A small Idaho town has a thriving Legion post because they know who they are and what they do.
In The American Legion, we often focus on what we do. And often, what we do has a lot to do with who we are. I will share an example of this. It comes from a very small town in a remote and scenic part of the West with a high percentage of veterans.
White Bird, Idaho, has a population of 105 and more than 50 of those residents belong to the local American Legion Post 152. The post resurrected its charter with 10 members last June, and in less than a year’s time it has succeeded with membership because first, this post was built on helping veterans get into the outdoors, among others who understand them. Second, this post was built on veterans serving veterans – a “devotion to mutual helpfulness.” Finally, these new Legionnaires quickly discovered along the way that camaraderie is a pretty powerful engine. And it can be contagious.
They repainted the city hall. They replaced the U.S. flag at a veterans monument in town and launched a plan to refurbish it. They had a Memorial Day event and a 4th of July celebration. They took care of a memorial for an unknown Cavalry soldier killed in a battle in 1877. They put up a Legion sign at the town entrance. They raised money to help emergency first responders in the town. And they continued to take veterans on river trips and four-wheeler rides into the mountains.
They made themselves visible and got everyone’s attention.
The commander there doesn’t see why they can’t reach 1,000 members. I believe that’s because they know who they are. They know what they do. And they understand why they are in The American Legion.
Why? Because veterans sometimes need support that only other veterans can provide.
Why? Because veterans sometimes need each other – and a mission to serve their community, as they served their country – because as one of these White Bird veterans says, “That’s just how we roll.”
Why else? Because they are providing services in their community that are needed and someone needed to fill the vacuum.
Throughout the country, American Legion posts that are considering why they are, in addition to who they are and what they do, are succeeding, and they are succeeding in membership.
When you think about the why, you might also ask yourself, “If not us, then who?” I would say that in many, many cases, if not The American Legion, then no one.
And that is why we need to keep working membership, as the organization’s founders did nearly a century ago, when so many of their comrades were coming home with needs only other veterans could understand. They knew their “why?”
And each of us should ask ourselves today: “Why should that veteran who is not a member want to be part of The American Legion?” If you can answer that question, all you have to do now is share the information and persuade others to do the same.
More than 100,000 veterans quit the Legion this year because they didn’t know why they should renew. To stop the slide, and grow the Legion, each of us needs to know, and be ready to articulate, why The American Legion is important today.
- Dispatch