Below are the totals for the National Emergency Fund, Commander’s Challenge. Florida has contributed $16,587 so far, that’s 46% of our goal. As a reminder, the deadline is August 1st. If you have any outstanding donations, please send them in.
NATIONAL EMERGENCY FUND – COMMANDER CHALLENGE TOTALS
LETTER FROM THE DEPARTMENT ADJUTANT
July 21, 2015
Dear Legionnaires,
During The American Legion, Department of Florida Annual State Convention a Resolution was adopted to increase membership dues. I wanted to take a moment to review with you the two significant reasons, membership challenges and budgetary concerns, which lead to the adoption of this Resolution.
1. MEMBERSHIP CHALLENGES
Over the past 6 years, The American Legion Department of Florida has suffered a dramatic decrease in membership due to an increase in member death, combined with a reduction in new member recruitment and renewals.
2. BUDGETARY CONCERNS
This potential decrease in membership revenue for the 2015/2016 fiscal year has placed a significant strain on the Department’s annual budget. Any continued reduction in revenue will require scaling back and/or eliminating many programs and services of The American Legion Department of Florida.
Details of the Resolution to increase dues are included below:
· National dues will increase $5.00, from $13.50 to $18.50
· State dues will increase $3.00, from $7.50 to $10.50
· In total, dues will increase $8.00, from $21.00 to $29.00
· This per capita dues increase will take effect on January 20, 2016.
· Posts that pay all dues by December 31, 2015 will avoid the increase for the first year.
· Each Post has the discretion to raise their dues based on the consent of their membership.
· Posts 400 and 208 dues will be raised by $8.00 per member effective January 20, 2016.
As you are well aware, properly caring for our veterans and families is a national imperative. Passing this Resolution allows The American Legion, Department of Florida to continue meeting its obligation to the community, state and nation as articulated in the Preamble of The American Legion Constitution.
Having adopted this Resolution to secure our future, let us now come together to increase membership, and continue serving those who served.
For God and Country,
Michael McDaniel
Department Adjutant
BOYS NATION ELECTION ONE FOR THE HISTORY BOOKS
On July 21, the 2015 class of Boys Nation senators elected a president and vice president in grand style.
The young men kicked things off in the same manner the program follows every year. The senators sat quietly and observed the presidential candidates’ campaign speeches. Following the speeches, the senators had a couple of hours to talk to the candidates offline and consider who they would cast their vote for.
After partaking in a meal together and a meet and greet with Jeffery Cole, a Marine Corps veteran who received the Silver Star for his actions in Afghanistan, it was time to vote. With their state signs in hand, the senators lined up and took turns verbally casting their votes for the new Boys Nation president.
The race was close, but Nationalist Aravind Byju, of Osprey, Fla., took home the victory, winning by a close vote of 50 to 46 with two abstentions.
“Right now this whole experience has been absolutely surreal for me, and it really has not hit me,” Byju said. “I am very blessed to be where I am and to have all the opportunity that I have enjoyed.”
Still fired up after the results of the presidency, the boys rolled right into the vote for vice president, which resulted in a tie – the first time in more than 30 years. Luckily, Boys Nation Activity Director and Past National Commander Bob Turner, who has been a part of the program for more than 30 years, knew just how to handle the situation.
“It’s always been said and written that in case of a tie – rather than do the whole (voting) process again – we do a coin flip. Everything went perfect and the young men knew beforehand that was the way we were going to solve it.”
Down to the wire, vice president candidates Federalist Peter Spectre and Nationalist Diab Eid watched as Turner flipped the coin that would decide their fate. After selecting the red side of the coin, Eid’s eyes followed the coin as it flipped in the air, landing on the blue side. Just like that – at the flip of a coin – Spectre’s vice presidency was confirmed.
“It was one of the closest elections I’ve ever seen in my time here,” Turner said. “We have had a lot that were close — even down to one point, but we’ve never had a tie.”
After a quick hug, the two candidates joined the rest of the group to celebrate.
Reflecting on their wins, the newly elected Boys Nation president and vice president said they were thankful to have made it so far in the election process, and they hope to take what they have learned home with them and build on their successes.
“I would not be anything without all of those who have supported me, and I want to thank my Legion Post 159 that sponsored me, and my entire family and my brother who is my inspiration,” Byju said. “I am very humbled, and I can only hope to make everyone proud.”
See more, click here.
SOURCE: www.legion.org
By Andrea Dickerson – July 22, 2015
2015 SUMMER RAFFLE WINNER RECEIVES CHECK
Congratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Donald Brimer for winning $20,000 in our 2015 Sizzlin’ Summer Raffle! They are members of Post 312 in Bradenton, FL. Department Commander, Jim Ramos, and Department NECA, Art Schwabe, presented their winnings at Department Headquarters on July 21st.
The raffle was mailed out to the Department of Florida membership in early Spring and winners were selected at the 97th Annual Department Convention last month. Mr. and Mrs. Brimer won first place, collecting $20,000. Second place, a cruise to the winner’s choice of destination, was awarded to Robert D. DeLeon from Bethel, CT. Howard R. Hess from Post 347 in Ocala was the Third Place Winner of the $1,000 cash prize.
Stay tuned for future opportunities to participate in the Department of Florida Raffles!
Emblem Sales is Accepting orders for 2016 Membership Shirts!
Make sure that you have your 2016 Membership Shirt in time for the Membership Workshop!
Shirts can be personalized with up to 4 lines of embroidery on the right chest, or you can order the shirt with no personalization. Shirts will be available for shipping in early July, or you can pick up your shirts at the Membership Workshop (subject to 7% Indiana sales tax.)
Important Dates:
Personalized shirts will be shipped 3 weeks after we have your order:
- Order by July 13th to have them before the Membership Workshop, whether we are shipping them to you or you are picking them up at the workshop
Non-personalized shirts will be available for delivery in early July:
- Order any time – will ship in early July
- Order by July 31 if you are picking them up at the workshop
To order:
- Fill out order form
- Write “Membership Workshop” as the Ship To if you are picking them up during the workshop.
- If multiple shirts are ordered, please use “Personalization Form”
Fax: 317-630-1381
Phone: 888-453-4466
FLORIDA YOUTH WINS ORATORICAL
Geeta Minocha won The American Legion’s Oratorical Contest finals in Indianapolis April 12.
(Photo by Lucas Carter)
Speaking in front of dozens of people on a topic she was given less than 10 minutes earlier wasn’t nerve-wracking for Geeta Minocha. Waiting to speak was the tough part.
Minocha, a senior from Vanguard High School in Ocala, Fla., emerged from 52 contestants to win first place in this weekend’s American Legion 78th Annual High School Oratorical Scholarship Program – “A Constitutional Speech Contest.” First place earned Minocha an $18,000 college scholarship and an all-expense paid trip to the Legion’s national convention in Baltimore this summer.
Minocha, sponsored by Ocala Memorial Post 27, won for her prepared oration, “Our Greatest Honor,” and then for her assigned oration on the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which granted American women the right to vote.
“There is a lot of pressure to it,” Minocha said. “I think most of the pressure actually comes from just waiting to actually get up and deliver the speeches you have to give. That was my biggest time of anxiety: when I was sitting in the holding room waiting to actually give my speech to the audience.”
Rowan Macwan, a high school junior from Naperville, Ill., earned a $16,000 college scholarship with a second-place finish, while Emma Skahill, a senior from Earlham, Iowa, earned a $14,000 scholarship and finished third. The other department-level winners and semifinalists each earned scholarship money, bringing the weekend total to more than $130,000 provided by The American Legion.
“This will provide me an outlet to pursue really my career, my dreams, my passion,” Minocha said. “Paying for (college) was always a huge concern for me, so now that I have at least a scholarship to help me out, I’m a bit at more at ease with myself and my family about that.
“(And) I think it’s given me a lot of confidence in myself. It’s a sort of this realization that I can do what I put my mind to.”
In her prepared oration, Minocha pointed out that the Constitution was not a document that could have declared George Washington a king, but was instead a document “remodeling the government of the United States.” She lamented that voter turnout is now the lowest since the 1940s.
“Who we vote for matters,” Minocha said. “The leaders we elect should reflect the spirit of our society. Their main goal should be the preservation of our rights as written in our founding document. Failure to vote, then, is the equivalent of rejecting the freedoms bestowed on each individual by our Constitution. These freedoms, like a family heirloom, should be treasured and held dear. But it appears we have begun to take these freedoms for granted.”
In her assigned oration on the 19th Amendment, Minocha said that while the amendment paved the way for progress, more work remained. “We must continue to fight for a society in which every citizen is treated equally and treated fairly,” she said.
In each round of the weekend competition, orators delivered a rehearsed 8- to 10-minute address and a randomly assigned 3- to 5-minute oration on a constitutional topic, each without the benefit of notes and in front of a live audience, including the judges.
The Legion developed the contest to encourage young people to improve their communications skills and to study the U.S. Constitution. More than $3 million in scholarships have been awarded over the history of the contest.
“We use these programs to weave those kids into the fabric that is this nation,” said American Legion National Commander Michael D. Helm, who flew from Boston to attend the competition. “That’s something we continue to support in all of our programs, but Oratoricals is the epitome of all of that.”
Minocha said the fact the competition was sponsored by an organization comprised of veterans carried its own honor. “That to me is a source of great price, that I can participate in this contest and do really what they wanted our youth to do – to learn about the government and to serve the country in some way,” she said. “I’m glad I got to do that today.”
Source URL: http://www.legion.org/oratorical/226815/florida-youth-wins-oratorical-finals
Links: http://www.legion.org/print/226815