The Echo

April, May & June

2020

the Official Newsletter

American Legion Frierson Nichols

Post 8 Winter Haven Fl.

ISSUE 12—20

VETERANS

HELPING

VETERANS

AMERICAN LEGION

FRIERSON NICHOLS POST 8

ESTABLISHED JUNE 3, 1919

POST 8 WOMEN’S AUXILIARY

ESTABLISHED AUGUST 24, 1924

Squadron 8,

Sons of the American Legion

Joins Post 8 February 19, 1976

For God and Country

GREETINGS

From the desk of the Commander:

I hope everyone is keeping safe during these trying times. The Post has been closed since March 17

th with no signs of

when we will be able to open again. I am writing this Commander’s report for the last time. I have decided to step down, 5 years as Commander I feel is enough. I would hope that our members and Executive Board will sup-port my successor as you have myself in the past. This helps greatly in keeping this Post most beautiful and thriving Post in Florida. I will spend a lot of time at the Post as Past Com-mander and still be a member of the Board. I plan on golfing, fishing, camping and of course playing sen-ior softball in my spare time. I love this Post Family and eve-rything we do for Veterans and their families. Also, the sup-port that we give our local communities. This decision was not easy but we’re not getting any younger. I feel 10 years as an officer was enough. I have a “bucket List” too. A big thank you to all that have worked so hard around the Post. Hope to see you all soon. God Bless us All

For God and Country, Mike O’Callaghan Commander

FRAN HARPER

www.americanlegionpost8.org

Commander

1st Vice Commander

2nd Vice Commander

3rd Vice Commander

Adjutant

Finance Officer

Chaplain

Sgt. at Arms

Historian

Judge Advocate

Service Officer

Mike O’ Callaghan

Bill Butler

Dave Ergott

Debra LaBelle

John Smith

Ed Mcnulty

David Grass

Fred Knippenberg

Ron Fraser

Jerry LaBelle

Dan Jarvis

New Members and transfers

WELCOME TO POST 8

LARRY T. ARMSTONG DOUGLAS STRINGHAM EUGENE ROSSBY ARTHUR SPOOR STEPHEN GAVULA BEAU MILLER CONNER TRENT JOHN STEIN RONALD GREEN DAVID BURNHAM JOHN J. LONG LEEMAN LEWIS SCOTT E. GAUTHIER DONNA SMITH BILL SMITH LAWRENCE C. DAIGLER RONALD A. YOST STEPHEN E. SYLVER THOMAS CAREY WILLIAM M. SELBY GENE H. MIDDLETON LARRY W. WEALEWYN JAMES VALENTINE PETER BOROWSKI MICHAEL MAHONEY MARSHALL C. WINTERS JOSEPH W. SCHUELLER GREGORY F. MURPHY WILLIAM T. POWELL WILLIAM F. REWIS DEBRA CANTWELL JOSHUA CANTWELL PATRICK J. LOPICCOLO GEORGE F. HEINE DOUGLAS BARSAMIAN DALE S. JOHNSON JOHN A. CHREST RONALD G. HYDE GEORGE E. NYE

ROGER TRUSSELL CHARLES MANNIX, JR. JACK S. COLLINS PAUL WELSH DON LAWHEAD CARROLL E. HINKLEY HERMAN FLEISCHMAN EDWWIN HALL RONALD A. PHILLIPS RICHARD MONTEVERDE LEO FROSCH ANTHONY J. ROCHAK THOMAS MCCLURE RONALD SMITH CHARLES E. HOOPER MICHAEL R. MOSELER THOMAS KUSMIERSKI DONALD A. MCKAY, JR. RICHARD RAMOS JACK N. WILSON MURRAY L. MUNGER THOMAS O. SIMPSON MARK S. DEEDRICK FREDDIE B. DUBOIS GLORIA LOPEZ RANDY GUNDERSON JESUS MANUEL GONZALEZ BRUCE W. HADDOCK JAMES A. JACKSON ALEX N. GONZALEZ ` ROBERT R. HAGGARD CHRISTINA M. GONZALEZ PAUL BADZIK MICHEL HOVER SUSAN M. LANIER ROBERT A. HOWLAND THOMAS J. SMITH CHRISTOPHER GRACEY MATTHEW GRIFFITH

GREETINGS

Hi Legionnaires and Family

Here we are starting the third quarter of the year. Wow, where did the time go. Our membership is at 97.5%. We need 2.5% more to make our 100% by June 30

th. So

members, I am asking you to step up to the plate and check with your friends or neighbors to see if you can get them to join our Post unless they are already members. Please try, we need your help to get that 100%. As you can see when we can get opened back up, we have made some improvements here at the Post both inside and out. Thanks to the Commander and some volunteers. We have the State Convention coming up the last week of June. We will update the membership as to any new rules or other news that has taken place. For God and Country, Bill Butler 1

st Vice Commander

ADJUTANT REPORT

Greeting members, I hope this message finds you and your family in good health. During these trying times we must all do our part to help stop the spread of Covid-19. Post 8 is doing our part by canceling all of its functions and the TDY is closed as ordered by the governmental mandated quarantine. Elec-tions have been put on hold. We will get some direction once the department has some idea of when things can return to normal. Remember, we as a nation have been through tough times before, and we have come out of those times stronger and better than ever. I know these are tough times for every-one, but our strong perseverance will help us endure these try-ing times as well. God Bless you all from all the officers at Post 8. For God and Country, John Smith Post 8 Adjutant.

LEGION TAG AGENCY

HELP SUPPORT OUR VETERANS BY UTILIZING THE LEGION

TAG AGENCY FOR VEHICLE REGISTRATIONS AND RENEWALS.

FOR FAST CONVENIENT SERVICE COME TO THE LEGION TAG

AGENCY LOCATED ADJACENT TO POST 8.

Post 8 telephone (863) 293-7029

Legion Tag Agency (863) 293-5551

Letter from the Editor

Over the past few years I have had the privilege and honor to work with Commander Michael O’Callaghan and his amazing wife JoAnn. Running any organization is difficult, running a post as large as Post 8 is unimaginable. If you take a moment to consider the extent of the improvements that have been ac-complished in the past five years you can’t help but realize how much they have truly accomplished. As the editor of the website and newsletter I sincerely appreciate there efforts in helping me accomplish the publishing of both. It is bitter sweet to see Mike step down as commander but certainly un-derstandable. After all, most of us came to Florida to enjoy our retirement in this fabulous weather and these beautiful surroundings at our disposal.

God Bless you both and Good Luck

Commander

1st Vice Commander

Adjutant

Finance Officer

Chaplain

Sgt. At Arms

Historian

Judge Advocate

John Paye, Jr.

John Weems, Jr.

Daniel Heier

Mike O’Callaghan

Brian McDonald

Jack Bunting

David Bunting

Jim Tucker

ED MCNULTY CAPTAIN

JERRY LA BELLE 1st LT.

BRUCE ZELONKY 1ST LT. QUARTER MASTER

RON WLODARCZAK 2ND LT.

DEBRA LA BELLE CHAPLAIN

JOHN PAYE, JR W.O. FINANCE

FRED KNIPPENBERG 1ST SGT

STAN QUAINTANCE DIRECTOR

JIM WARF DIRECTOR

Honor Guard

In this time of the Pandemic we should take time to send Prayers and thanks to all the caregivers and the first responders who are on the front lines trying to help us all. The Easter Sun Rise Service has been cancelled due to Post 8 being closed and all events being can-celled. At this time, I am not sure about the Post Everlasting service but I would say it will also be cancelled. We have several members on the Sick List that are in need of our Prayers. Please inform the Post if you or someone else needs our Prayers. Be safe and stay healthy. God Bless you all. As Post 8 Chaplain I will do my best to what is needed. I will be looking for your help. If you know of anyone needing Prayers, please let me know. My e-mail dgrass13@tampabay.rr.com or davidgrass8910@gmail.com and my cell number is (207) 468-2624. For God and Country David Grass Chaplain

Greetings from your TDY Well here it is almost summer, feels like it already, and things have been hopping here at American Legion Post 8. So many events and functions sometimes its hard to keep up. Our season has been a busy one so far and it's so nice to see our winter guests return. We miss those smiling faces. You know we're all like one big family here and we're not gonna let this virus get the best of us! Now's the time to take care of each other!! So as soon as we know what is next, we will be up and running. In the meantime we are keeping busy around the Post, catching up on things that need to get done, and now we have the time. We are blessed to have a good team of volunteers, always eager to help, so put that in your memory banks for future reference. We can always use volunteers!! And we appre-ciate them! And we appreciate all our members from local and far that support this great Post. It's a beautiful location for sure, right on the Lake Silver. I have been booking some new groups and our members have enjoyed them. Members are enjoying the view from our two new windows also in our clubroom, and the improvements behind the bar have helped us serve you members better. I am blessed with a great staff and we aim to please! We are looking forward to serving you good folks as soon as we can. I thank you for your continued support of this Great Post 8. Hope to see you all very soon! For God and Country June Dutcher TDY Clubroom Mgr.

Upcoming Events

The American Legion, Department of Florida will be hosting its annual statewide convention June 25-28, 2020 at The Or-lando World Center Marriott, Orlando FL. Approximately 3,000 American Legion members will be in attendance to include spouses and family members. Each year the state convention offers a wide variety of leadership training available to all members for the development and betterment of their local Post. The Department convention is not only a time where all posts gather to exchange ideas and reunite as a family; it is also a time where our members gather to elect the leadership for the new membership year and celebrate in the successes of the past membership year as it comes to a close. Please re-view this year’s tentative convention agenda to see all the ex-citing events planned and unique learning opportunities of-fered.

EVENT DATES: Marriott Orlando World Center June 25, 2020 – June 28, 2020 July 1, 2021 – July 4, 2021

AUXILIARY UNIT 8

OFFICERS

Executive Committee Nancy Fosie, June Dutcher & Lorraine Anthony

Jr. Past President Louise Miller

Dear Members;

Up until the Post had to close we had been very active in doing many things at the post, in the community and for our veter-ans,

I would like to Thank everyone who helped with making cook-ies for our troops, with the packing process and the shipping process. We did receive some pictures and a Thank you from one of the units. So we do know they enjoy these packages.

Elections are coming up so if you would like to run for an of-fice please let me know at a.anderson1367@yahoo.com or by text message at 863-604-7513. Please include your name and what position you are interested in holding.

I know we are going through a very trying time and things are a little crazy but as a unit and a post we can survive this epidem-ic. Remember we are family strong. If you need anything please contact me, any officer or the post.

Please everyone be safe and will see you all at the post when this is all over. Cordially Audra Anderson Madame President.

President 1st Vice President 2nd Vice President Secretary Treasurer Chaplain Historian Sgt. At Arms Jr Past President

Audra Anderson Janice Chumney Loraine (Bird) Anthony Open Bonnie Willard Gustine Boyd JoAnn O’Callaghan Carolyn Kostal Janice Chumney

Post 8 Café

Open Monday thru Friday

11AM to 3 PM

Monday & Wednesday Evening

5 PM to 8 PM

Joint installation of Officers

July 8th @ 5 PM

Marine Corps League

Heart of Florida Detachment # 1107

Meetings at 7 PM at American Legion Post 8

On the 4th Thursday of the month Except November & December

When it is on the 3rd Wednesday

For information call

John Blount @ 407 760-1407 Or

Kevin Ruhl @ 813 695-6203

U.S. Seabees

Veterans of America Island x-2

Meetings on the 2nd Saturday of each month

4632 S. Florida Avenue

Lakeland, FL

For information call

863 647-1616

Or 863 299-0009

Pennies

“If you look after the pennies,

the dollars will look after themselves”.

Henry R. Privett 2.92 Gail 2.00 J. R. 2.00 Paul 3.04 “Bird”& Gemma Anthony & Gary Carter 11.27 Dave & Ronda Frederick 2.00 Kenneth Lolwing 4.24 Polk Alumni 4.47

‘Tough Times Call For Tough Choices, And Pinching Every Penny in “The Well”, For the Future.’

By Ron “Oldest New Penny Head”

Philip Schmitz Director

Jimmie Newman Asst Director

Joe Swader Finance

Michelle Prindle Secretary

Larry Day Sgt. At Arms

JR Paye Road Captain

Cory McConenell Jr. Road Captain

Legion Riders

Hello American Legion Riders and Family Members

We are very proud to be part of the AMERICAN LEGION FAMILY at POST 8 in Winter Haven. Our mem-bership has continued to grow and stands at 38 mem-bers We have been on two benefit rides to help other Veterans. We were on a ride to the Bradenton area on February 15th to raise money for a Veteran who served one tour in Iraq and two tours in Afghanistan . After returning home he was in a collision with a drunk driver and paralyzed from the waist down. After the ride we returned to Post 3420 in Ellenton for a BBQ and raffle. The other ride was for a Veteran who was KIA in 2010 from Haines City, sponsored by Post 34. We also attended a ride followed by a dinner and social at Post 3 in Bartow. We plan to have dinners at our Post 8 in Winter Haven and are holding 50/50 drawings at the dances at Post 8. We also attended the American Legion Riders, 4th Annual Summit in Cocoa Beach held February 6 thru 8. Classes on various topics were held to keep us up to speed on safe riding and new rules. We look forward to holding election for officers in May and continuing our work of helping all Veterans who need assistance. Hopefully we will be able to attend the American Legion National Convention in Louisville August 28-September 3, 2020. If you are interested in joining us or need further assistance, please feel free to contact myself or Michelle Prindle at our email address: alr8winterhaven@gmail.com Philip Schmitz, Director ALR Chapter 8 For God and Country