Minutes of American Legion Post 539
Monthly Meeting
November 28, 2018

Commander Nancy Uhland opened the meeting at 1900 hrs. There were 30 members present.
Officers present:
Commander, Nancy Uhland
1st Vice Commander, Position Vacant
2nd Vice Commander, Dick Seale
Adjutant, Doug Uhland
Finance Officer, Jim Robinson
Judge Advocate, Gary Guodace
Historian, Greg Ciesielski
Chaplain, Ken McCain
Sergeant at Arms, Jack Olmstead
Service Officer, Sam Coxson

Traditional Opening Ceremony was performed.

Guests were introduced: James Moore – Candidate for Department Commander and Randall Ramian, a member and possible transfer – just moved here from California.

Mr. Moore was introduced and gave a short presentation on the state of the American Legion in North Carolina. He outlined what he would like to accomplish if elected Department Commander.

Commander’s Items:
 The mid-winter conference will be held Feb 14-16 at the North Raleigh Hilton. Anyone is welcome to attend.
 Veterans Stand down was postponed until February 22nd.
 The next District 6 meeting will be held at Post 46 in Morehead City on February 23. Lunch at noon, meeting starts at 1:00 PM.
 Go-getter program: The national commander will present a silver pin to anyone who recruits one new member and a gold pin to anyone recruiting 3 new members.

Second Vice Items:
 The Executive Board voted to allow anyone who was displaced or suffered catastrophic loss due to Hurricane Florence to attend the Christmas Party as guests of the Post.
 The New Bern JROTC is holding a raffle to help pay for their new scoring computer for their shooting matches. Commander Ron Fry has tickets for purchase after the meeting.

Judge Advocate Report:
 The annual audit of Post finances is underway.

Financial Report:
 The financial report for the month of October was given by the finance officer. The report is attached to these minutes and is available to any Post 539 member on request.

Adjutant’s Report:
 To date we have 93 members who have renewed for 2019 which is 74% of our goal.
 Our final Wreaths Across America solicitation will be in front of Mitchell’s Hardware on December 1. You can sign up on line or with me after the meeting.

Chaplains Report:
 Kaz Barcynski, who passed away recently will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery at a future date yet to be determined.
 Lovay Wallace-Singleton was recently named Civitan of the Year for her work with the Veterans Employment Base Camp and Organic Garden.

Service Officer’s Report:
 We have on Veteran request for assistance in progress
 We visited two veterans in nursing homes who had birthdays last month.
 We need some funds for Christmas gift baskets for our vets in our two nursing homes. Glen Killian made a motion to provide $300 from Post funds. Greg Ciesielski seconded the motion and it passed on a unanimous voice vote.

Historian Report:
 Newsletter is out. If you have anything for next month’s letter, get it to me as soon as you can.

Sergeant-at Arms Report:
 Jack Olmstead reviewed the minutes of the last CCVC meeting. They are attached to these minutes for review.

George Halyak reported that approximately 60 people have signed up for the Christmas Party so far. The party will take place at the New Bern Golf and Country Club on December 19. Social hour will start at 5:00 PM, dinner at 6:00 PM.

Bud Van Slyke reported on the Centennial Committee activities:
 Ceremony was held at the WW I&II monument in front of the Court House. New Bern JROTC participated. George Liner was the guest speaker.
 Bells for Peace: Mark Sandvigen coordinated the ringing of church bells in New Bern at 11:00 AM on November 11 (Veterans Day) in honor of our fallen vets.
 We encourage you to visit any WWII vets you may know
 Our committee is looking for ideas to bring our members together and get involved in the Centennial. Contact me with any ideas you may have.

Gary Guodace reported on progress of our website. It is being updated regularly and has lots of good information. Please check it our at http;//newbernpost539.com.

Dick Seale reported that he will be visiting local JROTC units soon to make them aware of the youth programs offered by the American Legion, ie. Boys/Girls State, Oratorical Contest, Jr. Shooters, etc. There will be a JROTC rifle meet at New Bern High School on December 6. Come out and watch our cadets compete.

Chaplain McCain recited the closing prayer.

There being no further business, the colors were retired and the meeting was adjourned at 2015 hours.

Respectively submitted,

Doug Uhland