Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Newsletter - August 2006

American Legion Family:

Dedication: Hopefully everyone can attend the Patriot Guard dedication on the 13th. It should be one of the proudest moments of this post, and I can’t say enough about all who worked tirelessly for the past six weeks. A motorcycle ride in will start it off. Recognition of POW/MIA, ALR & the Patriot Guard, will take place. The Gold Star Families will be present and will be part of the ceremonies with the laying of a memorial brick in honor of their fallen family member. The primary speaker will be Maj. General Bunting, the Adjutant General for the state of Ks, and Brig. General McIlhenny, Asst. Adjutant and Post 136 and ALR member. Lt. Gov. John Moore and Attorney General Phill Kline will have short comments. The ride in starts at approximately 12:30.

Chaplain: As you all know, our Post Chaplain, Alan Gwinup, was laid to rest on July 22 after losing his battle with cancer. A special election was held to fill the position for the remainder of the term. I am pleased to announce that Lt. Col. Mike “Dogboy”Hall has accepted the nomination and was elected at the General meeting on Aug. 7. He was sworn in by Dept. Commander Pat Culver.

Facilities: We are down to the last two major projects listed on the initial improvement list. The floor in the meeting room (where the carpet now is), will be replaced in the near future. The good news is we have all of the tile and adhesive purchased and paid for. (Thank you Everett Sullivan for finding the special deal on the tile). The display case will be done after the floor, and we have the funds available for that too.

Two new fans are now wired and operational. Thanks to Jim Byerly, Mike Alley, and Shawn Darnell (forgive me if I spelled any of those incorrectly), for wiring the fans.

The new sign is installed and wired. As soon as the timer is repaired, it will be lit each eve.

The bar area has been painted thanks once again to Ruben, Tim, and the ladies that have been working daily to get the post in shape. Wall painting and the rear entrance work have been completed by some very special members of our Post. See the next subject heading for details.

Clean up/Painting: A group of Legion, Auxiliary and ALR women have spent the last five Mondays scrubbing, painting, repairing and decorating the Legion Hall and the rear entrance area. Most have spent two or three days a week working on their own. The following need to be recognized for going above and beyond. They have committed their time to help our Post and we are committed to show them our gratitude: Diane Gonzales, Monica Barshney, Karen Babinger, Liz Burke, Vickie Jones, Barbara Harding, Sheryl Carpenter, and Regina Scuffham. It looks like a new floor was laid on the dance floor after Monica, Karen, and Diane got done with it. John Thomas donated the stripper and wax.

Parking Lot: Greg Bauer had his crew out along with Post members to work on the parking lot, paint the motorcycle pad, and move poles. Greg has donated a lot of time, money and labor and we all owe him a high dept of gratitude.

ALR News: ALR held a spaghetti feed and auction on July 22, and over $3,500 was raised for troop support, Post support and various other ALR programs. The Riders have given $1,000 to the building fund which allowed us to purchase the new tile, and will also offset the cost of the display case. In total, the ALR has contributed $1,370 for our building improvements. (This does not include personnel contributions). Director Chuck Barshney, and all ALR members, have given so much for the benefit of this Post and have proven they are Legion, SAL and Auxiliary members 1st!

Multiple homecomings and two Patriot Guard missions were also held in July. This is the proudest thing we do and everyone in the post is invited to join on these missions. You do not need a bike. You need only to want to honor our troops and the fallen.

A lot of riders will be leaving Tue/Wed/Thurs for the Veterans reunion in Cripple Creek, Co. This year there will be a tribute to the Kansas Patriot Guard and the Kansas ALR is the honor Guard.

News from the Auxiliary: (From July) Our 2006 membership stands at 133! It's now time to renew for 2007 and top our goal again! Volunteer hours were tallied for June; 82 VA hours, 11 Community Service, 10 Field Service, 1 hour Home Service. Gals, don't forget to record and report your volunteer hours - they add up quickly. Our Peggy Sellers has totaled over 6,000 hours at the VA Medical Center and Sheryl Carpenter has donated over 3,000 hours. We are so proud of their service to the VA! At our July meeting we discussed painting and redecorating
the side entry and the ladies restroom. These improvements will be financed from the Ma Williams Memorial Fund. Changing our meeting time was also discussed. Ladies, come on out to the August 7 meeting, we need your ideas! Darla Harper, President

Aug.: A big round of applause for the Auxilians who have been working scrubbing & painting the Post home, Thanks, gals! And more kudos to Peggy Sellers who has over 6,000 hours volunteer service at the VA Medical Center. Quickly catching up is Sheryl Carpenter who has logged over 3,000 hours. We all are so proud of them. This month we will be making our annual donation of school supplies to the District. Please don't forget to turn in those soup labels and "box tops for education" which go to the Legion Children’s Home in Ponca City. Please notice the Auxiliary’s latest project, new decor in the side entry room, Our volunteer hours for community service will add up quickly IF we all remember to bring them in to the meeting, so please review your activity working with or for Veterans. NEW MEETING TIME is 6 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 11. See you there!


Old Settlers: Ticket sales are a little slow right now. We have less than two weeks so everyone sell and return your ticket money as soon as possible. This event is the largest fund raiser of the year, so please support your post.

National A.L. Commander Visit: Dept. Commander Pat Culver announced at the meeting, the new (still to be elected) National Commander, Paul Morin, will be visiting Ks. in Sept. Post 136 will be hosting a dinner on Tuesday, Sept. 26. This is a great honor for us and we will be getting the details to the membership as they are worked out.

Membership and your Dues: We suspect that at the National Convention in Salt Lake City next week, the National body will raise the amount of dues to be paid to National. At this time, only $5 of your yearly dues goes to the Post. The other $20 is for Dept. and National. If, as we suspect, the increase for National is $4.50, that means only 50c of our dues will go to the Post. Please renew your membership as soon as possible. Any increase will take effect Jan.1. If you pay your 2007 dues prior to that time, we keep the $5. This is extremely important for the good of your Post. Also, it may be a good time to consider Life Membership before any increase takes place.

Due to Labor Day, next General meeting will be Sept. 11, 7:00, BOG meeting will be held Wed., Aug. 30, 6:00 and the E-board meeting will take place Sept. 6, 7:00.
We Are The Patriot Guard

When a candle flame flickers, and a soldier is lost
We gather as one, to help share the cost.
Our uniform is leather, our weapon the flag.
We ride in all weather, our bikes in parade.

Where there’s need of strength, we help make you strong
We are brothers and sisters in arms.
Though our numbers are many, our soul is but one.
We are the Patriot Guard!

We honor the fallen and protect their loved ones
From the evil that would divide.
We know they can’t win, because deep within
The fallen spirit, is our guide.

For those that died, so our country can live,
It is right to believe in your heart.
That if God himself walked the earth today,
He would join the Patriot Guard.