Thanks to more than 900,000 small donations from American Legion Family members around the world and a commitment of funds from concerts performed by Polish pianist Ignace Paderewski, The American Legion Endowment Fund is established with a principle corpus of $5 million and a purpose to provide financial assistance to disabled veterans and needy children.

National Commander James A. Drain goes on to serve as first president of the American Legion Endowment Fund Corp. and works closely with legendary American Legion Child Welfare Director Emma Puschner to develop a “whole child” plan that seeks to ensure that the children of veterans have opportunities for “home, health, education, character and opportunity.”