We have good news and good news. First, National and Department have ended their fiscal year(s). We officially made
100% of last year’s membership without anyone paying up for someone else’s dues. The goal for 2009 is to do that
before the cutoff in December so the Post gets a rebate on its dues payment. Second, the big event of our year is really cranking
up. Lake Forest Day is well under way organizationally. Bud Turner, 2008 LFD Chair and his VERY capable minions have everything
under control.
Enclosed herein is a calendar of the week’s events. Yes, it is an entire week this year with the 100th
Anniversary celebration. The Legion has parts on Thursday evening, July 31st, Saturday evening August 2nd
and, of course, Tuesday and Wednesday, August 5th and 6th. You should also know that there are two Legion
beneficiaries of the week’s events. First, if the Gala (Beach Ball) makes a profit, it will inure to The McKinlock Post
264 Foundation. Second, if any donations are made in the return envelopes for the Gala, they will go to The McKinlock Post
264 directly. Hopefully, all of us will benefit from the enormous efforts of the entire group to put on a fabulous celebration.
As is normal, our fiscal year will depend greatly on the financial outcome of our 2 day part of
Lake Forest Day in West Park. Please be sure to buy lots of raffle tickets and, if you are able, please send in a donation,
too. The budget I put together late last year is the most ambitious in our history and can only reach fruition with a VERY
GOOD LFD08.
You should start receiving your 2009 Legion Dues requests in the next few weeks. If you choose to go PUFL
(paid-up-for-life) during August, you do not have to pay 2009 dues, the 2008 dues you paid count to make you current for PUFL
thru the entire months of July and August. You can download a PUFL app from Department’s website under Forms and send
it to me or to Steve King or to Bill Leslie. The three of us also have them, and they are in the office a well. You will never
again have to pay dues if you go PUFL. And, you will make Bill’s job easier in the process (Please help me keep Bill
from being cranky in 2009).
Finally, for those of you out of state or on vacation, if I don’t see you this summer, please be careful and
have a healthy and safe time.
David Lee, Commander
gfv
MAY& JUNE 2008 COMMANDERS MESSAGE
Well, one third of my last year as Commander has passed. What is coming up and what do we need to do now?
In the month of May we will not have a regular dinner meeting because of the Recognition Dinner on May 30. We have less than
two weeks to finalize our counts with The Port O’Call & Base Security, and I wouldn’t want to miss seeing
you. Be sure to send in your reservation and check as you are reading this.
We cannot have a business meeting on the normal May date since it is Memorial Day. Please come out to the
Memorial Day Commemoration in Market Square. As I am writing this, we haven’t finalized the speaker but I assure you,
it should be a good though brief ceremony.
We will have a “special” business meeting on Monday, May 19th. It is special since it is not on
the regular date. In June, we go back to regular meeting date on 6/23.
We are working very hard on Lake Forest Day’s 100th iteration which occurs on August 5th & 6th this
year. In addition to the normal carnival and beer tent activities, we are again going to have a kid’s parade conducted
by the Auxiliary. Following that will be the expanded parade with more bands and more floats than in the past. Our Grand Marshall
will be Retired Navy Captain and Astronaut James Lovell. Please contact Bud Turner or Vinnie Dolan if you would be willing
to walk or ride in the front of the parade which honors McKinlock Post 264.
By the way, save the week prior to Lake Forest Day. Beginning on Thursday, July 31, we are going to have a
Veteran’s Commemoration in Market Square. It will be from 6:30 – 7:00 PM, just before The Derrick Stout Band plays.
You will be able to buy a Flag and dog-tags to commemorate a veteran of your choice and “plant” it in Market Square.
Captain Lovell will be there with us. On Saturday, August 2nd, there will be a Beach Ball with special dinner, drinks, water
ski show and fireworks. The profits from the event will inure to The McKinlock Post 264 Foundation. On Sunday, August 3rd,
there will be a garden walk conducted by the four major garden clubs in town. What a way to spend part of your vacation with
the price of gas expected to be more than 10% higher than it now is. Join us!
We now have at least two men tied with the Commander for bringing in two new members. Have you started working
on it? The $50 offer to the one who beats the Commander by the most (or split if two or more tie) still stands. Sure is easy
money. I won’t have much time to add to my total from here out so take a shot at it. I even have some cards for you
to use in recruiting. Just attend the May meeting and pick some up.
Ok, now the good part. If you are a record procrastinator, you are about to win. Department has made an offer
(first time I have seen this) for those who haven’t yet paid their 2008 dues (fiscal year 7-1-2007 to 6-30-2008). If
you pay 50% extra, you will get credit for 2008 and 2009. That means $45 gets you two years of dues. Then, you have plenty
of time to call one of us and sign up for PUFL.
One or two last things. We need help posting flags in the 3 major cemeteries in town on the weekend before
Memorial Day. We need flag posters beginning on Memorial Day. We need raffle ticket sellers on the weekends preceding Lake
Forest Day. We need help at Lake Forest Day on the parade route and in the park. Please call the appropriate chairman to volunteer
your time.
We have a lot to do in the next couple of months and we need your help. Won’t you join us and pitch
in? Just call me and volunteer. My cell is 847-404-2848. Make it busy.
David Lee - Commander
APRIL 2008 COMMANDERS MESSAGE
Here it
is … the first of April – April Fools Day to be exact. Two months ago I asked you all to be a bit introspective
and see what you can do for your Post. Did you join us on Jan 28th? I know you didn’t on Feb 26 because we
didn’t have a quorum to conduct a meeting. That meant that on a really miserable night, not even 11 of you would travel
the 1-3 miles you live from the Post and join your comrades to hold a monthly meeting. That was the second challenge I laid
down in the last newsletter. The first was to ask your acquaintances to join us at a diner meeting. That must also have been
too tough since we had no new faces at the last two dinner meeting on Feb 11 and Mar 10.
The third
and final challenge was to ask your employer or the organizations of which you are a member to donate to the Post or to a
line item of your choice. Again, we haven’t received any letters or checks to this effect. No one has called to ask
me to make a presentation with them. Is no one trying?
Then, there
was the final note about needing a Jr Vice Commander and committee members. Sure, I can reappoint the same group who works
on this every year. I’d rather not. Have you called Bud Turner or Dan Delozier to volunteer to help at Lake Forest Day
08? This is the 100th Lake Forest Day and we are making it bigger and better than ever. Will you help us?
As long
as we are on the subject of my grousing, what about the 60 plus of you who haven’t paid 2008 dues yet. The year ends
June 30. What are you waiting for? Send a check for $60 before the dues go up and pay for 08 and 09 at the same time. Better
still, call Bill Leslie and find out how much it costs to PUFL up (Pay Up For Life – one payment and never another).
If you do, you can smile the next time you read me ranting for dues payments because you stepped and did your part in advance.
What is
coming up? In May, we will have our annual recognition dinner. See Steve Kings write up herein and get your checks in. We
expect this to be even better than last years which was top notch. As I mentioned, this Lake Forest Day will be very special.
The LFD08 Foundation is raising monies to make it bigger and better still with a special dinner and fireworks on Saturday
night, water skiers Sat afternoon, volleyball on the beach, and a lot more. We will kick off the week with a flag ceremony
in Market Square for Veterans in
which you will be able to buy and place a flag in honor or memory of a veteran of your choice.
We have
a lot to do in the next few months and we need you and your help. Won’t you join us and pitch in? Just call me and volunteer.
My cell is 847-404-2848. Make it busy.
Commander David
Lee
FEBRUARY 2008 COMMANDERS MESSAGE:
It is now February 1, 2008. When I last wrote you, I asked if you would join us on January 28 at the next business meeting.
Did you? It was an interesting meeting. I presented a budget for consideration and passage for the New Year. It is quite ambitious.
We hope to spend over $115,000 this year. It depends on a few things happening that have never happened in the past. It depends
on you doing something which might be a bit uncomfortable for you. It depends on you and me and everyone contributing time
in three areas.
We will need you to look at your friends, fellow church or synagogue members, your bridge club buddies, your health
club acquaintances and ask a couple of simple questions. Are you a veteran? Would you be willing to join me at the next dinner
meeting and see what The American Legion does and meet some of my comrades? If we all do this, each one of us will bring in
a new member in 2008. That will mean over 200 new members this year if we each bring in one member. Then, we will have twice
the resources for flag postings, the 100thLake Forest Day, pool of committee
members, etc. I will hereby issue a challenge. The person who brings in the most new members in 2008 will be given $50 by
the Commander personally – not Post 264 funds. If I do you get nothing. Do you wanna bet?
Second,
we need you to attend meetings. No, they are not the 3-5 hour marathons I have heard of and some of you remember in past years.
The last few have been less than 1-1/2 hours long and a couple less than an hour. If we have more Legionnaires in meetings,
we will have more people to help get things done and meetings can be shorter and more productive.
Third,
and this is the tough one, we need you to consider contributing to the post by asking for a donation from the organizations
of which you are part. If we could get $100 from one organization from each of 100 members, that would be an extra $10,000.
That would be more than enough to pay for the new flag poles we plan to acquire to replace the wooden ones we now use. Or,
it would enable us to nearly double our scholarship donations. Or, it would enable us to donate 25 new heavy duty wheel chairs
to the VA hospital. Are you still working? Ask your employer for $5,000 or $1,000 to help the line item of our budget you
like to support most. We will gladly take a directed donation for scholarships or VA support. The tough part is that you must
ask.
Have
I annoyed you yet? Have I pushed you beyond your comfort zone? Are you willing to take up the challenge and show that grumpy
new Commander what the members can really do if they want to? OK then, show me you want to. I dare you.
By the way, I am still waiting for one of you to step up and say you will be the Jr Vice Commander. Remember,
we will help you help us. Since you chose to join, at least you can choose to do something. Call me if you want to serve on
a standing committee or two. Most meet only a few times annually. Just STEP UP!
Commander David Lee
December 2007 Commanders Message
It seems like just a few months ago
the 2007 McKinlock Post 264 Officer slate was being installed by our District #10 Adjutant John Davis.Next Monday December 10, 2007, we are honored
again to have John Davis officiate over
the installation of our 2008 officers.
One thing I have learned this past year is
that it takes about a year for the light bulb to go on in one’s head as how to be the Commander.In my opinion, the leadership of the Post should be, at minimum, a two year assignment.Perhaps, some day that will be reviewed and changed by the active membership.
It’s tradition that we summarize the
accomplishments and activities of the Post over the past year.They continue
to be many that are achieved by just a handful of our membership.
Most important of our 2007 targets was
that we donated over $40,000 to various
Veterans, Community and Youth organizations this year.This number
was, for the most part, achieved by having another successful fund raiser – Lake Forest Day 2007.David Lee, our Sr. Vice Commander,
continued to deliver good sound American Legion business judgments.Dave’s
control of special events, including Memorial and Veterans Day were very much appreciated by the membership and the community.Steve
King, our Jr. Vice Commander did an outstanding job with controlling the Ice Carnival, Recognition Dinner, District #10
Dinner meeting along with exceptional monthly dinners,meeting set ups for our
Post and providing excellent guest speakers.Larry Crone& the Color Guard & Rifle Squad, including his duties as Service Officer and
back up Sgt at Arms, continued his many duties at an amazing pace.At the same
time, Larry would jog my memory of other duties and upcoming events.Larry has been a member of Post 264 for over 52 years and is a true “rarely achieved by others” person.If we were to list Larry’s other Duties and accomplishments at the District, State and higher levels,
we would require more space than our News Letter.Dave Burgess, our Flag Chairman, assumed the role of Flag
posting, selling and maintaining the inventory as well as soliciting funds [to maintain our Flag Program] from City Merchants
and Individuals with equal enthusiasm. And we must not forget Gil Clark for his years of service of posting and maintaining Flags in West Lake Forest.Excellent Job Gil.With the efforts of Bill Gretz, our Public Relations Officer, we continued
to get our message out to the Lake Forest/Lake Bluff Community.Tom Marks, our Finance Officer, continued his position
of number smashing in his usual fine fashion keeping us informed of where we were at financially both for LFD07 and our monthly
P&L.Bud Turner and Bill Malich did another credible job as co-chairs of Lake Forest Day 2007.This team controlled thousands of personnel hours to pull off our 87th year of Lake Forest Day.At the same time Bud Turner handled “BoysState” along with
his personal touch of keeping me on an even keel with proper direction and still having time to control the Raffle Sales at
LFD07. Indeed, an amazing accomplishment. George Kouba & Al Champ handled double duty with control of Graves
Registration/Cemetery Flag posting and Building Management.George Kouba also Chaired the Executive Committee in his
usual fine spirit. Vinnie Dolan completed his 15th
year as controller of the Lake Forest Day Parade and miraculously accomplished this event with serious health issues. Our Hats are Off to Vinnie on the continued completion of this great responsibility. Bob Pommer has been our Chairman & Social Director
with Poker Night and Golf. Twice per month members of the Post meet for three hours and play the game of chance and to a certain
degree – the game of skill.The Golf program we’ll leave for another
discussion.Ed Smith is a 35 year member of Post 264 that has honored us with his skills as; Chair of the Scholarship
Committee, Life Membership Chair, and Post Parliamentarian this past year.Ed
recently turned over the reins as Chair of the LF Day Food Committee, but still had time to help oversee this event.Dave
Nash as Chair of the Investment Committee and as president of the McKinlock Post Foundation completed another successful year in these positions.
Sharon Krawiec provided outstanding
News Letters and continued with her great fund raising abilities for the Auxiliary over the past year. Our News Letter won
3rd place in 2007 being recognized as one of the best in the State of Illinois. You will note that we are printing in black & white this last
edition of the News Letter for 2007 as Sharon is on maternity leave.And finally, we give much credit to Megg Abel for her super efforts in bringing our WEB Site
up-to-date.Please take a look at www.post264.org you may be amazed to see all the data that’s available with click.
On Monday December 10, 2007, David Lee will take over the helm as your new Commander.And
I will become but yet another Jr. Past Commander seated behind the illuminated McKinlock Post globe. Please join me in
wishing David Lee and his new slate of Officers and Committees a very successful and prosperous 2008 for Post 264.It has, indeed, been my honor and privilege to serve the McKinlock Post membership, the Community of Lake
Forest and most importantly, the Veterans and our Youth this past year.
Gerald “Jerry” Thompson
Commander 2007
James A. Lovell Jr. Federal
Health Care Center
On October 5, 2007, Larry Crone, Bob & Lisa Pommer, Al & Chris Nicoletta, Sharon & Phil Krawiec, Mary & Peggy Gallagher
and Judy & Jerry Thompson, attended the Naming Program at the North Chicago VA Medical Center.The purpose of the program was to name the new hospital created jointly by the Navy and the Veterans Administration.The hospital is expected to be completed in 2010 near the Naval Station Great Lakes.It will be called the “James A. Lovell Jr. Federal Health Care Center.Our local Highland Park Hollywood & TV star Gary Sinise and his Lt Dan Band were
part of the program with a following concert at Naval Station Great Lakes parade grounds.It was estimated that there were 4,000 Navy personnel at the concert.Capt.
Lovell highlighted the concert with his Jitter-Bug dance routines in front of Lt. Dan’s Band.
Congressman Mark Kirk later
wrote and open letter commenting …“Jim Lovell is the living inspiration for Americans.In times like these, we need to recognize heroes.Last week
we honored a local hero and ensured that thousands of other local heroes who have worn our nation's uniform continue to receive
healthcare in northern Illinois.”
After breaking ground this summer on the new $100 million
VA/Navy hospital in North Chicago, Congressman Kirk joined Apollo 13 astronaut Captain James Lovell, VA Secretary Gordon Mansfield,
actor Gary Sinise and thousands of sailors to officially name our new VA/Navy hospital as the "James A. Lovell Federal Healthcare
Center."
Thanks to Abbott Laboratories, Gary Sinise and his Lt. Dan Band were able to entertain 4,000
sailors at the Great LakesNavalTrainingCenter following the ceremony.
