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Arlington American Legion Post 1302
May - June 2007 Newsletter |
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| Legion Post 1302 |
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Hello!
Spring is here. The Post is doing well.
Our St. Paddy*s day dinner was well attended and fantastic, thanks to Chef Skinner . We had a huge turnout, and it was great seeing you all there at the post. Thanks to Chef Skinner. (With a little help from his friends.) And of course our breakfasts continue to be the best deal in town. In May we will again host our annual Mothers' Day Breakfast. This is always well attended, and this year we will expand our serving time. For Mothers' Day only, we will serve from 8am until 11am. We will accept reservations for parties of 8 or more. In June, our annual Fathers' Day Breakfast will be held, at our normal hours. Hope to see you there.
We have established the SAL (Son*s) at our Post. It has been well received, and we continue to add more members on a daily basis. If you know anyone who is eligible to join or transfer please have them contact us to sign up! Commander Jeremy Williams will be scheduling a meeting soon, and we’ll get in touch with the SAL members to let them know when it will be.
Frank Williams
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Auxiliary President's Message
The Spring sure is late coming, but it is on the way. Daffodils, tulips, forsythias and other harbingers of Spring are sprouting up all over! Poppies will be coming out soon also. You'll be seeing them at the Post and also at other locations where they will be offered to the public by our Auxiliary "Girls" for a small donation. Proceeds go to help Veterans and their families, so please help!
Helen Murphy
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From the Back Burner
The kitchen continues to remain very active through rentals and our monthly legion dinners and breakfasts. We had a great Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner in March , and our Roast Beef dinner in April was also well attended. Thanks Chef Skinner! Our breakfasts continue to be the best deal in town. Where else can you come in, get waited on, and have an omelet, pancakes French toast, any style eggs, home fries, toast, bacon, ham, and sausage. Drop by and give it a try! And I’d like to recognize some of the folks who really carry the load for our dinner and breakfast events..... Kid Healy, Joe Pullen, John Santiamo, Mike Tokarz, Ed Rugar, Bill Doxsey, Mike Fisher, Steve Kane, Billy Baker, Gene Santiamo, Diane Williams, Jenn Williams, Tracy Williams, Jeremy Williams, Vanessa Brancato, and the gals from the auxiliary Helen Murphy, Darlene Conrad, Peg Melochick, Charlotte Craven, Patty Pultz, Patti Davey and Eleanor G. Thanks to each and every one of you.
Frank Williams
Membership
Thanks to all of you who made Post 1302 cross the 100% line for the first time since 2001. We are currently at 503 members and still have around 30 of you who have not paid up yet. Please don't wait until the last minute since it takes a while to get the cards sent in and confirmed by the state. We have seen a lot of renewed interest in our Post by new members and many members of other local Posts. Having the best Post home and grounds in the county helps sell us to new members. This is only due to the hard work of all of our committees. Keep up the good work and get those leads into me for next year.
Thanks
Rich Thompsett
House
The upstairs carpet was completed and the meeting room was cleaned out of all the old furniture and other "stuff" that had piled up over the years. The Commander donated a vacuum cleaner and the Arlington Honor guard made a sizable donation to the project. Thanks to Frank Williams, Mike Tokarz, Jack Harris, Don White Sr. & Jr. and Joe Pullen for the cleanup help and their continued work around the Post on weekends keeping the place going with their constant repairs.
Scholarship Each year our Post offers the Catherine Howell scholarship at Dutchess Community College. This is a $2000 scholarship for children and grandchildren of Post 1302 members. Graduates of Arlington High School may apply if there are not any candidates from our Post. The student must be registered in a full time two year degree program to qualify. Applications are available from Committee Chairman Tony Gentile. This application is the first step in receiving a scholarship and must be filled out and returned to the Committee in accordance with their instructions. This scholarship can go a long way toward offsetting tuition costs and lessening the financial burden on the student and family. If you have a student interested have them call the Post and leave contact information for us to get back to them.
Thanks
The Post wishes to give a hearty thank you to member Lou Liguori. He has been busy with many projects around the Post and recently donated two ash trays for the front porch.
National Commanders Dinner
This year's visit to southern New York by National Commander Paul Morin was on April 20th. Commander Williams, PCC , Richard Chapland, and PCC Mike Tokarz attended the reception and dinner in New York City. Each was accompanied by his wife just to make sure nobody got onto any trouble. The evening was well worth the trip. Commander Morin was well received and spoke on all the current Legion agenda.
Charlie Johnson
Veterans and community members attended the March Board of Education meeting at Arlington Middle School to participate in the kick off for the Charlie Johnson Memorial and Veterans wall to be built and dedicated at Arlington High School. Charlie was a combat Vet in Korea where he sacrificed his life to save many of his comrades. He is remembered each Memorial Day at the County War Memorial, but the program presented at the meeting put his life and community history on display to go along with the name on the memorial. Marist students produced a DVD and Arlington Middle School children did a short play of his life growing up in Dutchess County. Past Commander Gordon McCanlis (a friend of Charlie's) is on the committee and will be heading up Post efforts to support the Memorial construction. |
The Grounds Committee
The crew will be doing the annual planting at the Post on May 19th, rain date the 20th beginning at 8 a.m. All kinds of help is needed so please check with John Campbell so you too can be one of his "garden elves".
Care Packages
Arlington Post 1302 and our Auxiliary unit are cooperating on a Care Package project. We will be sending "goodies" and necessities to members of the local Military Police unit who rotated to Iraq. Dates are to be arranged yet (soon). Anyone who would like to help or donate to this project should contact Helen Murphy or Darlene Conrad at the Post (471-4641).
Essay Contest
The annual Memorial Day Essay Contest is now underway. Packets were delivered to the schools by Ed Rugar. Arlington, Union Vale and LaGrange Middle School children can compete to win U.S. Savings Bonds for first through third place in each school. The best overall winner is invited to read their essay at the Post Memorial Day Ceremony. We look forward to reading the submissions each year. The teachers work together to grade them as Social Studies and English projects. The Arlington District has worked with veterans organizations for years to enhance the curriculum for their children. We all know that not all history is found in books and much of what is in them is watered down and distorted. Through our essay contest, flag day project, and the DVD, "For which it Stands", which was placed in every Arlington School last year, this Post is making a difference in the education of our kids.
| Sons of the American Legion
Squadron 1302 is active and now accepting membership applications. So far 26 Sons have joined up and new members are sending in their cards each week. The dues for the rest of this Legion year will be $10 for all members. Renewals will begin in July. At that time the regular membership dues will be $30 for 21 years old and up, and $10 for under 21 years old and dual members (current paid legion members). Congratulations to our first year Officers.
Commander Jeremy Williams
1st Vice Cmdr. Todd Stapleton
2nd Vice Cmdr. Jason Williams
3rd Vice Cmdr. Jonathan Tokarz
Adjutant Don White Jr.
Chaplain *Tom Royce
Treasurer*Frank Williams
Sgt.-at-Arms*Joseph Tokarz
A meeting date is in the works and members will be notified by phone. Many of our members are active in Post functions already so at first we will just try to enhance the service to the Legion at our Post and work up from there. If you have a family member or friend who may be interested in joining us have them contact the Post for an application. You must be a son, grandson or great grandson of a Legion member (past or present) or of a veteran who was eligible to be in the Legion.
Mike Tokarz
SAL Advisor
Boys State
Candidates and parents from all over Dutchess County will meet for a pizza party at Post 1302.
The date is to be determined. (Sometime in June)
If interested contact the Post or Helen Murphy.
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