Smith-Dikes and 25 other Legionnaires set out to establish a Legion post focused solely on conducting Legion programs – and made that mission very clear to potential members. “I think the one thing we really had to do was make people realize what The American Legion was, what it was supposed to do and about the four pillars of The American Legion,” she said.

Smith-Dikes, a 21-year member of the Legion, served in the Army from 1976-2004 and retired as a command sergeant major. She now works as a civilian Department of Defense employee at nearby Fort Benning. Her military experience is what made her believe Post 333 could succeed.

“Being the leader that I am, I had confidence we could make this work,” she said. “(But) if we didn’t have people that had the same ideas that I had … then I don’t think we could have made it work.”

Post 333 Adjutant Hazel Taylor, a 19-year Legionnaire, was one of those who had the same idea. She admitted the idea of starting a new post seemed daunting at first.

“I was a little apprehensive when we first started,” she said. “We were not trying to become a big, huge post. But once we started having our meetings and saw the attendance at our meetings … they come, faithfully, every month. They know what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, and some of them want to get involved.”

Taking that approach brought new members into the Legion while inspiring those who were members but had yet to become active. One of those, Modonna Moore, had been a Legion member for seven years but didn’t become involved in post activities until she got to Post 333, where she’s now the historian. “When I heard them talking about this post … I said, ‘I want to be a part of something doing something for the community,’” she said. "I just wanted to be a part of something.”

Others, like Charles Bauknight, had never even joined the organization. “There were a lot of myths out there about The American Legion,” he said. “I had no intention of joining The American Legion at all. After I talked to Edgar Johnson, he kind of gave me a little education about what The American Legion really does. I was very surprised.”

Johnson, a Post 333 vice commander and the Legion’s 2015 National Recruiter of the Year, has helped inspire other post members to go out and recruit new Legionnaires by creating competitions within the post.

“Now you’ve got everybody out trying to bring veterans in,” he said. “It may not bring 20 or 30 members in, but when they’re out there competing against one another, it feel s great when they stand up at the podium (to be honored).”

Recruiting new members is taken seriously by many in the post. Department Junior Vice Commander Pat Liddell, a member of Post 333, said she’ll recruit wherever she goes and that “most of us in 333 will do that.”

It makes it easier to recruit when people know what the post stands for, which is why Liddell said 333 tried to get that message out as quickly as possible. “We wanted our community to know that we weren’t our grandfathers’ or great-grandfathers’ American Legion,” she said. “We were into doing what was supposed to be done for veterans’ families, veterans and the community.”

That kind of brand awareness is critical. “It’s important so that people know exactly what you stand for, exactly what you’re doing, exactly what your mission is,” Smith-Dikes said. "People want to know that you have the right purpose in the community … that you’re looking to help somebody else, rather than for what you can get out of it.”

What Post 333 has been able to do in such a short period of time impressed District 3 Commander Mark Shreve. “This post is an amazing post – not only because they can recruit, but because of their community service,” he said. “I’ve been able to participate in some of the activities that they’ve had. They do a lot of community projects, which leads to brand awareness. They’re really great at what they do in the community.”

Shreve works in Columbus and said his fellow employees know of his Legion involvement. “At any given time, somebody at my job can come up to me and say, ‘So and so here needs help,’ and I’m able to reach … to Pat or Vickie and say, ‘There’ s a veteran that needs assistance. Can you help?’”

The post already has sponsored an Oratorical Contest participant, assisted veterans with Department of Veterans Affairs issues and put together more than a dozen Thanksgiving baskets for needy families in the community. Named for a former Army sergeant major who stayed active after retirement by helping youth and soldiers in his community, the post currently meets at Faith Tabernacle Community Church.

Talk already has started about fundraising to start a building fund and eventually get their own facility. But a lack of a facility hasn’t hindered the post’s progress – or the optimism it has created in others. Immediate Past Department of Georgia Commander Randy Goodman said he had the opportunity to speak at the post’s one-year anniversary dinner.

“The place was packed,” Goodman said. “For a first-year post, it’s quite unusual. I was able to come away with the idea that this post is going to make it, and it’s going to do well for the department.”

Failure was never an option, Post 333’s members have said more than once. And success feels pretty good.

“Words cannot express how proud I am,” Smith-Dikes said. “I’m just overjoyed we’ve done this, and that people have seen what we’re trying to do and decided to be a part of us.”