 Morris,
a 66-year-old, 40-year member of the
American Legion in Cardington, Ohio, is the
national vice commander for seven states,
including Illinois. Morris said this was one
of 24 stops he and the caravan would be
making this week in Illinois.
Morris said the journey has logged 1,400
miles in the state so far, with stops as far
north as Chicago and as far south as
Carbondale.
The purpose of the trip is to help
promote new membership in the American
Legion. Morris says his seven-state district
has 750,000 members, and nationally the
Legion has 2.7 million members. But the goal
nationally is to go over 3 million members
in 2010.
Although the statewide trips are taxing
and can cause 15- or 16-hour days, Morris
says getting out and meeting members
rejuvenates him for the next day. "I get to
meet a lot of wonderful people and I love
people," Morris said.
Another purpose of the national caravans
is to find out what the posts are doing, to
glean their good ideas on membership and
community involvement, and to share those
ideas with other posts.
As an example Morris mentioned a post in
Missouri that has changed its philosophy to
cater to younger people, thus creating an
atmosphere where today's young veterans want
to go. "Once they join and become frequent
visitors to the post, they learn about all
the Legion does and become active members,"
Morris added.
Morris said the American Legion posts in
every community need to do a better job of
telling the community all the Legion does to
help veterans. "We are not very good at
public relations," he said.
What the Legion does ranges from
scholarships for children who have a parent
overseas, children and youth programs, the
organization's Child Welfare Foundation and
Scouting to veterans affairs -- and those
are just some of the things Morris says
communities need to know the Legion is
involved in.
Morris says that although every American
Legion program is important, he wanted to
mention the organization's activism in
veterans affairs and the Legion's Family
Support Network.
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top of second column] |
"We can't do enough for our veterans," he
said.
He pointed out that having almost 3
million members gives the American Legion a
strong voice in the political arena.
He noted that President Obama had mulled
over including veterans in his national
health care program until he heard from the
Legion that health care for veterans should
be left alone. "The next day the president
announced that it was only an idea, and that
was the end of that," Morris said with a
smile
With the visit in Lincoln over, Morris
said his caravan is heading north and then
back to Ohio. Until the next week, when they
hit the road again to drum up more
membership and to find another great idea he
can share on how to make the American Legion
better than ever.
[By
MIKE FAK, with text from supporting
materials]
American
Legion:
http://www.legion.org/
 |
