From the desk of
William J Cowie
District 8 Commander
American Legion
Department of NH
Strong National Security-Taking Care of Veterans- Mentoring Youth
Promoting Patriotism and Honor
21Oct2007
Hello Fellow Legion Family Member,
It was great seeing such a large turn out at the joint meeting in Woodsville on the 13th of this month. Once again, Commander Sullivan and his team were terrific hosts. I am particularly pleased that the Ladies Auxiliary used this venue again to show case one of their premier programs in the “I am Proud to be an American” essay contest. I am working on getting these 2 wonderful essays to PDF for link and display on the Post 17 web site, (www.alnhpost17.org ) and I will send along to Department for the paper and web site. These essays were created by a 4th and 6th grade student from “Kids Connections” school in Jefferson. We are glad to provide the Ladies AUX the floor time to show what good works they do across the District and Department and look forward to them stepping up and filling the void for programs on the Legion side. This is yet another great job by the ladies under the fine leadership of District 8 Director Sandy Neylon.
Another aspect of the Legion Family that I am pleased to again recognize is the growing interest in the Legion Riders. We are privileged to have 2 groups of riders, hailing from the Littleton and Woodsville Post’s, coordinating in their respective areas to support Legion programs for the troops, veterans and their families. I am sure we will be seeing this movement grow in membership and activity.
Post 82 Commander Bill Adams, from Gorham, is in the process of leading the coordination efforts for the return of the Vietnam traveling war memorial to the North Country. I am sure Commander Adams can use all the help he can get in this very worthwhile effort. His target date for placement of the memorial is sometime in 2009, due to the incredible amount of logistical collaboration necessary. Nice job Bill.
District 8 Service Officer and Post 36 member, Mike Hall, has taken the reins, along with his Comrades from Post 17, to get the Operation Military Kids 4-H Summer Camp Ch&Y fund raising program off the ground. Mike has gotten initial approval and support, from the Berlin bowling alley owner, to sponsor a bowl-a-thon some time in March2008. Get your 4 member teams and sponsors together now and we should be well ahead of last years tremendous fund raising total. Incidentally, I had the auspicious honor of attending the State 4-H Foundation dinner, 16Oct, at Canterbury Country Club and our American Legion was featured on the front cover of the program, as well as receiving kudos throughout the evening. We were also one of the 3 top contributors to the 4-H Foundation programs last year. Congratulations to all that assisted and contributed.
I will be asking the District Adjutant, Dale Mitchell, for the District annual reports from last year so I can mail them out to all of you. I think it is important to see and share a small piece of just what it is that makes this District, and our American Legion organization as a whole, so great. It will also give you a chance to see how we fare with other Districts and Posts across the Department.
I would like to touch base on membership and programs. As most of you know, I am not an advocate of membership for the numbers but would rather forego chasing the member that always pays their dues late and can’t see over the brass rail from his bar stool, and I would rather seek to engage more active members, developed through our own program activities. It seems that with so many programs, it is a daunting task to say the least to try and attempt all of them while chasing the bar flies. Doing every program is impossible. No Post can do every one of the programs, each particular month, which this organization has to offer or outlines or provides, for our members and our Communities at large. Resources, financial and in personnel, are too scarce for any one Post to attempt, much less accomplish. Try one program, get good at that, then try to add another 1 or 2 in the next program/membership year. ACTIVE membership will follow. It is, no doubt, all up to you and the resources you have at hand.
I am reminded of what one of the excellent facilitators to the Leadership Seminars said in a recent presentation. I can’t remember exactly what he said but to paraphrase the premise of his comments, he intimated that we can take charge and take the lead and have the other VSO’s and Community Service related organizations follow us, or we can provide a support role to other organizations with the infrastructure and wherewithal to take the lead. Either way is admirable, I think, and quite clearly, we must first take the priorities of our own Post’s to heart and assess just what it is we can do well at that level, before breaking ground on bigger and better things. Know this, I am wholly dedicated, as we all are in the District 8 Leadership, in assisting in any way we can. Communication is key to success. I thank you, sincerely, for all that you do. I am at your service.
“Not failure, but low aim, is crime”.
James Russell Lowell
Most respectfully,
For God and Country,
William J Cowie
Commander District 8
603-636-6085 home
603-636- 9848 post