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OCTOBER 2011

COMMANDER:  Greetings Legion Family. Over the past couple of months, I was invited to and attended the regular meetings of our American Legion Auxiliary Unit and our American Legion Riders Chapter.  I will be attending the October meeting of our Sons of The American Legion Squadron.  I am proud to report that all of our Family Members are doing a fine job of supporting The American Legion and its goals.  If you are not personally involved with the Post, Unit, Squadron, or Chapter, I encourage you to see how you can get involved.  These are dedicated volunteers doing great things and they could use your helping hands.

The Veterans Day Parade will be held in Virginia Beach on November 11, and the Post will be marching with the Second District.  Show your pride for our Veterans, come out and march with us.  Also, the 2011 Department Fall Conference will be from November 4-6 at the Crowne Plaza at Fort Magruder in Williamsburg.  The Conference is not just for officers—all Legionnaires can attend.  I will be offering a special gift to all who attend that are not currently holding an office in the Post.  For God and Country, Mike Bukowski

FIRST VICE COMMANDER:  Membership is at 60% for the year 2012 with 478 renewals, 61 PUFLs, 15 new members and 58 members who paid online. THANK YOU!  If you haven’t renewed please do so now and help us meet our goal of 1,025 so we can continue helping our veterans and charity programs. Dues are $35.  For God and Country, B.J. Miller

SECOND VICE COMMANDER: Good day fellow Legionnaires, The Post 327 Children’s Halloween Party will be Sunday, OCTOBER 30th from 1-4 p.m.  There will be a costume contest, food, and fun.  Please come out and enjoy!   Fun, fun, fun! Hope to see you there. For God and Country, Chris Dorminey

CHAPLAIN’S CORNER:  Since our last newsletter Past Post Commander Lee Anderson passed away.  Post Everlasting was conducted for deceased members September 13th.  As a reminder: "Post Everlasting" is a moving ceremony and is conducted each month as necessary at our regular Post meeting.  We would like to offer condolences to Jerry Mason on the loss of his mother and to Jennifer York on the loss of her grandmother.

Please try to attend your Post meeting.  The meeting is the second Tuesday of each month at 8:00 p.m.  A good night out and a time to meet new friends and see old ones.....a time to enjoy yourself and help your Legion!  For God and Country, Tony Moore

SERVICE OFFICER: Since our last newsletter we have 5 new VA claims,  1 VA claim approved for 100% Service Connection, 1 TFA  approved in the amount of $2,490.39, 1 request for emergency assistance, was referred to a community, 48 Service Officer related phone calls. No funds used from neither our Service Officers fund nor the Special Charity fund. This month we are providing information on veteran’s pension:

Veteran's Pension: If you are a wartime veteran with a limited income and you are no longer able to work, you may qualify for a Veterans Disability Pension or the Veterans Pension for Veterans 65 or older. Many veterans of wartime service are completely unaware of the fact that if they are 65 or older and on a limited income they may qualify for a VA Pension without being disabled.

Veteran's Pensions Eligibility: You may be eligible if: you were discharged from service under other than dishonorable conditions, AND you served 90 days or more of active duty with at least 1 day during a period of war time. However, 38 CFR 3.12a requires that anyone who enlists after 9/7/80 generally has to serve at least 24 months or the full period for which a person was called or ordered to active duty in order to receive any benefits based on that period of service. With the advent of the Gulf War on 8/2/90 (and still not ended by Congress to this day), veterans can now serve after 9/7/80 during a period of war time. When they do, they generally now must serve 24 months to be eligible for pension or any other benefit. But note the exclusions in 38 CFR 3.12(d), AND you are permanently and totally disabled, or are age 65 or older, AND your countable family income is below a yearly limit set by law.  For more information and details, please visit our website at www.legion327.org.  For God and Country, Alonzo Scott

ATHLETIC OFFICER:  The Post 327 Dart League will start on the 13th of October at 7:30 p.m.  To participate you must be a member of Post 327, Ladies Auxiliary, or Sons of the American Legion. You also must be no younger than 16 and not older than 100.  There will be a sign-up sheet posted in the Post home near the Legion offices. By the time you read this it will be tournament time for our coed team.  We expect to be in the tournament, so if you have time, please come out and watch this team.  They are very good.  For God and Country, Jim Norton

AMERICAN LEGION RIDERS: Rain, rain, and more rain; the bane of the motorcycle rider. Our ride to raise money for the Navy SEAL Foundation was postponed due to (you guessed it) rain. On Saturday, October 8th, we will be making the “Frogs for Freedom Poker Run” along with the Navy’s motorcycle group Salty Dawgs. Hopefully, the weather will cooperate. On Veteran’s Day, November 11th, we will represent the Legion in the commemorative events of the day. And, on December 10th, the riders will again participate in the National Wreaths Across America Remembrance, with a group ride to the Albert G. Horton, Jr. Veteran’s Cemetery in Suffolk, where we will assist in laying Christmas wreaths on each of the graves. I will be providing more information on this most important riding project.   For God and Country, Ted Van Horn 

SQUADRON 327 COMMANDER: Hello Members!  Not much to say but a B-I-G thank you to all volunteers that helped with the POW/MIA night.  The meatloaf was pretty darn good....so we heard!  Let's keep the renewals coming in!  Our next dinner will be October 21 and we will be serving cabbage rolls.  Please remember folks, the heart of a volunteer is priceless!!!  For God and Country, Dave Samson

ALA PRESIDENT: Hello Ladies!  Here we are into October already.  We are going to have a busy month! 

OCTOBER 7:  Vets Fish Fry dinner.  We are going to have a full house that night.  We will be doing dinner on both sides.  We are supposed to be having 3 busses coming from the VA Hospital.  PLEASE....we really need help with serving both sides and with helping the Vets.  We will also be needing desserts to serve.

OCTOBER 14:  We will be having the male dancers for another fund raiser.  This time it will be for breast cancer awareness.  We are also dressing up for Halloween and asking everyone to wear something pink. 

OCTOBER 26-29 The haunted house will be back.  This is a juniors’ project to help with their charities.  Please bring your kids, grandkids, or yourself.....haunted house open from 6-9:00 p.m.  Our juniors work so hard so please come out and support them.  Whew!  We will be worn out by the end of the month.  I would just like to remind everyone that everything we do is to support our veterans and children.  We really need your help. One more thing - Thanksgiving will be coming next month.  If you know of anyone that may need help with a basket please let me know.  For God & Country, Nancy Bell

REMINDER:  PLEASE REMEMBER OUR CHAIRS ARE MADE FOR ONE (1) PERSON ONLY, NOT FOR MULTIPLE PERSONS AND NOT FOR DANCING AROUND THE CLUB ROOM.  THANKS FOR RESPECTING THE FURNISHINGS WE ALL WORK SO HARD TO TAKE CARE OF.