February 2019 Volume 1, Issue 2

American Legion Post 0240

News & Notes

COMMANDER’S CORNER

Well, there has certainly been a lot of activity around the

Post this past month. From the great response to our rede-

signed newsletter, to the installation of a new ice machine

in the Lounge (the old one choked on its own soap dis-

penser), to the Fire Marshall giving the Post a clean bill of

health, to the burn pile out back finally being eliminated.

Speaking of getting things done, the second issue of our re-

designed newsletter is here,. But this month also hails our

newly redesigned (and working) website. If you haven’t

seen it yet I encourage you to take a look at:

americanlegionpost240.org

The website will contain all of the information we publish

in the newsletter, plus have the latest information on up-

coming events and happenings at the Post. It will be great

to have a place where the latest news can found on a mo-

ments notice.

Our membership drive continues, but we are falling behind.

I have to ask everyone to check with your friends and com-

rades to see if they’re up-to-date on their membership re-

newals. With little over 740 active member renewals this

year out of over 1,000 memberships last year, according to

our 1st Vice Commander, Hal Eyerly, there is a lot left to do.

Seems we have a lot great events coming up n March and

April. Hope to see you here for the Car show and Fish Fry,

St. Patty’s Day Cookoff, and so much more.

— Dave Forsman

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

Commander’s Corner .............. 1

1st Vice’s News ........................ 2

2nd Vice’s News ...................... 2

3rd Vice’s News ....................... 3

Chaplain’s Report ................... 4

Historian’s News and Notes ... 4

Lounge News .......................... 4

House Committee News ......... 5

Legion Riders & SAL News ..... 5

Ladies Auxiliary News ............ 6

SPECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST

Young Marines ........................ 2

Contact Us ............................... 3

Bingo ....................................... 4

Event Hall Rental ................... 5

Ray and Sally’s Kitchen .......... 6

Upcoming Events .................... 6

8666 Gulf Beach Highway Pensacola, Florida 32507

Phone: (850) 455-6111 E-mail:

commander@americanlegion240.org

“… we are eagerly anticipating the start-up of this year’s Fish Fry and Car Show

on March 3rd from noon to 3pm.”

I would like to start with letting you know that February

was an outstanding month for the Post. The Valentines

Day Dinner event and music was absolutely awesome. A

special thank to our volunteers who made it all possible,

especially Sue Terry, Mimi, Linda, Jen, Amy, Ray, Sally and

Sherry for all the hard work.

Our bands for the month were also a great success story.

We had a great turnout for the Salty Dog Band on Satur-

day, February 9th and the Medicine Man Show band on

Saturday, February 16th. These bands and more are

planned for your enjoyment and comradery. We hope you

like them, and that we’ll see you at our next band function

on March 9th in the Eagles Lair Lounge with the Medicine

Man Show from 7-11 pm.

FIRST VICE COMMANDER’S NEWS

SECOND VICE COMMANDER’S NEWS

Membership continues to

steadily climb, though the

progress seems slow at

times. This month we are

happy to report that mem-

bership renewals have

grown to approximately

74% of our total roster,

which equates to about 743

active members out of a to-

tal of over 1,000 members

that we had for 2018. We

accepted the names of elev-

en (11) new members and

three (3) transfers from oth-

er posts at the February 12

General Membership meet-

ing.

By the way, we had 24

members attend the Gen-

eral Membership meeting

on February 12th but we

need YOU too. So come out

and make your voice heard.

We are always looking for

volunteers for one-time pro-

jects large and small around

Post 240. I encourage every

member to come out and

participate.

SAVE UNDERDOGS FUNDRAISING GROUP OF PERDIDO KEY

Founded in 2004, the “Save Underdogs Fundraising Group of Perdido Key” is a 501c(3) non-profit that shelters and fos-ters lost and found dogs in our area.

Since 2004, this ded-icated group of pas-sionate volunteers has helped rescue, rehabilitate and re-home over 5,500 sick, injured, abused or otherwise unwant-ed dogs in our com-munity.

This coming March 3rd the Group will be the lead charity being sponsored during our Post 240 Fish Fry and car Show. We hope you will be able to come out and sup-port this incredibly worthy event and help us help Man’s Best Friends in the process.

Page 2

THIRD VICE COMMANDER’S NEWS

Just a quick reminder that, we are eagerly anticipating the

start-up of this year’s Fish Fry and Car Show on March 3rd

from noon to 3pm. These events are held on the first Sun-

days of the month during warm weather.

With our first event this year is scheduled for March 3rd,

we hope to see a great crowd as we have a great charity

lined up to help—the Save Underdogs Fundraising

Group of Perdido Key. You can read all about them and

their great work in the sidebar on page 2. And as always,

the fish will be flowing with help from the newly opened

Ray and Sally’s Kitchen in our Event Hall.

CONTACT US:

COMMANDER

Dave Forsman 292-2000

FIRST VICE COMMANDER

Hal Eyerly 944-7741

ADJUTANT

Joseph Bodmer 455-6111

SECOND VICE COMMANDER

Tom Williams 497-2463

THIRD VICE COMMANDER

Dave Lawhun 712-4232

850-944-0032

FINANCE OFFICER

John Edens 229-444-3534

HISTORIAN

Steve Stillwell 845-4804

SERGEANT-AT-ARMS

Dave Buck, Acting

CHAPLAIN

Barry Hines 712-2810

SERVICE OFFICER

Donna Hudson 261-1959

ALR DIRECTOR

Dave Buck 615-962-4256

SAL COMMANDER

Bruce Robertson

HOUSE COMMITTEE

Dan Quinn

Bob Rinehart

Ray Hamel

LOUNGE MANAGER

Sue Terry 455-6111

POST LOUNGE

850-455-6111

Page 3

MEDICINE MAN SHOW BAND

Coming: February 9, 2019

Eagles Lair Lounge—American Legion Post 240

BINGO HALL OPERATIONS

The Bingo Hall con-

tinues to request vol-

unteers to assist with

event operations.

Volunteers are re-

quested to state their

preferred start and

end times relative to

their availability.

Assistance and sup-

port for the early

hours of Bingo

Nights is especially

requested.

Our games have six

$250 pots and all

other games have

$50 winners. Bingo

starts at 1800 on

Wednesdays. Bingo

is open to the public,

so grab a friend and

come on down!

Lastly, if you just

want a smaller game

of Bingo, come on

out on the first and

last Saturdays of the

month for Lounge

Bingo benefitting the

Ladies Auxiliary and

Wreaths Across

America, respective-

ly. It’s relaxing fun.

CHAPLAIN’S REPORT

If anyone has any pictures of the history of our post, please

get in touch with our historian, Steve Stillwell at pcen-

vy@gmail.com so he can include them in next year’s

scrapbook. And please remember to include any names of

individuals in your pictures so we can correctly attribute

the faces in the pics.

At last month’s General

Membership meeting, I sug-

gested the Post develop a

text messaging capability to

be used to solicit volunteers

to serve as pallbearers, not

to mention announcements

of times and locations of fu-

nerals, viewings, etc., when

members pass away. We’re

still working on that con-

cept, so in the meantime I

hope you’ll try and come out

and show your love for our

fellow members who have

passed on. This past month

Mary Cruz took up resi-

dence at

Lakeside

Rehabilitation Center. Edie

Herrington is at Sacred

Heart recuperating, and

Ron Bean is at Rosewood

Manor. Finally, we lost

longtime member James

“Hushpuppy” Cone on Feb-

ruary 10th, and Earl Carroll

has passed as well. No fur-

ther information was availa-

ble to be provided on any

funerals at the time of this

newsletter, so check our

Post’s new website for up-

dates.

LOUNGE NEWS

HISTORIAN’S NEWS

This month I’m happy to report the Lounge took in over

$6,000 in Pull Tabs revenue for the month of January

2019, and that the Lounge also took in approximately

$2,000 in revenue (after expenses) from food and beverage

sales for the month.

Other news of note is we have a band lined up for Saturday

March 9th in the Lounge starting at 1900. The band is

called the Medicine Man Show. We hope we’ll see you

there. And on Saturday, March 30th, the Ladies Auxiliary

is sponsoring a USO Show, so come out and join the fun

with your best song and dance, magic show, or whatever act

you’re good at.

Page 4

“We are still seeking two additional House Committee members.”

We are still seeking two additional House Committee mem-

bers. All backgrounds are welcome. Do you have an inter-

est in the idea of helping maintain our Post. Then come

join us.

On the maintenance front: the new dishwashing machine

for the lounge is now installed and working fabulously ac-

cording to the bartending staff in the Eagles Lair Lounge.

In addition, the Post has been doing some sideways fund-

raisers to help offset the cost of the dishwasher’s purchase,

with 50/50 raffles, etc., helping raise over $800 to-date.

Lastly, the fire inspection this past month went well with no

negative findings and the burn pile out back of the Post is

now officially toast!

HOUSE COMMITTEE NEWS

Page 5

EVENT HALL RENTAL

Need a place to hold a

party? Birthdays, anni-

versaries, receptions,

parties: we have the

space! Our Hall holds

199 people, has a pri-

vate bar, band stand,

dance floor, etc. Cater-

ing is also available.

Reasonable usage fees

apply. For further info

contact the Lounge at

455-6111 and speak to

the Manager.

LADIES AUXILIARY NEWS

There’s little to report this month af-

ter a very busy December. But there

are some future events we’re keeping

an eye out for:

Lounge Bingo sponsored by the La-

dies Auxiliary continues every first

Saturday of each month. Starting at 1600, Lounge Bingo

affords players smaller pots than Wednesday Night Bingo,

but the comradery can’t be beat. Come join us—we’ll save

you a seat.

The Ladies Auxiliary is preparing to stage a USO Show on

March 30th. Musical, variety, comedy, and just about any-

one who ever envisioned being on America’s Got Talent is

invited to sign-up as an act.

Page 6

AUXILIARY OFFICERS:

COMMANDER

Kim Edens

FIRST VICE COMMANDER

Edie Herrington

SECRETARY

Sherry Hamel

TREASURER

Kathy McCaffery

HISTORIAN

Peggy Sims

CHAPLAIN

Jana Staples

EXECUTIVE BOARD

Rebecca Ohning

Viola Eyerly

Sons of the American

Legion

Membership is at 42% for

2019. Finances reflect

about $2,000.00 in the

bank. On the first Sunday

in December approximately

$200.00 was raised.

And the Sons are donating

specific 50/50 raffles we’re

having on Friday nights

during Karaoke towards off-

setting the cost of the new

dishwasher in the Lounge.

Legion Riders

The next Riders meeting is

scheduled for March 10th.

Last month’s meeting was

moved to the 17th of Febru-

ary due to the “Riders Sum-

mit” meetings being held on

the 7th, 8th, and 9th, which

by the way, was a fantastic,

and highly educational

event.

The Third Annual Summit

will be in Cocoa Beach, and

the riders will send 3 people

who collectively will be tak-

ing 26 different classes.

Member-

ship is at

approxi-

mately 50%

for 2019.

SONS OF THE AMERICAN LEGION & LEGION RIDERS

MARK YOUR MARCH 2019 CALENDARS

Here are this month’s notable events and meetings:

• The Queen of Hearts drawing continues each Friday at

1800. The jackpot is over $7,800 and counting! Come

in to the lounge and get your tickets: $1.00 apiece or 6

for $5.00.

• There is live music coming to the Eagles Lair Lounge on

Saturday, March 9th with “Medicine Man Show” playing

all their repertoire for us from 1900 to 2300.

• The Ladies Auxiliary is planning a USO Show for March

30th. Come out and show off your singing, juggling,

acting, or whatever talent you might have. It’ll be a

hoot!

RAY AND SALLY’S

KITCHEN NOTES

We are please to announce

the return of Ray and Sal-

ly’s Kitchen to Post 240.

The Kitchen is open for Bin-

go on Wednesday nights as

well as Sunday mornings

for breakfast.

For a limited time, the Kitch-

en is also open on Thurs-

days for Trivia and on Fri-

days for Karaoke, depend-

ing on how well-received

business is on those nights.

Hungry for a Steak dinner

with all the fixin’s? That’s

Ray and Sally’s specialty on

certain nights of the month

with Strips and T-Bones,

baked potato, a veggie,

salad, and a dessert. YUM!

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