| American Legion Post 305, Caledonia, Mi. 9546 Cherry Valley Telephone Number 616-891-1882 |
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| American Legion Post 305 - June 2009 |
From the Legion Commander:
We’ve had a very good year at the Post from our fish fries and a successful Texas Hold’em in May. We’
ve raised enough money over the past few months to pay our bills over the lean summer months. We
wouldn’t have been able to do this without the help and cooperation of all the members of the Post.
Thank you for helping us run a successful Post.
Memorial Day has passed and I have never been so proud to be a member of this Post. Our ceremony
gets better every year and the turn out of members getting involved has increased. We even had
younger members marching in the color guard and firing squad. I would like to thank all those that
helped make Memorial Day a success from the SAL members who placed the flags at the Caledonia
Cemetery, the cooks and servers of the breakfast, the Boys Scouts for placing flags on the graves of
Veterans, and the members of the Auxiliary who cooked and served lunch, Thank you. It was a very
good day.
At the May meeting the Legion awarded Jerry “Spud” Huver the Honorary Legionnaire of the Year.
Spud has been our main cook at all our fund raisers and served the Post with distinction. Thank you,
Spud, for your service to our Post.
There is no general meeting for the months of June, July and August. Our next meeting will be
Wednesday, September 2. The Bar & Operations Committee, Officers, and the Executive Committee
will meet on June 1st, July 6th and August 3, 2009. Meetings start at 6:30 pm, 7:00 pm and 7:30 pm
respectively.
Please enjoy a wonderful and safe summer and we’ll see you in the fall.
Randy Phillips
From the Auxiliary
Hello Ladies!! Well Memorial Day has come and gone. I want to personally thank everyone who
helped set-up, clean-up and make all those wonderful dishes to pass. Thanks to all of you -we did have
plenty of great food to serve to all the parade participants and more.
Once again our annual plant swap was a success. A lot of people got involved to either just donate
plants, pick up new plants or do some swapping. I want to thank everyone for their participation to
help make this happen. I know it takes a lot of work to make this event so successful.
May is our last meeting of the “year”. We had our election of officers and they will be sworn in at our
next meeting on September 9th. Remember the meetings always start at 7:00pm with Social hour
beginning at 6:00pm. The elected officer’s are as follows: President: Kristen Lazarski, Vice President:
Sandra Holt, Secretary: Jessica Barnaby, Treasurer: Yvonne Arrigo, Chaplin: Karen Mills, and
Historian: Cindy Teater.
At this time there aren’t any events planned for this coming summer. However, please support the
Legion by stopping in to find out if any new items get scheduled at a later date.
Once again, I would like to thank all the Auxiliary members, SAL and Legion members for supporting
all the food events we have sponsored this year. This has been a trying year for a lot of people and we
can do more together.
Make a great day…. Kristen Lazarski
From the SAL
Hello SAL members...... Happy warm weather. Hope you are enjoying it. This is my last newsletter as
commander...Lucky You... no more having me beg for you to get involved. I do want to say thank you
to every member who was involved with any funtion / project that we have done in the 2 years I have
been commander. It was a pleasure to work with you, and to serve for you.
If you have not heard, everyone had a great time on April 25th when we had The Jimmie Stagger Band
at the post. We plan to do more of this type of thing in the future, with the help of our new SAL
member Jimmie Stagger himself. Keep your eyes open for future events in the newsletter.
May 14th, 15th & 16th we did a Texas Hold-em at TJ's Card Room in Cutlerville, and did fairly well.
We really need to look at doing the 4 of these events we are entitled to. This money is made a whole lot
easier then the food events that we do.
We split the cost of a new grill with the Legion that is part of a new six grill area at the Veterans Home
in GR. This should be a beautiful area for the residents to enjoy cook-outs with friends and family.
We are going to pay for one of our members to become a Notary Public. With some of the licenses we
have to get at the post, we need this and I am having a harder time finding people.
We will have one more meeting before summer break. This will be June 8th, with Happy Hour at 6:00
PM and the meeting at 7:00 PM. We will be discussing what we are going to do for the July 4th
Celebration.
In September, we will welcome the new officers. Jerry (Spud) Huver - Commander, Dick Posthumus -
1st Vice, Joe Stanton - 2nd Vice, Bill Neil - Sgt at Arms, John Arrigo - Chaplin, Todd Grinage -
Historian, Randy Eggers - Finance Officer, and I am real sure it will be Jim Gless - Adjutant.
We also hope that Tom Hyde will stay on as Bingo Chairman, and Chuck Clark will stay on as
Membership Chairman.
Randy Eggers
From the A.L.R. Director
Howdy Legion Riders.......
Hopefully you will get this in time to know that we have cancelled our May 30th Run, due to a couple
of conflicts with other riders groups. We had 11 people at the last meeting, and we decided we will do a
Poker Run August 15th, and then also look at doing another one in October.
Anyone interested in riding to Gilmore's Classic Motorcycle Show on June 14th, we will leave from
Thornapple Kitchen (have breakfast first?) on M-37 in Middleville at 10:00 AM. Cost to get into
Gilmore's is $8.00 per person, and includes admission to all of the display buildings, including this
years new Drag Racing exhibit.
Our next meeting will be on June 16th, and we will ride to a destination still to be determined for this
meeting. We will be leaving the post at 6:45PM sharp!
Ride Safe!
Randy Eggers
From the Webmaster
..…Important…………. Important…………… Important……....Important...........Important........
Do you know where your DD 214 or NG 22 form is? I have received questions on death benefits over
the past year as a veteran. Your US Flag, $250 death payment and a headstone are just a few of the
benefits you receive at your death. But to receive those benefits your family needs to present this
document to various authorities. As a veteran, those in the regular military should have received a DD
214 at time of discharge from active duty. Those that were in the National Guard during active duty
status will have either received a DD 214 or NG 22
The Michigan Veterans Trust Fund is located in Lansing. Telephone number 517-373-3130. This
number would be used by those that were in the active service. For those from the National Guard 517-
481-8351 is the number. Each number can get you in touch with someone who can track down and get
you a copy of these forms.
For those of you that are snowbirds (Michigan in the summer, Somewhere South in the Winter). Please
help us out. As mentioned in previous newsletters, the US Postal service is charging us 50¢ for each
returned newsletter. If you forward your mail during the winter our newsletter is sent back to us with
the 50¢ charge because we are not first class mail. Sooooo let’s try something, consider emailing or
calling the Post with your change of address date and the address to send the newsletter too. By golly,
that way you get the newsletter in the mail and the Legion doesn’t get billed 50¢. Better yet, get the
newsletter by email. Email Address, calmilegion @yahoo.com Post Telephone Number, 616-891-1882.
Your Webmaster
BRICK WALL OF SUPPORT- REMINDER
Bricks may be purchased by anyone wishing to show support of our Post, you do not need to be a
member of the Legion, SAL or Auxiliary. Bricks may also be purchased in memory of friends or family
who have or are serving in the military.
Call Barb Scott at 891-1325 for details.
We’ve had a very good year at the Post from our fish fries and a successful Texas Hold’em in May. We’
ve raised enough money over the past few months to pay our bills over the lean summer months. We
wouldn’t have been able to do this without the help and cooperation of all the members of the Post.
Thank you for helping us run a successful Post.
Memorial Day has passed and I have never been so proud to be a member of this Post. Our ceremony
gets better every year and the turn out of members getting involved has increased. We even had
younger members marching in the color guard and firing squad. I would like to thank all those that
helped make Memorial Day a success from the SAL members who placed the flags at the Caledonia
Cemetery, the cooks and servers of the breakfast, the Boys Scouts for placing flags on the graves of
Veterans, and the members of the Auxiliary who cooked and served lunch, Thank you. It was a very
good day.
At the May meeting the Legion awarded Jerry “Spud” Huver the Honorary Legionnaire of the Year.
Spud has been our main cook at all our fund raisers and served the Post with distinction. Thank you,
Spud, for your service to our Post.
There is no general meeting for the months of June, July and August. Our next meeting will be
Wednesday, September 2. The Bar & Operations Committee, Officers, and the Executive Committee
will meet on June 1st, July 6th and August 3, 2009. Meetings start at 6:30 pm, 7:00 pm and 7:30 pm
respectively.
Please enjoy a wonderful and safe summer and we’ll see you in the fall.
Randy Phillips
From the Auxiliary
Hello Ladies!! Well Memorial Day has come and gone. I want to personally thank everyone who
helped set-up, clean-up and make all those wonderful dishes to pass. Thanks to all of you -we did have
plenty of great food to serve to all the parade participants and more.
Once again our annual plant swap was a success. A lot of people got involved to either just donate
plants, pick up new plants or do some swapping. I want to thank everyone for their participation to
help make this happen. I know it takes a lot of work to make this event so successful.
May is our last meeting of the “year”. We had our election of officers and they will be sworn in at our
next meeting on September 9th. Remember the meetings always start at 7:00pm with Social hour
beginning at 6:00pm. The elected officer’s are as follows: President: Kristen Lazarski, Vice President:
Sandra Holt, Secretary: Jessica Barnaby, Treasurer: Yvonne Arrigo, Chaplin: Karen Mills, and
Historian: Cindy Teater.
At this time there aren’t any events planned for this coming summer. However, please support the
Legion by stopping in to find out if any new items get scheduled at a later date.
Once again, I would like to thank all the Auxiliary members, SAL and Legion members for supporting
all the food events we have sponsored this year. This has been a trying year for a lot of people and we
can do more together.
Make a great day…. Kristen Lazarski
From the SAL
Hello SAL members...... Happy warm weather. Hope you are enjoying it. This is my last newsletter as
commander...Lucky You... no more having me beg for you to get involved. I do want to say thank you
to every member who was involved with any funtion / project that we have done in the 2 years I have
been commander. It was a pleasure to work with you, and to serve for you.
If you have not heard, everyone had a great time on April 25th when we had The Jimmie Stagger Band
at the post. We plan to do more of this type of thing in the future, with the help of our new SAL
member Jimmie Stagger himself. Keep your eyes open for future events in the newsletter.
May 14th, 15th & 16th we did a Texas Hold-em at TJ's Card Room in Cutlerville, and did fairly well.
We really need to look at doing the 4 of these events we are entitled to. This money is made a whole lot
easier then the food events that we do.
We split the cost of a new grill with the Legion that is part of a new six grill area at the Veterans Home
in GR. This should be a beautiful area for the residents to enjoy cook-outs with friends and family.
We are going to pay for one of our members to become a Notary Public. With some of the licenses we
have to get at the post, we need this and I am having a harder time finding people.
We will have one more meeting before summer break. This will be June 8th, with Happy Hour at 6:00
PM and the meeting at 7:00 PM. We will be discussing what we are going to do for the July 4th
Celebration.
In September, we will welcome the new officers. Jerry (Spud) Huver - Commander, Dick Posthumus -
1st Vice, Joe Stanton - 2nd Vice, Bill Neil - Sgt at Arms, John Arrigo - Chaplin, Todd Grinage -
Historian, Randy Eggers - Finance Officer, and I am real sure it will be Jim Gless - Adjutant.
We also hope that Tom Hyde will stay on as Bingo Chairman, and Chuck Clark will stay on as
Membership Chairman.
Randy Eggers
From the A.L.R. Director
Howdy Legion Riders.......
Hopefully you will get this in time to know that we have cancelled our May 30th Run, due to a couple
of conflicts with other riders groups. We had 11 people at the last meeting, and we decided we will do a
Poker Run August 15th, and then also look at doing another one in October.
Anyone interested in riding to Gilmore's Classic Motorcycle Show on June 14th, we will leave from
Thornapple Kitchen (have breakfast first?) on M-37 in Middleville at 10:00 AM. Cost to get into
Gilmore's is $8.00 per person, and includes admission to all of the display buildings, including this
years new Drag Racing exhibit.
Our next meeting will be on June 16th, and we will ride to a destination still to be determined for this
meeting. We will be leaving the post at 6:45PM sharp!
Ride Safe!
Randy Eggers
From the Webmaster
..…Important…………. Important…………… Important……....Important...........Important........
Do you know where your DD 214 or NG 22 form is? I have received questions on death benefits over
the past year as a veteran. Your US Flag, $250 death payment and a headstone are just a few of the
benefits you receive at your death. But to receive those benefits your family needs to present this
document to various authorities. As a veteran, those in the regular military should have received a DD
214 at time of discharge from active duty. Those that were in the National Guard during active duty
status will have either received a DD 214 or NG 22
The Michigan Veterans Trust Fund is located in Lansing. Telephone number 517-373-3130. This
number would be used by those that were in the active service. For those from the National Guard 517-
481-8351 is the number. Each number can get you in touch with someone who can track down and get
you a copy of these forms.
For those of you that are snowbirds (Michigan in the summer, Somewhere South in the Winter). Please
help us out. As mentioned in previous newsletters, the US Postal service is charging us 50¢ for each
returned newsletter. If you forward your mail during the winter our newsletter is sent back to us with
the 50¢ charge because we are not first class mail. Sooooo let’s try something, consider emailing or
calling the Post with your change of address date and the address to send the newsletter too. By golly,
that way you get the newsletter in the mail and the Legion doesn’t get billed 50¢. Better yet, get the
newsletter by email. Email Address, calmilegion @yahoo.com Post Telephone Number, 616-891-1882.
Your Webmaster
BRICK WALL OF SUPPORT- REMINDER
Bricks may be purchased by anyone wishing to show support of our Post, you do not need to be a
member of the Legion, SAL or Auxiliary. Bricks may also be purchased in memory of friends or family
who have or are serving in the military.
Call Barb Scott at 891-1325 for details.
