BLOGGER TEMPLATES AND TWITTER BACKGROUNDS

Sunday, February 3, 2013

February 2012 Commandant's Corner

Well, it’s nice to see the start of February. I hope that we continue to have nice weather. The attendance at the meeting in December and January was better. I hope the trend continues.

The Color Guard was not busy in January which is good. We don’t need more funerals. We plan to move our safe and rifles to a new location right after the February meeting. So if you can help, you should plan on helping for about one hour with the move.


We will not have a speaker this month as we plan to fully discuss our giving program. A committee has been working very hard in setting up guidelines. I hope for a lot of input from the general membership. It is the Detachment's money, so I want everyone to be involved. We want to close the Dixie Books fund raiser at the February meeting. If you have any funds or unsold books, it is time to get the items to the detachment on February 9. Our sales were lower this year. I realize a great number of groups are selling the books. It was the reason that I suggested in September that you notify your friends at that time we would have the books in November. As always, only a small number of members sold the books. The majority of members did not even buy one book for their own use. I have to assume most members never eat out, have their car serviced or have a need for the other great offers in the book. My wife saved more than $45.00 with one company and the book was only $35.00. We have also used it a number of restaurants for more savings. It is a great fund raiser and I hoped for more support in selling books.

We are starting to think about our golf tournament in June. We hope to have a place and date soon. Once we have the place and date, I would like you to mail out a save the date to your friends. We always need more golfers. The tournament is our main fund raiser. We will also be selling tee signs to businesses again this year. We were able to sell 18 last year and if we can get commitments early we can increase the number. It will not happen unless each member tries to sell a tee sign. It is the best way to increase our take from the tournament. We also need gifts to auction off and to give as raffle prizes. We can’t sell raffle tickets without items to give to the golfers. The support the last few years on gifts was very low. But, as I said above, we need golfers to play. In the past, three or four members have found all the players. Even if you don’t golf, you do know someone who does. It does not hurt to ask.

At our February meeting, we can also discuss fund raising as without money there is no giving. If the majority feel that we don’t need to raise funds to support the league or to support needy projects, we can shut them down. It sure would make life easier for a few members. And of course if you don’t like selling books or advertisement, we are open to your ideas to raise funds.

The time is for elections will be on so very soon. Mike Ernsten has decided after the great job he did last year that he will run the nomination process again this year. If you are willing to serve on the staff, you should contact Mike before he calls on you. The commandant position will be open and I know a number of you feel you can do a much better job than I have tried to do. If you feel you can get breakfast down to $1.00 a meal and speakers who can give a lot of good information in ten minutes. All you need is a little time to give and the ability to please everyone all the time. It would also be good if you know how to swim in an undercurrent as there is one flowing through the Detachment most of the time. Just kidding! I know from working with many of you that you have the ability and knowledge to keep the Detachment moving forward.