Post Talk
North Branch Post #85
- Membership Meeting: March 8th @ 7:00PM
- Auxiliary Meeting: March 8th @ 7:00PM
- SAL Meeting: March 15th @ 6:00PM
- Legion Riders Meeting: March 3rd @ 7:00PM
- Coffee Talk with the CVSO: March 15th @ 9:AM
Rick Hals, Post Commander
Greetings to all. I would like to thank all who helped on Feb. 8th either at the meeting or you who went to city hall to show support for the Veterans Memorial project, I certainly hope that project can move forward smoothly, but I do not feel it will be a “walk in the park,” we will see.
Remember, the Legion is having our Corn Beef and Cabbage supper on Sat. March 12th, many hands make light work.
Memberships are due if you have not yet renewed.
The next meeting is March 8th at 7:00 PM, I would sure like to see all the chairs filled. HAVE A GREAT WEEK!
Michelle Still, Auxiliary President
Girls State is a program sponsored by the American Legion Auxiliary to send junior girls to this program where they learn more about the workings of our government, learn leadership skills, and make lifelong friendships.
This year the program will be held at Bethel College and the dates are June 12 – 18. If you know a high school junior, please encourage her to apply to attend this educational and fun event. Please contact me for more information at 651-295-7260.
Jim Hunt, SAL Commander
Hello! The SAL is extremely pleased that the Veterans Memorial has been approved to be located in Central Park. It was a long process. This memorial honors those who made great and ultimate sacrifices to protect our freedoms in these United States of America. Thank you to all those council members who voted to make this happen!
Thanks again to everyone that helped make February’s omelet breakfast a success. We couldn’t do it without you!
Once again the SAL will be donating two $500 scholarships to North Branch High School seniors who participate in the “What the American Legion means to me” essay. Students must have a family member that served in the Armed Forces to qualify.
Have a great month!
Camille Wentz, Legion Riders Director
The Riders held its first meeting on Friday, February 11, with fifteen in attendance. Introductions with new members and older members along with the purpose and general information about the Legion and where the riders fit in was discussed. Riding was the primary concern for the group. Dinner rides and other group rides with other chapters are already in the planning stages. Future monthly, year-round business meetings will be held on the 1st Thursday of every month at the North Branch American Legion. Officer positions were voted on and filled. A special thanks to those who have stepped up to take on officer positions to make our Riders successful.
The Legion Riders are excited to take over the Kiddie Parade during Midsummer festivities and even have several kids excited to help.
I attended the Tenth District American Legion Riders Semi-annual meeting on January 29th. I was asked to create a video of photos to use at the American Legion Riders booth at the Donnie Smith show in March. I have collected photos from many different chapters and am in the process of assembling the video. I hope to share that with you next month.
We would like to welcome the four (4) new Legion Riders who have joined the North Branch Chapter #85: Daniel Nybeck (Legion), Angie Youngberg (Auxiliary), Lisa Edwards (Auxiliary), Austin Doll (SAL), and Tom Greene (Legion Transfer from Wisconsin). Welcome to the 10th District Legion Family!!
Thanks goes out to Past Director Jill Bigley and the other past officers and members for all the great work that has been done and the families lives that were made better by the generosity and the hard work of the Legion Riders.
Randy Koivisto, Past Commander
At the February 8th North Branch City Council meeting, the council and mayor voted 4-1 in favor of our proposal to build a Veteran’s Memorial in Central Park. Council member Neider cast the lone negative vote. We would like to thank the North Branch Beautification Association, the Air Force Jr. ROTC program, and the veterans on the committee, for the strong effort to ensure a positive outcome. And a huge thank you goes out to all of those that took the time to complete the extensive online survey. Without the tremendous support shown, our project would not have been approved.
The next step is to finalize the design and seek approval of same from the city, to be followed by the fundraising campaign. We are moving in a positive direction and our goal is to build a memorial that all of our veteran’s will be proud of!
Ron Rollins, Adjutant
It seems that our veterans memorial vote has been well commented here. It is because it is that important to us. Unfortunately, not everyone feels the way we do.
I want to start my write-up by saying that I am also very happy that on February 8th, the City of North Branch voted the wishes of the citizens and voted 4-1 in favor of the Veterans Memorial being built in Central Park.
(Attendees at the February 8th Council Meeting)
Not being involved in the planning myself, in my opinion a huge thanks goes out to Laura and Joe Scaramell and the rest of the North Branch Beautification Committee, Veterans, Ray Pittman, Larry Lattimore, and Randy Koivisto that have been instrumental in making numerous presentations and educating the public and other veterans on the progress of the memorial over the last 4 years. I applaud you all, as well as those that I may not have mentioned. Now that this hurdle has been overcome, now the real work begins.
We have several open Officer positions:
- Chaplain
- Judge Advocate
- Sgt. At Arms
- Service Officer
- Historian
This month I will highlight one of the most underrated, yet important position in our post.
Historian: The work of post historian is cumulative. It is wise to leave the responsibility to one person if handled well. There should be close cooperation between the post adjutant and the historian. The former works with records on matters of current interest, the latter on matters of historical interest. The post historian should also keep in touch with the department historian and be prompt in answering inquiries. An annual report should be made to the department historian prior to the department convention. Copies of printed material regarding the post should be deposited in local and state libraries, as well as in the post and department archives. This will prevent complete loss of records through fire or other catastrophe, as well as provide source material for those looking for information about The American Legion. An outline for a one-year post narrative history and yearbook.
Remember, this is the technical job description from National. Duties in our post are slightly different.
We need someone to take photo’s at events and write a synopsis of the event. Make a scrap book of the yearly events of our North Branch American Legion Family, if you so choose.
This is a pretty independent job and you can be as busy as you want to be.
Also keep in my that nominations for all leadership positions will be held soon. It would be the joy of my heart to have a full complement of leadership for the upcoming election.
From Misty Padilla at Department: (received 2-28-2022)
Early today a scam was sent out from what appears to be an email from Mike Maxa, the Department Adjutant’s email account.
It has the subject: “I await your response” and the content requests gift cards for a Hospice program.
Again, this email is a scam, please do not reply to the email but instead delete the email.
Thank you.
Upcoming events:
- March 4th – Osseo-Maple Grove SAL Steak Dinner – Osseo
- March 12th – Corned Beef & Cabbage Dinner at North Branch Post #85
- March 12th – Appreciation Rally at the Forest Lake American Legion Post #225
- March 15th – American Legion Birthday
- March 26th-27th – Donnie Smith Bike Show at St Paul River Centre
- April 30th – District 10 MyLegion.org Training – North Branch Legion
- June 3th-4th – 10 District Convention at Milaca Post 178
- June 16th-19th – Midsummer Weekend
- June 24th-26th – SAL Detachment Convention at Legionville
- July 14th-16th – 2022 Department Convention in Willmar, MN
As noted above The North Branch American Legion will be hosting a district-wide training session on MyLegion.org, Reports & Deadlines, and How to Run a meeting and we are also trying to put Public Relations in there also. This will run from 10:00am-3:00pm. Lunch will be catered from Subway.
The target audience will be Adjutants, Membership Directors, Commanders (to include Presidents and Directors), and being it is so close to elections any member that may be interested in one of these positions may also be included. We hope to get a good response and possibly do more trainings in the future.
The SAL had their Omelet breakfast on February 13th. It was a successful venture by serving 92 adults and 3 children for the day. Some new SAL members were exposed to the Sons finely tuned machine led by Commander Hunt. Thank you to all the Sons for your dedication to the American Legion and the North Branch area community.
We had a great meeting with the CVSO in February. A guest speaker from NEPTUNE SOCIETY spoke to veterans about burial and cremation benefits through their company. It was a very interesting topic which generated a lot of questions from many veterans. Bryan Brown also explain the purpose and history of challenge coins and gave one to those veterans in attendance that did not get one previously. Look for the date of the next meeting with Bryan and Wendy at the top of this publication.
In March, the Veteran Service Officer will be holding a Question & Answer session. Think of any questions you may have about your rights as a veteran and bring them with you.
If you are too shy to ask, write them down and give it to Wendy, I’m sure she will read them for you. If Bryan doesn’t have the answer, I’m sure he can find it soon.
“We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.”
–Ronald Reagan
Did you know that the Star Spangled became our National Anthem on March 3rd, 1931?
Daylight Savings time begins on March 13 @ 0200hrs.
All Color/Honor Guard Members:
The Color Guard is requesting that former members that have uniforms and equipment and no longer intent to participate, that you please return your equipment to the Legion Post so they may re-issue it to other in-coming members.
Volunteer Opportunity!
We are soon to be looking for volunteers for Midsummer events. We could sure use some more help. Even a couple of hours on any day would be very helpful. Set-up, Clean up, helping the Auxiliary cooking in the park and/or at the dance, security or many other duties that need to be covered to pull off this celebration. If you have any time to share please contact Commander Rick Hals, or Club manager, Carene Johnson to see where you can fit in.
Coming in April: “ The American Legion Preamble”, What does it mean?
I will be introducing an employee, post officer, or member each month to help recognize each other and the people that make the Legion function.
This month I will introduce you to…. Me.
My name is Ron Rollins and have been a member of this post for 21 years. I have been married to my wife, Diane for 37 years and had 5 children(who are all adults) in that time. I have two dogs at home, Dane (Chihuahua), and Bella (Pitbull).
I am eligible for my American Legion membership through my service in the United States Army Military Police Corps. I served in Camp Darby, Italy; Ft. Bragg, N.C.; Grenada, West Indies; as well as a deployment to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
I am a dual member of the Legion- also serving in the Sons of American Legion, and also a charter member of the Legion Riders since its establishment at Post #85 in 2011. I just went from two wheels to three last fall, and I am now riding a Harley Tri Glide.
Some of you may know me as a police officer in the City of North Branch. I was in North Branch for 15 years and retired in 2019, with a total of 38 years as a police officer.
I am currently The Law & Order Chair, I assist with the scholarship committee, and involved with the creation of the Public Relations Committee, andliaison for the Sons and the Legion Riders. I currently hold the position of Post Adjutant. A position that has been handled brilliantly for the last 12 years by Glenn Pierce. In the last 6 months I have realized how important it is to know what is going on in the American Legion, from national to the local level- then get that information to the membership. I am honored to be in this position and will do it to the best of my ability.
As always,
