HAPPY 90th!

Sons of The American Legion celebrate 90th Anniversary in 2022

​The establishment of the Sons of the American Legion as a non-political, non-sectarian, civilian organization was authorized by action of the 14th National Convention of the American Legion in Portland, Oregon, September 12–15, 1932.  By 1939, the S.A.L. was riding the crest and had a numerical size of about seven percent as large as the parent organization. Membership rose and fell over the ensuing decades, with many membership losses during WWII and a recovery that put membership at about 17,000 in 1963.

All male descendants adopted sons, and stepsons of members of The American Legion, and such male descendants of veterans who died in service during the period of April 6, 1917, through November 11, 1918, or any time from December 7, 1941, to date, who served honorably or who died subsequent to their honorable discharge from such service, shall be eligible for membership in the Sons of The American Legion.

The American Legion’s National Executive Committee approved Resolution 13 at their National Convention in 1972, creating a national S.A.L. organization under the full supervision and control of The American Legion’s NEC, thus opening the door for the Sons of The American Legion to hold its first National Convention in Chicago in August of 1972. Resolution 13 also rescinded in its entirety the old S.A.L. Constitution and Bylaws, as adopted in 1933. The Sons’ first elected National Commander was Robert Faust of California at that convention. The next year responsibility for overwatch of the Sons was placed under Internal Affairs of The Legion

The Sons of The American Legion is a service organization that supports veterans and veterans’ causes. As part of “The American Legion Family”, they strive to serve their States and Nation through community service, support, and programs. Through some programs of its own, and by supporting the other programs of The American Legion, the Sons have made important and substantial contributions over the years. As a prime example, and just since 1988, the Sons have raised more than $8 million for the American Legion Child Welfare Foundation. In 2016, Sons membership reached an all-time National high of over 360,000.

Two of the members of the Web Team for the Department of California (of which one is a Son) developed a seal or logo to commemorate the 90th Anniversary.

Alex Brandon
Assistant Adjutant, Detachment of California
SONS OF THE AMERICAN LEGION

AMERICAN LEGION AUXILIARY (ALA), UNIT 66

I want to thank our whole Legion Family for supporting the Auxiliary’s annual fundraiser event. We had a successful event that exceeded hopes. 

Our winners were:

• Grand prize, Taste of SLO: Will Hairgrove
• Second prize, Smoker BBQ: Richard Brown

• Third prize, Lapis & Pearl Necklace: Lynn Cooper

• Fourth prize, Photo by James O’Donnell Photography: Ronald Anderson

Santa and Mrs. Claus were there to greet both young and old. There were also 12 door prizes given away at the dinner. Thank You to the dinner crew, bar crew, and the BBQ group.  

We are preparing to start the Girls State interviews for the June session. We will have a movie night on January 28. Movies are kid-friendly, and all ages are welcome. We will have popcorn and candy bars for sale. Other activities and more ALA events will come later in January and February.

Happy New Year to all our Legion Family.

Veteran Resources

• Burial Benefits
• CAL VAR Foundation
• CalVet Web Site
• County Veterans Service Officers
• Employment Resources
• Helmets for Heroes
• Veteran  Resources – CalVet & VA
• Veterans Service Officer (VSO)

Buddy Checks

The desire of World War I veterans to help care for “His Buddy”, is a major reason for the formation of The American Legion in 1919. Today we still want to help care for our veteran buddies. The “Buddy Check” program established by National Commander, Brett Reistad in 2019 has brought the care of our veterans into focus in an important way. Through our “Buddy Check” phone calls Legionnaires are receiving personal human contact with veterans who really do care about them.

The American Legion has published some powerful stories about how the Buddy Check” program has helped the veterans receiving a “Buddy Check” phone call. https://www.legion.org/buddycheck/stories

Tools For Buddy Check Teams is a web page listing resources for our  “Buddy Check” teams.

COMMANDER’ S CORNER

Hello Legion Family!

We’re Baaack!

I hope everyone had a festive holiday season and I can’t wait to see everyone again at the Monday social nights and Wednesday family barbecues.

January 10^th is the date for the first Monday Social for 2022 and the first of four “Master Chef” meals prepared by teams competing to become the first “Master Chef” winner of Post 66.  Read more about the “Master Chef” competition on the Post website!

As mentioned in the December newsletter, the Monday social meal price has been raised to $8 due to the increasing cost of supplies.

Also mentioned in December, we are looking for members to step up and join our leadership team.  We have openings for 2^nd Vice, Sgt-at-Arms, Assistant Chaplain, Assistant Sgt-at-Arms, and Assistant Judge Advocate. If you are interested in any of these volunteer positions, please contact anyone on the Executive Committee.  Remember; every one that is currently a volunteer member of the Executive Committee began as a member who answered the call to take on a leadership role, and I hope you agree that it takes all of us, in some way large or small to make this a viable and supportive organization for veterans and the community.

Other volunteer opportunities include bartender and kitchen duties.  We all enjoy the socials and barbecues, and it’s thanks to the great volunteers who put in the time and energy to make them happen, but it’s not realistic to expect the same people to be there all the time without a break.  Having been an event coordinator and activity director for over 20 years, my favorite phrase is “Many hands make light work”.  Please consider lending your hands in some capacity.

As always, I send my best wishes that everyone is staying connected and healthy.

Happy 2022!

Nora O’Donnell
Commander
commander@slolegion.org

SONS OF THE AMERICAN LEGION,
SQUADRON 66

December was a fairly quiet month for Post 66 and the Sons Of The American Legion but we did manage to have a busy first week of the month.  We held our monthly meeting at the Post on the traditional first Monday, the 6th, and then attended the Post Christmas Chicken Dinner on the 8th, and for the Grand Finale for Dec., we had a workday on Sat. the 11th. Four of the Sons Group showed up with shovels, rakes, saws, and blowers. They are Alan Tremper, Sons Adjutant, Greg Sommers, Dr. David Halverstadt D.C., and myself.  Dr. Halverstadt gets the verbal best performer trophy for his performance up on the roof with a blower, you can’t imagine how much stuff gets collected on our roof tops and drains at the Post! I’m guessing several hundred pounds of leaves and branches collected were removed and swept and shoveled up off the deck. It took several hours to finish the cleanup work just from the roof portion alone.  One of the other assignments was the removal of several old pressed wood tables and an old electric wheelchair that was missing some parts, also an old large gas BBQ that had gone past it’s life expectancy, that called for a run to the Land Fill for Alan T. and myself so we trucked off about 750 pounds of unwanted items.  One lucky guest volunteer went over the back fence and trimmed off some of the tree branches that were rubbing on the building on the creekside of the property, a little more work is needed on that side as there is Ivy clinging to the building in a couple of places and I’m sure everyone knows what a monster ivy can be as it starts clinging to most any surface and is very difficult to remove. Maybe a pressure washer would work best?  A couple of more trees need to be trimmed or removed on the creek side too but we decided to tackle that another day. Many thanks to all the other members of the Post that did kitchen cleaning and window washing that day, it wasn’t a big group but it was a hard-working one!

Happy New Year and blessings to all

from the Sons Of The American Legion!

Larry “Red” Land

FOUR CHAPLAINS DAY INTER-FAITH SERVICE 2/12/2022

by California American Legion | Jan 5, 2022

A service will be held at Saint Mary’s Catholic Church (12050 E. North Ave., Sanger, CA 93657) in honor of The Four Chaplains on Saturday, February 12, 2022, at 12:30 P.M.

A reception will follow with light refreshments. Please RSVP to Department’s Programs and Fundraising Coordinator, Cheryl, at cheryl@calegion.org or (559) 875-8387 by February 2, 2022.