Commander – Al Norton
Let’s start this month with Thank you Thank you Thank you. We asked our members to help us pay for the Parking lot repairs. $3900.00 was our goal. This goal was met and then some. We couldn’t have done it without members help. I really appreciate your efforts.
The suggestion box is an important tool for the club. I assure you that all suggestions or complaints are read to the Executive committee and acted upon if possible. This month we received a serious complaint about us disrespecting people in wheel chairs. We have one regular member in a wheel chair. I talked to him about the problem. He did not have a clue about what was said and he does not have a problem. The complaint was not signed, therefore, it is impossible for me to continue my investigation. If the person who wrote this complaint would come forward and talk to me or another officer we would do our best to resolve the problem. We have said in the past that unsigned complaints will be ignored but this issue is too serious to ignore. However we cannot do anything if we don’t know anything.
The elected officers of this Post are the people that make the important decisions on the operation of the Post. We have over 300 Legionnaire members I find it difficult to understand why we cannot get enough people to help run our Post. There should be 10 officers, 9 elected and 1 appointed. We have for this year 6. We must have 5 in attendance at the Executive committee before we can vote on anything. We must have 6 members at the General membership meeting to vote, to many times we don’t have enough at meetings to get anything done. This is shameful. Please come help us run this Post and find out what goes on in the operation of the best darn Post in the country.
God Bless the American Legion, our people, our country its veterans and our troops now serving!
Nominations for 2017-2018 officers:
Commander – Al Norton
1st Vice – David Thibeau
2nd Vice – Bob Acre
Financial Officer – Bob Nellis
Sgt. of Arms – Dan Lanquist
Chaplain – Vince Hadley
Judge Advocate – Vacant
Adjutant- Tom Cleveland-appointed position
Charity & Education:
A total of $3032.97 was paid out in March from Charity & Education Funds to the following recipients: American Legion Department $490.77; Auxiliary Care Packages $367.20; SCCA Cancer Patient Transportation $250; Auxiliary Veteran’s Meals $100; Auxiliary Department Assessments $25; AL Post 18 Golf Fundraiser $100; Hot Springs High School Grad Bash $500; The Boys & Girls Club of Sierra County fundraiser $100; Hot Springs High School JROTC Scholarship Fund $250; Hot Springs High School Cheer Team Equipment & Competition Fees $250; Sierra County Little League $200; Friends of Elephant Butte State Park Easter Egg Hunt $300; NM Friends of Foster Children Sporting Equipment $100.
Finance Officer- Bob Nellis
The end of March was also the end of our 3rd quarter for this fiscal year. The post continues to operate in the black. This was due to the generous donations of our members that offset the expense of repairing the parking lot and purchasing a new freezer. Gaming was also about double the revenue that we received in January. Revenue from the kitchen and canteen continue to be good.
The Executive Committee is pursuing the acquisition of Power Ball and scratch tickets from the New Mexico State Lottery. The scratch tickets will dispensed from a vending machine similar to the pull tab machine. This is not expected to be a big money maker but it may ease the withdrawal pains experienced by some with the loss of Pull Tabs.
Activities Committee – Kathy Norton and Linda Amdal
“Hoppy” Easter & Happy Spring to you!! Don’t forget to get your Easter Eggs full of candy & prizes! $1.00 each or 6 for $5.00. The drawing for the $50 Amazon Gift Card and the American Legion hat will be on Saturday, April 15th at the General Meetings.
The Guy’s & Gal’s pool tournament continues to be a huge success & is a lot of fun! Come on in on Sunday, April 2nd @ 3:00 & support your favorite gender! The Tuesday Jam’s have been awesome too!! You can’t beat $2.00 Tuesday and GREAT music!!
As far as we know, this will be the last month of our Thursday Blue Grass music with Bill & Roger. ☹ Waaaaaa… They have been very generous, providing us with great “Free” entertainment during their stay here. Please come in on Thursday’s at 5:00 & let them know how much we appreciate them!! We’d love to have them back next year!
Congrats to Gene Barton as our Volunteer of the Month! Gene was the ram rod on the parking lot project, which we sorely need to be taken care of! Thank you, Gene!
And, Linda Nenno was selected Volunteer of the Quarter! Thanks, Linda, for all you do for our Post, and enjoy your parking spot!
The last Sunday of the month, April 30th, at 5:00, Bob & Fran Acre are throwing a “Patio Karaoke Party” on the new patio as a kind of kick off to celebrate our new patio. Finger foods welcome.
Thanks to all of you for supporting our Post! We look forward to seeing you!