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Commander’s Corner

Dianne Boland, Department Commander

Welcome! What an exciting year we have ahead of us. The American Legion will be “Celebrating 100 years of Service”. From 1919 – 2019, we have been supporting our Veterans, our Youth, Americanism and National Security. It is a great time to belong to the nation’s largest wartime veterans service organization.

There will be a state-wide Celebration in Crystal River on January 18-19, 2019. I hope you can join us. Now would be the time for your post to start planning your own “100th Year Anniversary”. The official date is March 15th, 2019. Look to the Legion Link every month for more information covering all our programs.

My slogan this year is Communication, Dedication, Education. Throw in some laughter and you have a recipe for success.

Communication: We all need to improve our communication skills within our own post family as well as all the way up and down the chain of commander. The more informed everyone is, the better we can plan with greater success. Better communicating with our community will help inform the public “Who we are and what we do”. Let them know about the great programs we have and you just might increase membership along the way.

Dedication: I expect you are already dedicated or you wouldn’t be a member of the American Legion Family. What I am asking everyone to do is “To re-dedicate yourself with the same enthusiasm you had when you first joined”. It just might be contagious to others around you.

Education: National has an on-line computer course which is free to all members of the American Legion Family. It is called “Basic Training”. It only takes about 2 – 3 hours. It covers the history of the American Legion and it’s four pillars (Veterans Affairs &Rehabilitation), National Security, Americanism, and Children & Youth. It can be found at www.legion.org/alei . Also, the Florida Legion College will be on January 31st – February 2nd.

My charities this year will be The American Legion Child Welfare Foundation (CWF) and Final Salute which provides homeless women Veterans with safe and suitable housing.

I look forward to traveling the entire state and meeting with as many of you as possible. Have a great year. Contact me if you have any questions but remember to first check with your Chain of Commander if you have an issue.

For God & Country

Donation request letters – Be sure to double check where the letter is coming from…

There are other American Legion Departments, including the National Headquarters that are soliciting donations to the Florida membership. Please make sure you DOUBLE CHECK where the letter is coming from and where they’re asking you to send in your donations.

The Department of Florida DOES NOT receive any portion of the donations going to National and other Departments. In order to insure your donation is staying within our state and benefitting our Veterans and their families, send them to the Department of Florida Headquarters Office.

Check out these photos below. If you take a closer look, these mailings are from National Headquarters and the Department of Oklahoma.

Post Excellence Award:

The Post Excellence Award program honors posts that excellence in membership participation, youth activities, community service, and support to veterans and U.S. troops.

Criteria:

• Membership. Post membership must be at least one member more than the previous year. A post officer must attend district meeting.
• Youth activities. The post must sponsor and actively participate in a least one primary youth program: Boy Scouts of America or Junior Shooting Sports.
• Community service. The post must organize a community service project that involves members of the Legion, Auxiliary or Sons of The American Legion. A monetary donation may only be one part of a project.
• Service to troops or veterans. The post must organize a project supporting or veterans (for example, Family Support Network or Operation Comfort Warriors) that involves members of the Legion, Auxiliary or SAL outside the post. A monetary donation may only be one part of the project.

Certification:

District Commander must certify Post as having fulfilled the four specified criteria, and submit a list of the posts name, address and commander’s name to department headquarters. If possible, accompany with copies of press releases submitted to local media that raise awareness for the project and enhance the Legion’s public image.

For more information, go to National’s website: http://www.legion.org/commander/postexcellence

If you have any questions please let us know about first. Commander@floridalegion.org or Call (407) 247-5232

Thank you for all you do for The American Legion Department of Florida!