I hope you are all well and surviving the Stay-at-home conditions.

We have a busy May ahead of us. We will be able to hold a Post meeting at Charlie Daniels Park on May 12 at 6 pm (please note the time change for this meeting). We will practice social distancing and ask everyone to wear a mask to protect your fellow Legionnaires. Our Officers for the upcoming year will be installed at this meeting.

We will also hold our Flag event, with a few changes. The event will be May 21-25 and will be at Jones Family Park on MJ Rd. The intent of the event will be to uplift the community in these trying times, instead of raising funds this year. More information will be provided. This is my last article as Commander of Post 281. It has been both a good and challenging year.

I sincerely appreciate all of the members of our Post and Post family. I thank the Officers, Appointees, Committees, and volunteers for their hard work. It is my honor to serve in Post 281.

Brenda J Thompson
Commander

YES, you read that correctly.   AL Post 281 will conduct our regular meeting for the month of May this coming Tuesday the 12th of May at Charlie Daniels Park in Mt. Juliet at outdoor pavilion # 2, starting at 6:00 PM.

This is the same pavilion where we held our Post-wide family picnic last September.  There is plenty of parking for cars and a limited number of picnic tables in the pavilion that can be used for seating.    YES, we are aware of the restrictions on public gatherings, but we have been approved by the City Manager to meet as long as we ascribe to the proper protocol of social distancing in this Corona Virus world we live in. That being said, please bring a face mask and wear it.  Elbow bumps are to replace handshaking but are not required.  Bring your own chair to sit on.  Bring anything you think you will need to attend in a safe manner.  We will install the new Commander Max Wix and your post staff officers at this meeting.  We have to do some planning for our Honoring the American Flag display that we are conducting over Memorial Day holiday as well, and we have a few other items of business to discuss and review.  We plan on keeping the meeting short and to the point.   LOOK for more information in our newsletter which will come out this weekend.  

Fellow Legionnaires, Friends, Family

For Your Information:

Mt. Juliet Post 281 will be co-sponsoring our 8th annual "Honoring America's Flag" event. The event begins on Thursday, May 21st, and ends on Memorial Day May 25th. This is a five-day event. The Mayor and City Commissioners have given us permission now that some of the Coronavirus restrictions have been lifted.

The location is in Mt. Juliet at the Jones Family Park which is located on the northwest corner of the intersection of Mt. Juliet Rd and Old Lebanon Dirt Road, about 2 miles north of Interstate 40. It's in the center of town.  There is plenty of parking.

We install hundreds of flags on a large open field for five days. The event is open to the public and we have always had a great turnout from the community, business leaders, and politicians. At night, we have spotlights that illuminate the flags which creates a beautiful scene. Many people come out to take pictures during the day and at night. If people want to purchase a flag to take home, we place a tag with a yellow ribbon and tie it to a flag. Each tag has the name of the purchaser along with "In Honor Of" or "In Memory Of" and the name of the individual. Usually, it is the name of a veteran but anyone may purchase a flag for any reason. At the end of the event, the purchaser takes the flag home.

The election is over and successful. 62 of our members voted.

All candidates were elected. The new officers will begin their term for the month of June.

Your new officers are:

Commander --  Max Wix

1st Vice Cdr --   Pat Costanzo

Dear Members of Post 281,

This message is sent to remind you that our post meeting for the 14th of April has been cancelled due to the Coronavirus restriction we are all faced with.  At this time we are not sure what the near future looks like in regards to May's meeting, but we will keep you updated through this method of notification.   

With our nominations and elections occurring and finalizing by the 10th of April, it is important that you contact CDR Thompson with your agreement to those who have been nominated, or you can nominate someone else if you would like.   You "should have" received an email from her with detailed guidance about the nominations.   Please contact her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you have not done so already.  

Be Safe,

Adjutant Ward

Well we certainly have had our world turned on its ear in the last few weeks. I sincerely hope this note finds you and your families well. Please continue to follow the guidelines and keep yourselves and others safe and healthy.

Thanks to Hillis Banks for reaching out to our membership for a Buddy Check.

If you have a minute, reach out to your Legion comrades, friends and neighbors and just have a short chat or electronic communication. They will appreciate the gesture...

Brenda J Thompson, Commander

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With the current advisories about the COVID-19/Coronavirus, all scheduled activities related to Post 281 are postponed until the end of March.     

National Emergency Fund (NEF) information:   For members who have suffered a loss due to the recent tornados in our area, the National Emergency Fund from the American Legion is available to help in your recovery costs.  An application must be completed within 90 days of the event (March 2^nd).  Any active Legion member can apply, not just members from Post 281. Contact us through the “contact” link provided on this web-site if you need more information, and you can open the application through the link provided below.    

NEF_Application.pdf

We will advise members of updates as more information is available.   Be smart, be safe, and be positive. 

Members of Post 281 

Commander Thompson discussed a web tool document to help veterans store important information for their families and loved ones at our meeting on Tuesday, the 10th of March.  This document was designed with Veterans in mind but is a great tool for anyone. It is intended for you to easily contain all of the information that your family will need in a stressful time. Even if you already have a Will or Trust, the Paper Safe can allow you to put all of that information, along with all of the other details that someone would need, in one simple to find a place. From the link below, you can read it over and get ideas, or you can print it right from your computer for your immediate use.

We've placed the link on our website for members to use in the future.   

www.avva.org/papersafe.html

Shifted Perspectives

Shortly after midnight on March 2nd, our communities, our city, and our state had to face the anger and despair of one of the worst forces of weather. In the course of less than 45 minutes a tornado blasted a hole into our world, the likes of which some will never fully recover from. All of us have been impacted, some of us in the loss of property and security and order in our lives, while others are dealing with the loss of loved ones and friends and neighbors...

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Well we are in a new year and it is flying by… February already.

This month brings the Mid-Winter Conference in Murfreesboro; interviews for the Boys State Candidates; the beginning of the Auxiliary’s Tree Sale; finding sponsors for the Baseball Teams and for Honoring America’s Flag – whew! I am sure there is more.

We only have about 85% of our members renewed at this point. If you still need to renew, please do so as soon as you can. If you know another 2019 member, please remind them to renew. We want (and need) to maintain our members. You are all important to the Tyler Cates Post 281 family.

We will have social time from 6:30 to 6:59 on meetings days. We will have some snacks and refreshments. Please come at 6:30 and share some camaraderie with your Post brothers and sisters. See you at the meeting on Tuesday

Brenda J Thompson
Commander