Commander's
Message
I am both humbled and honored that you have elected me your
Commander for 2007-2008. Little did I know that when I first
walked through the door two years ago, that I would now be
addressing you as your new Commander. I have met with the
members of OUR team, that group of individuals you the
membership have bestowed your faith and trust in to manage
the affairs of our Post. Let me assure you, like myself,
they are dedicated, motivated, and determined to continue on
a course that will make each member proud to be associated
with and members of American Legion Post 318.
I personally would like to dedicate the upcoming year as
"The Year of the Member." To paraphrase Abraham Lincoln,
this is a Post of its members, run by its members and for
the benefit of its members and local community.
There are four basic objectives that we will work
diligently on to accomplish in the forthcoming year. First,
that we convey clear and precise communications to the
membership about what we are doing and why. Secondly, more
involvement and support our Veterans and Veterans
Organizations in the local area. Thirdly, continued support
to our Children and Youth programs, especially, focusing on
the local programs that directly affect and support the
youth programs that our members and staff participate in.
And fourth, continuing the search for a new post home. As I
have previously stated, "this new facility must be in close
proximity to our current Post. Our search committee is
comprised of Jim Burk, Bob Booth, Jeff Miller, Dan Newman,
Daryl Bowie and myself. If any member has or knows of an
area that would be suitable for our new post, please contact
one of the individual mentioned above. We will keep you
informed as to our progress.
This month our "Member of the Month" is John F.H. Hager,
Chaplain, Post 318 and Mattie Kelly, Chaplain, Aux. Post
318. These two individuals continue to give of themselves
for the good of the Post and its members. Both John and
Mattie represent the type of member any Post would be proud
to have, and we are very fortunate to have them both as
members of the best Post anyone would want to join.
Finally, as Past Commander Bowie stated in last months
newsletter "If we stand together, we will succeed."
Frank Howard, Commander
1st
Vice-Commander
I want to thank all members for having faith in me as I
assume the duties of the 1st Vice-Commander. I know that I
have some large shoes to fill especially in light of the
fantastic job Frank Howard did as your 1st Vice last year.
His rating of 109.7% will be a task unto itself to beat, but
I assure you that I will put in the time and I have made a
personal dedication to top Frank's percentage from last
year. Most of you have already received your dues notice
from National. If you haven't, please let me know
immediately. Yearly dues are now $30.00. A special message
for those members who have transferred in from Post 400.
DO NOT SEND YOUR DUES PAYMENT
TO DEPARTMENT HEADQUARTERS IN ORLANDO,
INSTEAD, MAKE YOUR CHECK PAYABLE TO
POST 318 AND TURN IT IN AT THE POST OR MAIL IT TO THE POST.
Our goal for this year is 849 members. We are off to a
good start, as of July 15, 2007; I have received 389 dues
payment for a total percentage of 45.82%. By the time you
read this newsletter, we should be approaching 55% to 60%.
Again, thanks for your confidence in me and lets keep those
dues payments coming in.
Jim Burk, 1st.
Vice Commander
Chaplain's Corner
POST EVERLASTING
John H. Magnant 6/15/07, Charles H. Magnolia 6/18/07
and Francis J. J. Dunleavy 6/24/07
Our sincere sympathy is extended to the families and friends of our
departed comrades who now enjoy eternal peace.
NEED PRAYERS FOR THE FOLLOWING MEMBERS:
Dale Hollopeter, Randy Hunter,
Harold Bright, Sheldon Weiss, Elmer
Duncan and Arnie Thompson
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
A peace filled mind will attract peaced-filled people and
life situations.
If you know any member sick or in
distress
PLEASE call:
JOHN F.H. HAGER, Chaplain Post 318,
879-7095
MATTIE KELLY, Aux. Chaplain Unit 318 879-7095
Legion
riders
As of last months newsletter it was
brought to my attention that the list of incoming officers
was incomplete. I want to apologize for the mistake and add
that Bill Skaryd is now the Treasurer for the Riders. I'm
looking forward to working with him as well as the rest of
the officers in this coming year.
What a great turn out at the State Convention in Orlando.
We were well represented with 20 Legion Rider members that
attended the Saturday meeting. Again, we were the largest
contingency represented. I'd like to take a moment to
personally thank Past Commander Daryl Bowie and incoming
Commander Frank Howard for their support and input at that
meeting, it means a lot to those of us who think of Post 318
as a family.
Next month I'll be reporting the success of our annual
July poker run "Giving Vets a Hand." I'm sure it will be a
huge success.
Until next month, support your post by attending post
functions and meetings.
Greg Emerson, Legion Rider
Commander
TEXAS
HOLD EM' TOURNAMENT
Our next tournament will be played on Tuesday, August 21
at 7 pm. Doors will open at 6:30. We play from 7:00 until
11pm, if it lasts that long. You must be a member of the
Post (Legion, Auxiliary, Son) in order to play. Any member
may bring a guest, but the member must also play. Due to the
summer months our numbers have been cut down, but we have a
loyal following who show up every month to have fun and
perhaps get their name on the board as a monthly winner with
a chance to play next April in the Tournament of Champions.
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At American Legion Post 318
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Auxiliary
President's message
Greetings and Salutations,
Thanks to all for reelecting me as your president for the
upcoming year. I will do my best to make you proud. AND we
should all be very proud of Mo Aitken for her wonderful and
very successful Golf Tournament. She and her committee
members spent an enormous amount of hours putting it all
together. But, it sure paid off! It was our biggest fund
raiser yet. Thanks Mo and committee members for an excellent
job.
A few of us went to the State Convention in July and
gathered some good information. Post 318 Legion, Sons,
Riders and Auxiliary members were all well represented.
We have a change in our meeting date - PLEASE mark these
on your calendar! Sept. 22nd at 12 pm will be the first
Auxiliary meeting of the fiscal year. There will be an
Executive Board Meeting at the Post on the 15th of August at
6:30 pm. Installation of Officers will take place on Sunday,
August 12 at 1:30 pm. We welcome you to join in the
festivities.
Members, please make sure that Marion Mason has your
updated address and phone number. We need this as your cards
will be mailed to you for renewal! See Marion's article
lower part of next column. This is already starting to be a
very busy year so please read your newsletter carefully and
keep track of these great events coming your way. Once again
thanks to all of you who participated in and helped out in
our events. We are looking forward to having an outstanding
and productive year but as you know, we need your volunteer
time and efforts to do so.
ALWAYS A PLEASURE
Sunny Lavalle, President
Son's -
American Legion
Hello Post 318
Hope everyone is having a great summer.
We attended the convention last month in Orlando, I want to
thank Harold, Ron, and Greg for attending with me.
We made additional donations to Special Olympics,
Children's Miracle Network, and Child Welfare. It was
amazing to see the amount of donations that were given by
all the SAL SQUADRONS through out the state of Florida. It
is wonderful to see everyone working together for these
causes. The SAL will be having a PIG ROAST LABOR DAY
WEEKEND, Sunday, September 2, from 2:00 to 6:00 pm, music
by Sal. Tickets will be $7.00. We will also be having our
raffle of a laptop computer. Tickets will be $10.00 and all
proceeds will go towards Veterans and Child Welfare.
The installation of officers will be Sunday August 12, at
1:00. Our next meeting will be Monday September 10, at 7:00
pm.
It's time to renew memberships dues for 2008. We need to
try to reach 100 percent as soon as possible. Please send
in your dues now so you can be eligible for early bird
drawing for free dues in 2009. The winners for this year
(2008 dues) are: Harold Barth, Ray Calnen, Ron Johansen &
William Odenath.
Andy Saffioti, S.A.L. Commander
Honor/color
guard
First off, I want to thank my fellow Legionnaires for
their support. Also a big thank you to the members of the
Color/Honor Guard for your participation, your support and
assistance. The beginning of the summer was sad due to the
loss of many of our veterans. Our services were not needed
except for a couple of them. As usual our members stepped up
to the plate when asked. We are still having our two
meetings every month on the first Tuesday and third
Thursday. Death does not take summer vacations and neither
will we as long as our veterans continue to have need of our
services. There are many ways to serve your country. I
personally know of at least a couple of us on the
Honor/Color Guard who plan to do so until the Supreme
Commander assigns us to Post Everlasting.
We are still recruiting new members to join us. Feel
free to call me directly if you are interested in joining
us. Even if you have limitations, we can find something for
you to do.
If anyone has any suggestions to help make us better
please contact me. I look forward to continuing success of
the Color/Honor Guard.
Dana E. Lambert,
Sgt-At-Arms
POST 318 WEB SITE
Work on the Post's web pages continues to
progress. The main information pages for the Legion,
Auxiliary, Sons and Riders are now complete. In addition to
finishing up those pages, a "Support Our Troops" page has
been added that provides information on this very worthwhile
program and contains pictures of some of the troops that the
Post has supported or that are relatives of our members. As
more pictures are obtained they will be added to the page.
The Post Library pages are still under construction and
will be for some time. The "book" for 2007 has a sample of
how these pages will look when finished. The sample page has
pictures from Memorial Day weekend events. These pages
ultimately will contain the pictorial history of the Post,
and as soon as I can corner some "old timer" who can help me
with some of the pictures from the early years, we can start
working on those albums. Anyone who has been around the Post
for a few years and would like to help on this project,
please let me know so we can arrange a time to get together.
You can e-mail me at
webmaster@americanlegion318fl.org
For those who have not yet visited the web site, several
of the pages are updated monthly. They are the Bulletin
Board, Calendar, Newsletter and Post Everlasting pages.
Other pages are updated on an as needed or quarterly basis.
Check the newsletter monthly for information on new pages
completed or which current ones have been updated.
Ron Zimmerman Sr.,
Webmaster
Auxiliary 1st Vice
Hello Ladies,
By the time you read this it will be August and the
installation of officers should be complete. Congratulations
to all.
In order for you to receive the EARLY BIRD stamp on your
card and be eligible for the drawing to win next years dues
paid, you must pay 2008 dues by October. In order to do this
just drop or mail your dues to the Post. You do not have to
have your renewal form to do this. We are striving for 100%
membership as early as possible. Many of you did this last
year and helped us archive 105%. Thanks ladies. Evelyn Bulba
was last years winner, so congratulations again Evelyn and
remember your 2008 dues are paid for you.
Last year we had many people who lost their cards and
replacements were issued, this year we will be imposing a $5
fee for any replacements cards. Please look after your card
and protect your privileges as a member of our Post. Please
remember that you need to have your membership card with you
when you come to the Post. And as always, if you have any
questions regarding membership please don't hesitate to call
me. Here's looking forward to another successful year.
Marion Mason, 1st Vice
President
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