Sons of The American Legion

WE NEED YOUR HELP!

The next Atlantic City Regional Stand Down-Mobile will be in Rio Grande, Cape May County, on Friday November 13th beginning at 10 AM. Please see the attached flyer for the exact address.

WE NEED VOLUNTEEERS! Please help spread the word through your networks. You do not need to be a veteran to volunteer. All that is needed is a desire to help our most vulnerable veterans.

Possible duties may include acting as ambassadors to guide and direct veterans as they enter and move about the site; help with set-up and breakdown of the site; clothing distribution; food distribution.

Masks are required to be worn and social distancing is expected. Everyone entering the site will enter through the screening station for a temperature check.

Anyone interested in volunteering should contact volunteer coordinator Bernie Kofoet at herko68351@aol.com

Atlantic City Regional Stand Down: MOBILE
Friday November 13th, 2020
10 A.M. to 3 P.M.
County Commons
3801 Rte. 9 S
Rio Grande, NJ 08242
VA Benefits • VA Health Care

Mental Health Services • Clothing • Housing
Substance Abuse • Employment • Lunch
Interested in volunteering or have questions?
Please Contact the ACRSD: Mobile Steering Committee
•Pat Carney/Wilmington VA Medical Center/302-358-9736•
•Bob Looby/NJ American Legion /908-864-0746•

September 24, 2020

Greetings!

I hope everyone is healthy and cautious as we move forward with the reopening of our state. We have had a couple of virtual meetings and are progressing with our programs. I am pleased to announce the recipients of some awards:

Commander’s Award: Detachment Vice Commander Mark Natale
Civil Service Award—Fireman: Vice Commander Henry Hasselhan
Civil Service Award—Emergency Management: National Historian PDC Thomas Marsden
Performing Arts: Dale and Amy Paradise

We recently ran the 30th annual Watchfire under the guidance of Ocean County DEC Rich Hodum, PDC Dave Page, Historian and PDC Carl Albern, Jr. and PDC Patrick Gallagher. It gained national recognition and a video clip can be seen on the National American Legion website, which is posted in the message below. In case you want to save the link, he url is:
https://www.legion.org/honor/250374/keeping-pow-mia-issue-forefront?utm_source=delivra&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=092320_SAL&utm_id=40194149

Our in-person Detachment meetings for this term will be held at different posts scattered throughout the state. Our first one will be held at Leonardo Post 338 on Saturday, October 17, 2020 and will start at 9:30 am.
Our membership totals from last year are still lagging due to a decline in retention. Please continue buddy checks and get our squadron numbers back up--we have an extension until the end of the year to get those numbers back up.

We still need to have more men step up to be a DEC (Detachment Executive Committeeman) to be a representative for their county. Please contact me ASAP if you are interested.

For God and Country,

Matthew C. Thalasinos
Commander
Sons of The American Legion
Detachment of New Jersey
2019-2021

The 30th Annual POW/MIA Watchfire is scheduled to take place in Seaside Heights on the bay-side beach on September 19-20 beginning at 7pm. This is a 12-hour vigil that runs from 7pm Saturday evening until 7am Sunday morning.

Despite the rumors, this is NOT an invite only event, although we are encouraging social distancing and mask-wearing as well as making some changes to try to keep everyone safe during the pandemic. This event has always been, and will continue to be open to the public in order to continue to spread awareness of the POW/MIA issue.

You do not need to remain the entire 12 hours, and food will be available on-site as usual. Please attend and help make the 30th Annual Watchfire a success.