Gabriel Bostwick, a 12-year-old who is in home hospice care while battling terminal cancer, wanted a chance to see Santa Claus and feel the holiday spirit one more time. His community, including multiple American Legion Riders, were more than happy to accommodate his wish.
On July 21, more than 70 motorcyclists joined with more than 200 other area residents to bring Christmas to Gabriel and his parents at their home in Navarre, Fla. Legion Family members from American Legion Post 382 in Navarre and Post 378 in Gulf Breeze were among the contingent, which sang Christmas carols, delivered presents, and provided a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus, as well as some other North Pole inhabitants.
Ashley Correa, who works at the Studer Family Children’s Hospital at Ascension Sacred Heart and is a member of the American Legion Family at Post 378, learned about Gabriel’s wish and that an event had been planned. She contacted Post 382 Commander Jason Skobel, the past ALR director at the post, to share what was planned.
“He knows we do the ‘Ride for the Claus’ during Christmas, and she said this family was wanting to do a Christmas in July for (Gabriel),” said Skobel, who also serves as District 1 first vice commander and Department of Florida Western Area ALR chairman. “I put the word out there in our district with our Riders, and … we had overwhelming support for this kid.”
Skobel said there were around seven different motorcycle organizations involved, including at least four American Legion Riders chapters. “When we arrived there, there already were some members of the community and neighbors lined up along the street,” he said. “But when they saw 75, 100 motorcycles pull up in front of their house, just seeing the look on the parents’ faces and that kids face, just goosebumps, hair standing up all over. It was just, there were really no words to describe it.
“Just seeing that little kid smile and his dad pushing his wheelchair just to take a look at all the bikes lined up on the street – I just kind of stood in the back for awhile and was watching all the riders. It’s funny to see all these older, big gentlemen – the burly riders – flipping their sunglasses down so you can’t see the tears coming out of their eyes.”
The American Legion – Last spring, flooding hit the Columbia and Suwannee County Toys for Tots chapter’s collection center at the Florida Gateway Fairgrounds in Lake City. News reports had more than 50 boxes of donations being ruined, along with damage to the center itself.
When nearby American Legion Riders Chapter 57 learned that a charity it has supported for years was in trouble, it developed a plan to assist. And that plan turned into another large fundraiser conducted by the chapter.
Since 2018 – with the exception of 2020, when the pandemic canceled the event – Chapter 57 has staged fall fundraisers for Toys for Tots, raising around $40,000 in the process. Another one is planned for this year, but after hearing about the loss of toys due to the flooding, the chapter wanted to do something else: Christmas in July for Toys for Tots.
“(Toys for Tots) lost about $3,000 worth of toys, and we wanted to help them replenish that,” said ALR Chapter 57 Director Bill Huggins, who also serves as Post 57’s first vice commander. “It’s a popular program in the community. Its coordinator (Inga Dwyer) is really well known in the community. She told me we helped 3,500 children last year. And it gives us a chance to get out and ride. It’s one of the Four Pillars. We do a lot of other things, but Toys for Tots is the most prominent thing we do.”
Planning for this year’s fundraiser started in May and included delivery of 165 meals at $10 each to local car dealers to feed their employees on the day of the event. While delivering the meals, members of Chapter 57 also picked up toys donated there.
Volunteering during the event were 44 Post 57 American Legion Family members, who served meals while conducting multiple auctions. Close to 400 toys, stocking stuffers and books also were collected on the day of the event. The chapter also was able to pick up sponsorships to help defer the fundraiser’s cost.
Union County JROTC students provided the posting of the colors and also helped with set-up and clean-up. A classic car show also took place throughout the event.
Tallying everything up and subtracting expenses, Huggins estimates around $8,000 was raised to donate to Toys for Tots.
“We were hoping to have 10 gift baskets for our auction, and we had one donor come through with 10 baskets by himself,” Huggins said. “We got a lot of buy-in in the community. (WCJB) Channel 20 picked it up and ran it on the news.”
Huggins is quick to credit organizer Lisa Dye, a fellow Legion Rider and president of Auxiliary Unit 57, for putting together a successful event. “She stepped up and agreed to chair the event and organize the event,” he said. “And this was one of our best-organized events. The lines of communication with everyone were very open and very clear.”
And while the fundraiser was a Legion Riders event, Huggins said he and all of the other Riders are American Legion Family members first.
“Any time we do an event and if I get up and speak, I bring light to the fact that to be a Legion Rider, you first have to be a Legion Family member,” he said. “What you see … are Legion Family members with a love for motorcycles coming together to support our community.”
Formal American Legion meeting normally include a reference to U.S. servicemembers either consider prisoners of war or missing in action, as noted in Resolution 288.
And they should, says Atlantic Beach, Fla., Post 316 Commander Denny Luke. But the American Legion Rider also believes the POW/MIA issue needs to be shared outside of The American Legion community as often as possible.
That’s why Luke helped organize the Florida American Legion Riders’ first POW/MIA Remembrance Ride on Sept. 18, one day after National POW/MIA Recognition Day. Around 160 motorcycles and more than 200 participants took part in the ride.
Referencing the POW/MIA table and flag “is kind of like preaching to the choir,” Luke said. “But a lot of the general public doesn’t even know there’s a national POW/MIA Recognition Day. So I said ‘let’s take it out into the streets and just try to get it publicized.’ So there’s what we did.”
Two years ago during a state ALR leadership meeting, it was discussed riding to Andersonville, the former site of the Camp Sumter military prison – one of the largest Confederate military prisons during the Civil War – to observe POW/MIA Recognition Day. At that time Luke pointed out that a POW/MIA memorial was being built at the former Naval Air Station Cecil Field in Jacksonville, so the decision was made to ride there instead.
“I stood up and said ‘why do we want to go out of state when we can stay in-state and promote the ride for the state of Florida,’” said Luke, who previously served as Florida’s District 5 ALR chairman. “The response was overwhelming. Everyone there said ‘absolutely.’”
The pandemic pushed the ride back to 2021; planning started around nine months ago and included promoting the ride via social media, traditional media and by reaching out to department districts throughout the state; and working with local law enforcement and staff at the National POW/MIA Memorial & Museum.
Costs were covered by the Department of Florida’s ALR, but Department ALR Chairman Jim Wineland credited Luke with making the ride the success it was. “(Luke) gets 99 percent of the credit,” he said. “He’s the one that went out and beat all the bushes. He’s the one that jumped over the political fences to get this all together.”
The ride was able to coincide with Jacksonville’s POW/MIA ceremony and started at the Jacksonville Veterans Memorial Wall, traveling over the city’s seven bridges and crossing the St. Johns River before ending at the National POW/MIA Memorial near the Chapel of the High Speed Pass at the former Cecil Field.
Wineland said the goal of the ride was to keep the POW/MIA issue in the minds of the nation. “We don’t want it to get lost. We don’t it to be forgotten,” he said. “The only way you can keep it going is to keep it in front of people. We figured this was the best way to do it.
“There are a lot of people out there who don’t have closure with one of their relatives. We can just never forget what this all means.”
Hundreds of photos and videos of the ride were shared on social media. Click here to watch a video of the ride and here to see more photos.
“We had a wonderful event. Everyone had a good time,” Luke said. “Next year we hope to get it publicized a little bit more and double our attendance. We want to make this a premiere Southeast USA event.”
Mary Baer, 5, 6 & 10 p.m. anchor | News4JAX | Published: September 22, 2020
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A retired Navy veteran in Jacksonville should sleep easier now that a new roof has been put over his head at his home on the Westside. You can find more about the roofing companies here.
Alton Cook’s roof was leaking, so much so that he had buckets set up around his house to catch rainwater. American Legion Post 137 coordinated the effort to fix the roof, securing supplies from The Home Depot and enlisting Golden Hammer Roofing to help put it all together. Get help from commercial roof contractors for better services.
“He was dumping out buckets,” said Sher Arbogast, a neighbor. “An 87-year-old man does not deserve to empty buckets.”
“We’ve had holes in the ceiling, tarps on the roof, trying to get everything done for a couple of years now,” said Cook’s daughter-in-law, Jeanie.
“I had a couple of tarps in the garage. I thought maybe we would just try to get the leaking to stop,” said Rita Robbs with American Legion 137. “I put a Facebook notice out, nine people showed up. It was amazing.”
But that was just a bandage. Robbs called The Home Depot, knowing the company supports veterans.
“They met me right where I was at,” Robbs said. “They covered all the OSB boards. They covered all the shingles. They covered all the felt paper.”
Then she called Golden Hammer Roofing. The local company, owned by veterans, was eager to help. There is also roof replacement services one can count on in case of roof problems.
“Our mission statement is to give back to the communities in which we work and live,” said Dania Fadeley with Golden Hammer Roofing. “And we are very happy to be able to do that.”