October 12, 2019 was busy day in the 16th District of The American Legion Department of Virginia with numerous recruiting efforts occurring throughout the District. Two events were reported on and highlight just a few of the efforts going on.
In Culpeper VA the 16th District worked with Culpeper VA Post 330 to have a presence at the annual Culpeper Air Fest. The team was led by 16th District Adjutant Ziggy Levison (247), Immediate Past District Commander Sonnie Dickerson (330) and Bob Phillips (247). The event featured numerous aircraft displays, aircraft flyovers, flying circus, and even a Harrier jet demonstration. The team was quite busy most of the day greeting many Veterans and others. The efforts are in conjunction with the local Classic Car Club who conducts a fund raiser for the Fisher House Foundation.
This was such a well-attended event that it even attracted Madison Post 157 (13th District) to come out. Their Legion Riders group is conducting a raffle of a 2016 Coachman travel trailer that was donated by fellow Veteran. Raffle tickets were only $10.00 and quite the bargain to win a trailer valued at about $17,000. If you missed out on your chance to purchase a raffle ticket yesterday, don’t worry. They will be at the upcoming Fall Conference to sell tickets as well. Only 2500 tickets will be sold, so don’t wait to get yours soon.
Post 150 also had a well-stocked and presented table at the annual Sterlingfest event. 16th District Commander John Carty (34) joined 16th District Vice Commander Matt Matyuf (150) and long-serving Legionnaire Ron Oberle (150) at the event. This was a well-attended event with a lot of people stopping by to learn more about The American Legion and garner a few new members. It was a very successful effort and they are looking forward to new members coming to their upcoming membership meeting.
Congratulations and thank you to all of the Legionnaires who held recruiting and other efforts this weekend making sure we are VISIBLE and communicating with the public about our great efforts. We know there is a lot of planning and preparation that goes into putting on these events and many require getting up in the wee hours of the morning to travel to these events, setup, work all day, tear down, drive back home, and then put everything away for the next event. And of course, making the extra effort to report on your visibility/recruiting efforts by sending in formal reports, articles, photos and other material to advertise your efforts.
Remember, if your Post holds an event, make sure you post it to your Facebook page and/or website. If using Facebook, tag the District Facebook page to automatically submit your event information. Also remember to send articles about your event to the District Adjutant so it can be included in District advertising efforts. Not everything can always get published, but submitting a polished item ready for print makes it easy to include. Remember to address the 5-W’s in your articles to help others get the most out of your efforts.