Dept. CDR's Update (November 9th)
- Todd McKinley
- 4 days ago
- 5 min read
Updated: 9 hours ago
This week's shout out goes to our National Executive Committeeman (NEC) & Department Membership Chairman Lanny Culver for his tireless efforts working membership. As NEC he's off and running, he did a great job transporting our National Commander during his department visit in early October and represented us at the fall NEC meetings.
This past week has been busier than the previous two or so, but life is ebb and flow. I began the week tending to my school board duties with a meeting on November 3rd. On Tuesday, I participated in a Veterans appreciation walk at East Lawn Memorial Garden in Kingsport, and I held a Dept. CDR's chat. On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, I attended the 3rd, 1st, & 2nd district meetings respectively. Additionally, on Friday, I participated in an awards ceremony at Mountain Home VA and donated blood at Sullivan East High School. On Sunday, I'll lead a cleanup of the Sullivan County Veterans Park in preparation for Veterans Day where I'll also be the keynote speaker.
Weekly Schedule
November 9th: Sullivan County Veterans Park Cleanup www.facebook.com/share/17BK8uDQcp/
November 11th: Knoxville Veterans Day Parade www.facebook.com/share/1A2EE5Z4AE/
November 11th: Keynote Speaker: Sullivan County Veterans Day www.facebook.com/share/1FQ5YyPQPf/
November 13th: 4th District Meeting
November 14th: 5th District Meeting
November 15th: 6th District Meeting
Membership
The November 7th membership report showed that as a department we've met the November 13th deadline of 65%, in fact we met it at least 10-11 days ahead of schedule. Does this mean we're going to meet our annual goal, well not in the slightest. Historically, the department has made its membership goals into the 95-97% range every year, it's always those last 3-5% that are most often elusive. I hope that by me providing these membership updates you'll be able to have an understanding as to where we sit nationally and regionally. My hope is, this will spark that competition bug and we'll get on a hot streak and be competitive down to the wire. Additionally, we're 2nd place in the Central Region behind Wisconsin, which is overall a larger deparmtent in total numbers, but I truly want to eclipse them percentage wise, especially given our region's National Vice Commander Stephen Weisman is from our department. It's bragging rights for him and all of us really.
November 7th report by the numbers:
National Membership Rank: 21st Place (20 spots in the upwards direction to go!)
National Membership Goal: 19,748 (Let's shoot for 20K members.)
Current Membership #'s: 13,093 (Post leaders: See next section.)
Percent of year end goal: 66.30%
2026 Renewal Percentage: 65.92%
Note to Post Leadership
Post Leaders,
Guess what, if you're reading this you're a Post Leader!
To make our membership goal this year, everyone needs to begin to dig in now, work as a team, activate your Post membership teams, motivate them, assist them and let them amaze you. Remember, it's hard to get folks to sign up for things these days, and it's especially harder during winter. So please, let's take advantage of the fall season before the weather turns frigid.
While our membership goal for the year is 19,748, and with 1978 being my birth year, I think it's a sign we can make this goal. However, my true goal is to end the year with at least 20K members. This is attainable, as long as everyone does their part in a positive manner, working the programs, being a value added in your communities, then membership will come, especially if you add in a little recruiting into your routine.
Donating
In addition to membership and corporate sponsors funding the American Legion, did you know you can donate directly? Also, did you know that your donation is tax deductible? Remember, the American Legion is a 50(c)(19). Speaking of taxes, if your Post isn't tax exempt amongst other things, please rectify this at once.
Rebranding
I'm not the type to go around trouble shooting, but we have dozens of Post throughout the Department who are in major violation of trademark laws. However, I have a solution, simply click on the link below and begin using the logos provided. Avoid any negative repercussions and spruce up your social media and web presence, simply use these logos.
Great looking logos, please use!
Voter Voice
Thank you to everyone who helped put us back near the top to end October. Folks. every 24-hours you can make your voice heard, just click the link, I know I do! When it comes to legislation and the department legislative committee, the Department Legislative Chairman Bob Hensley and I had a great conversation this past Thursday. Also, a few state representatives are looking to sit down with us to discuss upcoming legislation affecting Veterans and our families. We will of course relay everything to our Department Executive Committee and Legislative Committee before committing on supporting or opposing any legislation.
Additionally, we finished 5th nationally for the month of October, thank you everyone who had your voice heard. Remember, Wisconsin is in our region, let's try to beat them in November.
Awards & Trophies
Like I said last week, very few will even come close to reading anything contained in the Awards and Trophies manual. When we regularly only see 3-4 Legionnaires submitted for Legionnaire of the Year, it tells me all I need to know. I'm not trying to beat anyone up, but this particular shoe fits most of our Post. If your Post doesn't want to do anything else, at least submit the few reports the Department and National needs on time. For those who want to do a little more, this is a good place to start and to those like Post 24 & 27 who regularly clean up on awards, keep up the great work.
More Legion News
Be The One Commission
Please help ensure our Be The One Commission is successful.
To help end suicide in all demographics, stop bullying in our schools, combat Post Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury, Military Sexual Assault Trauma, and more we officially launched Tennessee’s Be The One Commission to End Veteran Suicide on August 16th. To help fund the commission I wrote a book titled “Those Left Behind: Veteran Suicide and My Late Best Friend Brad Bush” and hoped I would’ve sold more copies by now, but I’m plugging along.
Read more about the commission: www.toddmckinley.com/post/betheonetn
Read more about the book: www.toddmckinley.com/book
Stop complaining and get involved: www.legion.org/join
Full disclosure!
I purchased 200 books at the author rate totaling $775 just before the Department Convention, where I sold 24 books at $15 totaling $360. Add to this $20 in donations, bumping the total for the weekend to $380, which I donated to the Department Chaplain at convention.
Mainly through online sells I can happily report I’ve recouped my up-front cost of $775, and on August 16th donated $445 and an additional $45 on August 24th from in person sells directly to the Be The One Commission.
My overall goal is to sell 1K, but to do that I need way more help.
Total Dollars Donated: $870
Total Donated to the Commission: $490
Sells Online: 121
Sells In-Person: 58
# of Books Donated: 25
Total: 204
Buy Now: https://a.co/d/dlXiNoF
“VOLS: Veterans Offering Lifelong Service”
Todd A. McKinley
Department Commander
American Legion Department of Tennessee
