Legionnaires,
Below is the Post 501 E-newsletter for the month of February 2022.
Commanders Corner: At the start of each of our Legion monthly meetings we recite the American Legion Preamble, Preamble to the Constitution | The American Legion. Have you ever sat down to think about what these words mean? The preamble is how we hail The American Legion as an unparalleled force in these United States for social betterment and devotion to mutual helpfulness. Today, America is extending its helpful hands all over the world through our assistance programs of foreign aid. It all came about because the veterans of World War I came home enriched with wonderful ties of friendship and gave those ties a meaning by consecrating them to the ideal of mutual helpfulness. The American Legion Preamble has been the beacon light of The American Legion for more than 100 years. Remember this as we go about our lives and Legion business.
Membership Update: As of today, we have 126 renewals, which means that we are at approximately 84% to goal. We are almost to goal. Let’s get this over the goal line with the remaining few that need to renew. If you still need to renew go to www.legion.org.
As a reminder we have a membership incentive program that will reimburse 50% of your membership fee and will also pay for 50% of the fee for the new members first year. Additionally current members who bring in 3 or more new members, within a membership season, will be eligible to receive a Legion Membership pin. If you have a qualified individual that wants to join our Post contact our Post Membership Officer Eric Hollan at ericwhollan@gmail.com.
Joint Awards Banquet: The American Legion Post 501 & VFW Post 9024 will be having our annual Joint Awards Banquet at the Green Mill Restaurant on 24 Feb 2022. As a Legion Post we will be awarding our first Eagle Scout of the Year Award & presenting a Veterans Memorial paver certificate to a Woodbury teacher. The banquet starts at 5pm with a social hour, dinner at 6pm (free to you) and the awards presentation at 7pm. A separate email will be going out soliciting members for attendance to the awards banquet.
Poppy Days 2022: We discussed 2022 poppy distribution at our January monthly meeting. Like last year we will be doing 2 poppy distributions. The first one will be in May, led by the American Legion, and the second distribution in Sept, led by the VFW Post. We are tentatively looking at 13-15 May for the first poppy distribution. Once we have agreement with VFW Post 9024 on the May dates we will contact the merchants for their agreement prior to May distribution. Once we have the merchants onboard, I will be sending out an email for Post volunteers for the May dates. I hope I can count on you to be part of both of these fund-raising events.
Memorial Day Event 2022: Planning is underway for planning the Memorial Day event for this year. It takes a lot of helping hands to put together this event. There are a lot of moving parts that require people to plan and execute. If you would like to be part of the planning process the meetings are held at Birdi Golf, Valley Creek Mall, on the first Wednesday of the month at 4pm. All help is most welcome and appreciated.
Buddy Checks: As Legionnaires, our most sacred responsibility is to look out for each other and our fellow veterans. We are living in unprecedented times with COVID-19. As Legion members we are encouraged to reach out to veterans who may need assistance but don’t know where to go or who to ask. We need to let the veterans in our community know we care and provide whatever assistance they may need. It’s what we do for our battle buddies. This is a Post activity that you can do in the comfort of your home and at your own pace. If you want to be part of these Buddy Checks give Commander Bob Dolan a call at 703-851-5416 or email at dolanrp@verizon.net and he can give you a group of people to call.
Upcoming Events
- 24 Feb - Joint Awards Banquet: The annual Joint Awards Banquet will be held on 24 Feb at the Green Mill restaurant. More information will be passed as we get closer to this event.
- 24 Mar – Woodbury Post 501 Monthly Meeting: The Post’s January meeting will be held at the Woodbury City Hall in the Ash North (main floor) conference room at 7pm.
This Month in History – National Freedom Day 1 February: It’s National Freedom Day! This day was founded to celebrate the freedoms we enjoy as U.S. citizens, freedoms that we should never take for granted. Specifically, the holiday commemorates the day in 1865 when President Abraham Lincoln signed what would later become the 13th Amendment. This amendment is so important because it effectively ended slavery in the United States. Freedom is one of the founding principles of the United States of America and this day was envisioned as a way for all citizens to take a moment to appreciate how lucky they are. We should all be thankful for the many freedoms we are afforded as citizens of this great country!
The only Easy Day was Yesterday.
