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APRIL 2011

COMMANDER:  What a month,  we had a very good showing at the St. Patrick’s Day Parade with the float that was constructed by Brain Bell, Pat Carney and Don McAllister. The girl scouts were rocking the whole 3 hours and must have passed out thousands of beads. Let’s keep this going.

The spring conference had a very strong attendance with our voices heard at the department level.

The spring rains will bring out our friends the old weeds and the battle is on again with keeping the grounds at our best. We hope that Bob Perkins will lead the charge as he did last year with the flowers on the front lawn. If you have any ideas for the lawn please come on down and share them with us.

The bowling tournament at Danville was a lot of fun with some good scoring by the post members who, by the way, won earning the option of bringing it to Norfolk next year or passing it on to another post which gives us a Road Trip. 

SECOND NOTICE:  The election of Post Officers will be held Tuesday, 10 May 2011 at 8:00 p.m. If you would like to run for an office please submit your name to the Nomination Committee, Adjutant Mike Bukowski or Finance Officer Ray Steckman.  All post positions are open each year and any Post member can run if they have been initiated.  Please do not run for an office just to hold a title. You also must be present at the meeting to be elected, if not, you must submit a letter of intent.  Be sure to attend the meeting to vote for your choice of Legion members running for office for the upcoming year.  For God and Country, Larry Turner

FIRST VICE COMMANDER:  Membership is at 89.13% for the year 2011 with 951 members renewing. Will the other 10.87% please renew?  Dues are $35.  Please help us meet our goal. Please notify me if you change your address.  For God and Country, B.J. Miller

SECOND VICE COMMANDER: Memorial Day is approaching us fast, and as this will be the last picnic that I have, I want to try to make it the best one. But with anything, volunteers are needed.  I will post a sign-up sheet which will list all the positions that we will need help with. For God and Country, Frank Lorence

CHAPLAIN’S CORNER:  Mary Lee Lupejkis is back home following knee surgery.  Joseph “Smoking Joe” Giffear is in Sentara Leigh Hospital.  We hope Joe will be home soon.  During our Post meeting March 8th, Post everlasting was held for Lawrence “Skip” Kelly and Mario D’Auria, also known as the “singing barber”.  Our next Post meeting will be Tuesday, April 12th at 8:00 p.m.  Please plan on attending. For God and Country, Tony Moore  

SERVICE OFFICER:  Since last month I have 4 new VA claims.  I have 2 claims for financial assistance from our special charity fund and 2 TFAs.  No funds have been approved as of 21 March. I’m still requesting an Assistant Service Officer.  Please contact me at 1-434-401-8501.  The next Service Officer training will be held at Legion Leadership College in August.  For God and Country, Alonzo Scott

ATHLETICS OFFICER:  Well congratulations to Becca Smith and her Legion team on bringing back the trophy as the best in the state. We had 12 Post 327 Teams and the 327 Taxi Squad from Post 110.  Great job one and all.

The 50 and over team is warming up and will start practice in the near future.  These gentlemen play on Sunday afternoon usually a double header.  If you are interested leave a message Coach Mims, he is in there the first two Sundays of the month cooking up breakfast.

For you younger guys 18 and over we will have a men’s slow-pitch softball team which will play a doubleheader on Wednesdays.  If you are interested get a hold of me or leave a message and I will let you know when & where we will practice.

Post 327 is sponsoring a 6&7 year old boys team at Little Creek National Pony Baseball.  We also have a girls team from Ocean View Little League and a boys team 10-12 from Azalea Little League.  I will post schedules as soon as they are available on the bulletin board.

Heads up! Post 327 will have an American Legion Baseball Team which will play in the 2nd district this year.  We will be playing in the junior division boys 17 and under.  More info to follow.

Challenger Division:  All three leagues we sponsor also have a Challenger Division.  The challengers division is for boys and girls 4-18 with physical and mental challenges.  This team is made up of abilities, rather than age, and may have as many as 15 to 20 players on a team.  If anyone is interested in getting involved please give me a call.  I have much more info.  For God and Country, Jim Norton

SQUADRON 327 PAST COMMANDER:  Greetings Comrades, First off, I would like to say we had a very productive meeting with our Legion Riders about the upcoming Gumball (Poker) Run to be held on June 4th. We are in need of some door prizes. These would be similar to items many of you helped with for the auctions we had at the end of our runs. Any help with items such as Hotel Stays, Restaurant Gift Certificates, Movie Passes, Auto Repairs, etc. would be great. We will be having games set up for winners to bid on prizes. Please see Flyers in post or talk to any Legion Rider or SAL for info. We will be doing a Spaghetti Dinner with Garden Salad and Garlic Bread this month to benefit our Wounded Warrior Program. Please come out and help support this Legion Program. NEWS from our SAL Detachment Spring Conference: First, a report on the ALA Buddy Basket Program. The Detachment of Va. committed to the ALA we would try and get 50 baskets. I’m proud to say that with our 6 baskets and help from all the squadrons we brought in over 80 baskets. This brought the Dept. ALA President to come to our meeting in tears to thanks us. We had our National Vice Commander in attendance, and it really showed how we work together as a true Legion Family. I was elected to fill the remaining term of ALT.NEC being held by Nolan Warnick. He has decided to retire, and I will run for that 2-year term at State Convention. The Department of Va. informed us that we will have a Membership increase effective with our 2012 renewals and new Rate members. This is to cover Admin charges to the Dept. for handling our Membership. We have discussed a couple of options on how to cover increases. Option 1, is to raise all dues a couple of Dollars or Option 2, leaving our under 21 and dual members as they are at $10.00 per year and raising those over 21 with club privileges to $25.00 per year. At $25.00 per year we would still be one of the Squadrons in the State and Nation with the lowest dues. I have talked with a lot of other Commanders and found a lot of them charge members over 21 the same rate as Legion members. We will be discussing this at our meeting in April, so please come and let your voice be heard instead of COMPLAINING in June when new cards arrive. This is your Squadron, and you can help with this decision.  NEC Jeff Evans spent last week at the Washington Conference with the Legion and SAL. They were engaged in all kinds of meetings, and I’m sure he will be giving us and the Legion a report of his activities. FIRST NOTICE: Elections will be held at our June meeting. As always this is the time to come out and get involved with your Squadron. We are always looking for new leadership and ideas. These elections are open to any SAL member in good standing .For God and Country, Steve Gower, Sr.

ALA PRESIDENT:  Hello Ladies, I hope everyone is doing fine.  We will be serving a fish fry dinner in the banquet hall on Friday, 1 April to our veterans from Hampton VA hospital and serving you the same in the club room.  I hope everyone will be there to welcome them to our Post.  The C&Y Easter party will be on 24 April from 1-4 p.m.  Adam and Jenn York have done a wonderful job on the kid’s parties this year.  The kids aren’t going to want to miss this one. Don’t forget elections in May and to renew your membership. Unfortunately, a lot of us had to attend the Dept. Spring Conference on St. Patrick’s parade day, but from what I understand it was the best ever and the float was great.  For God and Country, Nancy Bell

ASSOCIATION PRESIDENT: Things are going well around the Post.  Should you have any concerns that you want the board to look into, please contact any board member.  Members are listed on the front of the newsletter.  For God and Country, Tony Moore