Christmas/Holiday Party - Dec 14, 2015
Our Combat Photographer and US Recon Marine Billy the "Hawk" Hunter took 100's of pictures at our American Legion Post 307's annual Christmas Party. It is almost impossible to pick a favorite but here are two that deserve Honorable mention. First is of the POW/MIA Table Ceremony that we performed. The Ceremony was read by Gunner, the table was set by Ghost, and Killer Bee rang the bell. POW/MIA's, you will Never Be Forgotten! The second picture is of the cake that Cumming ALR Chapter 307 presented as dessert. This masterpiece was donated by the Dacula High School Culinary Class and tasted as good as it looked. Only crumbs were left by the end of the party. One of the first missions of the new year that the Cumming ALR Chapter 307 will execute will be to visit this Class and give our thanks, in person, to these talented and patriotic young women and men. Riders For God and Country, Ranger Bill (See More Photos on the next page.) A PUBLICATION OF APPEN MEDIA: American Legion Chapter sponsors Constitutions for students Pictured from left, American Legion Post 307 in Cumming members Ron Meier, Pauline McKinny, John Arant, Randy McGhee and Kevin Stafford discuss the importance of the Constitution with fourth graders at Midway Elementary. Posted Wednesday, September 30, 2015 12:00 am COMMENT CUMMING, Ga. — In order to increase civic awareness, state school Superintendent Richard Woods and the Georgia Department of Education recently distributed pocket copies of the U.S. Constitution to every fourth grader in Georgia. No tax dollars were used for this project, and in Forsyth County, the constitutions were funded and donated by the American Legion Post 307 in Cumming. On Constitution Day, Sept. 17, each Forsyth County School fourth grader received their own copy of the Constitution, which also includes the Declaration of Independence, the lyrics of the national anthem and the Pledge of Allegiance. Member of the American Legion Post 307 recently visited Midway Elementary to hand out the copies to the students and discuss the importance of this document. “At American Legion Post 307 in Cumming, we recognized the importance of our funding the pocket Constitutions for all 3,500 fourth grade students in Forsyth County public schools,” said Ron Meier, American Legion Post 307 Constitution oratorical chair. “Our Post and American Legion Posts all across the country conduct a high school Oratorical contest based on the Constitution each year to encourage students nearing voting age to become more informed voters and more knowledgeable future government leaders. By providing funding for the elementary schools were able to help even our elementary school students eventually become more informed citizen voters. We’d like to help all our Forsyth County students understand more fully their rights, responsibilities, and duties as citizens as they move ever closer to becoming registered voters.” — Zenzele Price-Richardson American Legion Riders Conduct Pistol Raffle On Monday, July 13th, 2015, the winning ticket was drawn for the Cumming American Legion Post 307 Auxiliary Unit and Riders Chapter Pistol Raffle. The event took place at the beautiful Cumming Veterans Memorial Park. The sub-compact, SCCY Industries 9 mm pistol was won by Taylor A. of Lawrenceville, GA and the winning ticket was drawn by Ms. Pauline McKinny, the Department of Georgia 9th District Auxiliary President. Pictured left to right: ALR Chapter 307 Secretary Lynn "Killer Bee" Burgess, ALR Chapter 307 Assistant Director Kevin "Gunner" Stafford, ALR Chapter 307 Director "Ranger Bill" Burgess, 9th District Auxiliary President Pauline McKinny, ALR Chapter 307 Road Captain Billy "The Hawk" Hunter, and Auxiliary Unit 307 President Phyllis Singleton. Also in attendance today, but not pictured, were Post 307 Oratorical Committee Chairman Ron Meier and Post 307 Legion Sr. Vice Commander Frank Singleton. A total of $1,420.00 was raised and will be split evenly between 307's Auxiliary Unit and the Riders Chapter. Thank you to ALL that supported these efforts. |
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Post Officers for 2015 - 2016:
On August 10th, at the monthly General Membership Meeting of Post 307, the officers for 2015—2016 were installed by Geoff Toman, 9th District Commander and Post 307 Past Commander. Geoff's remarks follow: " The Department of Georgia has had an excellent year. We finished as the number one state in the US. District 9 finished number one in Georgia and Post 307 had the highest membership it has ever had, finishing the year with 319 members. This is a gain over the previous year of 36 members. In addition,11 members passed away during the previous year so you actually had an increase of 47 members. Congratulations on that achievement.
In addition to the accomplishment in membership, you also collected 28 pints of blood in the annual blood drive on Pearl Harbor Day. The Red Cross says that 1 pint of blood can save 3 lives, that equates to 84 lives Post members may have affected. Special thanks goes to Past Commander Dennis Brown who did a “double”. Veterans representing Post 307 have spent 592 hours at VA Hospitals, distributing clothing and toiletries to male and female veterans, packing gift boxes for the troops in Afghanistan and facilitating food for the hungry in the local community. Altogether 9,754 hours was donated by Post 307 members (This totals over 4 man years) to community service. Post 307 participated in 8 community events and thanks to Public Relations Officer John Arant had 15 articles about its activities in the local news media. This is a great way to get the word out that there is an American Legion Post in Cumming. The Post, Auxiliary and Riders continue to participate in parades as the American Legion family. The 105mm howitzer float pulled by Commander McGhee came in second in last year's Old Soldiers Day parade and just last weekend won first place in this years parade. Our float, led by a group of women members and Auxiliary had some very unique costumes that had to have wowed the judges. If you didn't get to see it there will at least one picture in the next newsletter I'm sure. Your online post newsletter and website continued to win the best in Georgia and in 2014 won second place in the national competition. Webmaster and Post Historian, Steve Ratcliffe, continues to publish the wonderful input made by Post 307 Legionnaires, Auxiliary, SAL, and Rider members. It truly was a team effort. You also continued to sponsor the Marine Corp Jr ROTC unit at North Forsyth High School. A donation of $1000 was made to the unit for their Rifle team which is traditionally one of the best in the country. We are very proud of our cadets, who are led by Post member Marine Corp Major Mac Kelly. Post 307 sponsored 16 boys to Boys State again this year, reports Chairman Reggie Sikes. You are the chartering organization for Cub Scout pack 8207 at Whitlow Elementary School, with liaison member Ed Miller donating his time. Led by Ron Meier, we participated in the American Legion Oratorical contest again this year and have some bright prospects on deck for the upcoming season, which will be here before you know it. The Post used $1,000 from the BBQ fundraiser proceeds to purchase pocket Constitutions for Forsyth County 4th graders. Post 307 started an American Legion Riders group in 2014. This group of men and women who like to ride has been instrumental in many fundraisers and leading funerals and parades. They continue to share their funds raised with the Post and the Auxiliary. Thank you Riders. There were other individual accomplishments worthy of note. Member Nick Youdell received the DAR Medal of Honor. Member Ron Meier won a national contest writing a paper for the Constituting America Essay. Member John Arant was the Master of Ceremonies at the City of Cumming Memorial Day program. Member Dennis “Mac” McKinny was selected Department of Georgia Legionnaire of the Year." |