Legionnaires,
After a brief discussion
with Department Commander Mike McDermott and several Department
leadership personnel, we decided that it is time for The American Legion
Department of New York to get back
to some degree of the regular order of business. Although we will be
restricted to 100 Legionnaires in attendance at the Convention sessions,
we felt it was vital to have our Convention nevertheless. Pre and Post
Convention meetings will take place. There
will be a Resolution altered election of our new Commander for
2021-2022 with most of the ‘Pomp and Circumstance’ our incoming
Commander deserves. We will also give a fond farewell to the historic 2
year reign of our outgoing Department Commander. In order
to accomplish this, we needed to alter our voting procedure. Normally
Department elections are decided by individual Counties casting their
allotted ballots at roll call, after nominations, seconding speeches
and a request for nominations from the floor are
completed. Due to our limited capacity, we will not be permitted to
have all 62 County Commanders and the Department Executive Committee (50
members ) and the potential new Department officers (25 ) in attendance
at the Convention.
On Thursday April 15th
at 6:00 PM, Commander Michael McDermott called to order a ZOOM of the
Department Executive Committee voting members. The Committees purpose
was to approve 2 resolutions
and make a modification to our Convention rules, altering the regular
order of business for the Department pertaining to attendance at the
convention and the voting procedure. Resolution 2021 #1 authorizes the
Department to host a 50 person Convention. Resolution
2021 #2 authorizes the Department to host a 100 person Convention. Both
resolutions are the same with the exception of the number of authorized
attendees in order to allow us to conduct business in the event Covid
restrictions are altered in the future. Both
resolutions were seconded and discussed and the vote was unanimous for
approval. In the coming days, the County Commanders will be officially
notified of the changes to their voting procedures. Counties assembled
at their regularly scheduled County Conventions
will, instead of electing the “ Chairman of the Delegation “ from their
County delegation, will elect their DISTRICT COMMANDER to be Chairman
of the Delegation with all the rights and privileges to cast the
County’s Delegate strength as the County instructs
them to cast them. There will be no District caucuses at the Convention
this year, so all Districts will nominate their Department Vice
Commanders, District Commanders and District Vice-Commanders at their
final District meeting of the year and notify Department
Headquarters of the results promptly.
On behalf of the
Department Commander and myself, I would like to commend all the
Department of New York Legionnaires, Posts, Counties, Districts and
Department Officers for your actions and dedication
to your communities and our fellow Veterans during these dreadful
times. I have been so proud of all of you over the past year. It has
been an honor and privilege to serve as your Department Adjutant. You
have shown the people of the State of New York and
the Nation the resolve of Legionnaires to continue our dedication to
our 103 year-old founding principals of ‘ service to our Community,
State and Nation ‘ even in the worst of times. I have received reports
during the height of the pandemic of Legionnaires
delivering 50 cases of bottled water to a Veteran’s nursing home due to
their inability to obtain it elsewhere. Numerous Posts gave away
chicken or fish dinners in their parking lot to sometimes 350 people in
one day. The countless deliveries of lunch or dinner
to our first responders, whether cooked at the Post home or employing
local businesses in order to give them some much needed income, was
unprecedented. In one instance, a County Commander was made aware of a
female veteran with 2 small children having lost
the heat in her home during a nasty cold spell. He brought his own
space heaters to her home and within 3 days, a new boiler was installed.
He rallied several local Veterans organizations and businesses to split
the bill amongst them. No one ever asked if
she belonged to any Veterans organization. She was a Veteran who needed
help and that was what mattered most.
In closing, I would only
say that it has not been an easy year for any of us. With almost 90,000
Legionnaires and around 850 posts, it has been an extremely difficult
year here at Department Headquarters.
We had only just moved into our new building when the pandemic struck
and chaos ensued. It was during the worst of times and the darkest of
days that I sometimes would receive a call from Commander Mike
encouraging me to carry on, or an email or call from
a Legionnaire telling me what some Legionnaires had done for the
community. For this I will be forever grateful and it gives me
inspiration to continue. Thank you.
“ Pro Deo et Patria “
James W. Casey
Adjutant
American Legion
Department of New York
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