My fellow Comrades,
I am reaching out to all of those that we have email addresses on file. This is going to be a great year, not only for the post, but for the Louisiana department, and I wanted to bring you in on it. We just completed a great Council of Administration conference in Alexandria, and the ball is rolling under our new state commander, James Prestenback and our new State President for the Auxiliary, Ann Barnett. They are proving to be a formidable team. We had some very informative training sessions on both the VFW and the Auxiliary sides, and then Ann and her mother, Linda Kieffer, along with help from the rest of the Auxiliary, did a fantastic job of throwing a fundraiser "beach party" for Ann's special project, Save Cenla. Ann is a Legacy member of our post (obviously, since we are married) and, would you believe, the last time Post 1736 had a State President in office was 1975? She is really excited about promoting the mission of the VFW and the Auxiliary. No one is asking if Post 1736 is still around anymore.
Here are some items that we have in the works at the post:
1) A new post home - This is at the top of my agenda. As long as we do not have a home it will be very difficult to grow and improve our post. For the last few months, myself, our Quartermaster, Bill Craft, Maxi Macguire, Richard Cotton, and Landry Saucier have been looking and investigating different properties. We have looked at some sites that have existing buildings and other sites where we would need to build. Currently we have narrowed down our list to a couple of different locations. We are still looking into these to see which best suits our needs and purpose. One may be chosen, or we may pass on all of the current options and continue looking elsewhere. Regardless, I want you to know that we are actively seeking a new post home. If you live in the area, I would like to extend an invitation to you to join us if you would like. We still meet every 2nd Wednesday, 1900 hrs., at 103 Constitution Blvd., Alexandria. We have a meal @ 1830 hrs. if you would like to join us for that.
2) If you do not live in the area, or if you are not able to make the meetings, I am currently seeking the best streaming service for us to use during our meetings. If this is of interest to you, please let me know so that when we are ready to launch that service, you will be notified. Hopefully, this will enable our members to get reinvolved with the post.
3) Our membership has fallen quite a bit, I'm sure, from the last time that you might have heard. We are currently at 276, but have a few new members being processed. Our Auxiliary is also growing and is doing tremendous in their support of veterans. Some of the things that they are currently involved in is taking monthly treats and goodies to the police and fire departments, and to troops out at Camp Beauregard, supporting CASA, supplying school supplies to a local school, holding awards banquets for our program awards (Patriot's Pen, Voice of Democracy, Teacher of the Year, etc.) and so much more. They took several awards at the last state convention, many of them 1st place. If you should have any family members that might want to be involved in a great cause with a group of ladies and gentlemen that know how to get projects done, this might be the one for them. Please have them reach out to me or Ann Barnett (ann-is-a@doglover.com) and we can answer any questions. And if you did not catch that last sentence, the auxiliary is no longer the Ladies Auxiliary, it is the VFW Auxiliary, men are a part of it now.
4) One thing I plan to initiate is Buddy Checks. If you live in the area, you can expect to see me at your door in the near future. I want to start connecting with our members so that we can be there for them, if there is a need. I would also like to start a monthly meeting at a restaurant or coffee shop where we can meet and just talk and visit. If you have any ideas or suggestions, I am all ears.
As you can see, we plan to put Johnson-Brown Post 1736 back on the map. I would say that we have a good start with President Ann Barnett in the auxiliary, I am the current District 10 Commander, and we have the pleasure of having in our membership, the Louisiana Veterans Affair Secretary of State, not to mention, past National Commander, Larry Rivers. I hope to meet you soon and we can talk. If you are able, please attend a meeting, your input might be just what is needed. God Bless.
Rodney Barnett
Commander, District 10
Commander, VFW Johnson-Brown Post 1736
Alexandria, Louisiana
318-290-7780
