Legacy Scholarship Look at what happens when one man’s idea becomes a reality.  Rev. Philip Taylor thought, “Wouldn’t it be great, if the hockey teams from The Citadel and Virginia Military Institute (VMI) played on a neutral site and raised money to benefit the children of our fallen heroes?”  Eight months later on Dec. 6th at The Ice Factory in Wake Forest, NC the two teams faced-off.  They raised $5,614.68 for the American Legion Legacy Fund!  Many members of both teams will soon be serving our country and the sacrifices they will face are real.  A 2004 graduate of The Citadel died last week in Iraq. VetCam Last week, The American Legion launched “VetCam,” a free webcam service that enables U.S. military service members and veterans to talk face-to-face on their personal computers with friends and family by simply registering as a user.  Once registered, each user can connect with two webcams and use the service 24/7 from anyplace with an Internet connection.  Feedback to date has been positive.  This is an excellent tool for families, troops, wounded warriors and members to use, particularly during the holidays, to stay connected with friends and loved ones. Membership The current 2009 membership total is 1,926,406, which is 77% of 2009 goal.  35 Departments achieved the 75% target. Sons of The American Legion The Sons of The American Legion achieved their membership target date goal of 45% on December 10, 2008.  Membership stands at 47.9% or 156,934 members and 20,427 members ahead of this same date last year.  Thirty-eight Detachments are presently at 45% or higher with many coming close. The SAL National Update Newsletter (winter edition) was just recently mailed to every member of the SAL across the country.  The next SAL Renewal (2d notice for the membership year) is scheduled to be made in mid January just subsequent to the January membership target date.  As in the past, we anticipate good responses and success from this mailing which should boost the SAL membership for the February & March membership target dates. The next SAL membership target date for the 2009 membership year is January 14, 2009. Gen. Eric Shinseki The former Army Chief of Staff has been picked by President-Elect Obama to be the next VA Secretary. PR released a statement of congratulations from the National Commander. The release highlighted important issues facing VA and The American Legion’s offer of assistance. A letter of congratulations from the National Commander to Gen. Shinseki was also sent. Operation Comfort Warriors A news release and Op-ed announcing Operation Comfort Warrior has been given wide dissemination internally and externally. The online donation page has been up and running for more than a week. As of today donations (online and checks) are $36,709. A final total of $335,728.01 was raised for Operation Landstuhl. Although those funds have been spent, Landstuhl patients will not be forgotten and patients at the facility can still benefit from Operation Comfort Warriors. Legiontown. USA Departments are being asked to help develop a new publication portraying the many services provided by Legion posts across America.  Success stories, color photos, and news clips will be edited into a high quality publication that will demonstrate the wide and varied services being provided every day in communities by Legionnaires across all Four Pillars of our organization. Submissions have been coming in at a steady pace but more are always welcome. Heroes to Hometowns Video / PSA An informative H2H video has been complete. Approximately 15,000 copies are being produced to be sent to every post in The American Legion and its national and department leadership.