The 1st District Spring Conference was held on Sunday, May 7, 2023. Here are some highlights:
Department Vice Commander Karl E. Stuvengen, 2023-2024 Candidate for Department Commander, gave a briefing on some of the Departments current programs. A good place to keep up yourself is this link on the Departments website: https://wilegion.org/headquarters-updates-news/. He also noted that Consolidated Post Reports (CPR’s) are due at the end of May from your Post, and your SAL Squadron. Not turning in a CPR can be detrimental in the event your Post is part of a disaster. CPR’s should be a continual priority of your Posts leadership. Karl spoke on the importance of getting new members and perhaps more importantly, keeping the ones we have. Vice Commander Stuvengen passed the word that Department Commander Muhle was happy with our membership progress, and the he himself was proud to be from the 1st District. The legacy of the American Legion is as important now as it ever was, especially when it comes to representing veterans to the State and Federal government. “Recruit the next YOU!”
The Keynote Speaker, Yiayia Wischki gave an impassioned talk on her “Be The One 4 our Youth” campaign. Some of her messages were: “Don’t wait until you’re in crisis”, and “Keep em’ talking, and keep em’ alive” The program provides young people with a mission and tasks that they believe will address Bullying, Self Harm, and Suicide. For more information email Yiayia at BTO4OURYOUTH@GMAIL.COM. Their website bto4ouryouth.org will be online soon.
We heard from Gail Minks and Jim Johnson, and Linda Pfeiffer, candidates for Department Vice Commander.
Also on hand was State Chaplain of the American Legion Riders, Dan Workenaour, who gave a talk on their upcoming “Back to Basics Tour”. The event is “OPEN TO THE PUBLIC!” You can find out more here: http://alrawis.org/B2B/index.html
1st District Commander Nathan Bond doubled down on his offer to defer costs of taking The American Legion’s “Basic Training” course available here: https://www.legion.org/alei. The Commander also spearheaded a final push for the Membership year by having us call a member of our post that has not yet paid during a 5 minute break in the meeting. I didn’t actually hear any results, but I did hear one side of some of the conversations. Pretty cool! There is still some time to re-sign members. “They don’t call us the 1st for nothing. Let’s lead the way”.
All available Committee Reports are available online under the Document Repository Menu here: https://1dwilegion.org/2023-fall-conference-reports/