VAVS

Cuppa Joe? Volunteer Serving Coffee

— and Veterans — Since 1950

Lenora Munyon serves coffee and a smile to Veteran Bill Braidwood. 

She has been in the Salvation Army for more than 80 years.

When the Overton Brooks VA Medical Center opened in 1950, Lenora Munyon was quick to volunteer. So quick, in fact, she was the medical center's first volunteer. The amazing part? At 96, Munyon is still volunteering at the Shreveport, LA, facility today.

"It's the blessing of helping others," Munyon explains.

In 1950, Munyon, a social worker for the Salvation Army, was anxious to get the new hospital "up and going to help out the Veterans. Our hearts were always with the Veterans," she said.
When administrators at Overton Brooks VA Medical Center sent out a call for volunteers, they tapped the Salvation Army, one of the biggest community service agencies in the area.
Munyon rounded up a handful of Salvation Army volunteers and under the title of "Ladies Home League," the group of women zestfully began their assigned duty: serving coffee to Veterans and visitors.

Munyon still clearly remembers those days. She talks about the kitchen on the second floor and the huge, gleaming coffee urn on the counter. Once a week, the ladies brewed gallons of coffee and set off on a tour of the wards to visit with patients while handing out the steaming cups to grateful Vets and visitors alike.

"We called it 'charity work' back then," Munyon said. "One of the aims of the Salvation Army is to think of people other than ourselves, and that's just what we did."

Though Munyon is 96, she is still actively involved in the Voluntary Service office at Shreveport. She is the Salvation Army's Deputy Representative to the hospital, making sure there is a weekly team of volunteers to continue the coffee legacy every Thursday and arranging transportation for them to get to the hospital.

Munyon still travels to the Overton Brooks VA Medical Center to attend the quarterly VA Voluntary Service (VAVS) meeting, a gathering of the organizations supporting the programs and Voluntary Service goals for the hospital. She has been a key member of the VAVS committee since 1950.

"All the Vets love Ms. Munyon," says Esther Comb, Voluntary Service Specialist. "She just has a spirit of giving. She's said over and over that Veterans have a special place in her heart."
Munyon, a member of the Salvation Army for more than 80 years, was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award by the medical center in 2000. In 2002, she was selected by the Salvation Army as the National Salvation Army VAVS Representative Volunteer of the Year.

The VAVS certificate of appreciation awarded to Munyon in 1955 for 100 hours of volunteer service now seems almost quaint after sixty years of service.

By now, she is used to recognition. As the hospital's first volunteer, how often is Munyon mentioned in its annual awards ceremony?

"Every year," she says wryly.

And, it seems, many more to come.

A PLEDGE TO SERVICE

Capturing the attention of a younger generation raised on all things video has been the preoccupation of public relations and marketing firms ever since the NBC peacock started broadcasting television programs in "living color."

Today the Internet, iPods, DVD players and a plethora of electronic gadgets are all providing videos on practically every subject imaginable.

National Commander Clarence Hill has been advocating that all Legionnaires should engage these "emerging" media as effective tools to reach out to younger veterans and their families. The American Legion is on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and YouTube.

Now, a brand new video is available that targets the younger generation and offers a powerful new tool to tell The American Legion story in just under four minutes.


"A Pledge to Service" presents the Four Pillars of our organization in a fast-paced, highly charged production narrated by Ryan Gonzales, creative director for the Department of Florida and graduate of the 2009 American Legion National College. Four Legionnaires, veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, assist. With an original music score, the video ends with a call to join us either through the Web site or at "your nearest American Legion post."

Produced by Public Relations Commission staff, the video is now posted on The American Legion Web site and will be available free in mid-March on a DVD by request to pr@legion.org or by calling (317) 630-1253.

Since the video is an American Legion production and we own the copyright, all Legion posts are free to reproduce and distribute the video as appropriate. Some uses include posting on a post Web site for viewing on-demand; using it at membership booths running in a looped configuration; displaying it on a laptop or DVD player for individual membership recruiting presentations; marketing to cable and broadcast television stations; presenting it during public speaking opportunities to community and civic groups; and having local movie theaters run it as a public service piece before feature presentations.

"A Pledge to Service" will officially debut at the Washington Conference on March 2. Because the contents are not dated, the video has a long shelf life to offer unlimited marketing opportunities. Additionally, a series of four public service television spots are in production based on the "Pledge to Service" theme.

As with all public relations tools, your feedback is important. Share information on how your post is using the video so others might consider doing the same. Creativity is the rule.

The public relations commission urges all PR chairmen/officers to send your e-mail addresses to the office. In addition to receiving the latest press releases and advisories, a new PR "reflector" is being developed as an electronic forum for Legionnaires engaged in public relations to share ideas, ask advice and get the hottest PR tools off the press. Send your e-mail address to pr@legion.org.

Robert L. Morrill of the Dept. of New York is chairman of the National Public Relations Commission.

To post this video to your Web site or blog, follow these steps:

1. Click here to view the video on YouTube.

2. Copy the code from the "Embed" box found in the shaded window located in the upper right-hand column.

3. Paste the code into your Web site or blog to embed it.

 

LEGION OVERVIEW VIDEO

 The new American Legion promotional video has been completed and will debut at the Washington  Conference.  Titled, “A Pledge to Service,” the 3:55 minute, fast-paced video features an original  music sound track, hosting by a recent National American Legion College graduate, and four Iraq- Afghanistan veterans highlighting the Four Pillars of The American Legion.  DVDs will be  available to those attending the conference and by request from the public relations office after the  conference at no cost to posts/districts and departments.  Television/cable public service spots will  be produced based on the theme of the video in the forthcoming weeks.

Legion remembers Lincoln’s promise

 

National Commander Clarence E. Hill delivers a radio address at President Lincoln's tomb 

in Springfield, Illinois, Friday morning. Photo by John Raughter

During a visit to the tomb of 16th President Abraham Lincoln on his birthday, American Legion National Commander Clarence E. Hill repeated a promise from the president’s second inaugural address.

“Two score and 14 years before our organization was founded, President Lincoln summed up the reason why The American Legion would one day be needed,” Hill said in a radio address he delivered at Lincoln’s final resting place. “’To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan.’ These 17 words, taken from President Lincoln’s second inaugural address, have been adopted as a motto for the Department of Veterans Affairs. While nobody denies that the VA has its problems, it does provide excellent care. Moreover, The American Legion is proud of its advocacy of today’s veterans, and its work to ensure that the VA lives up to Lincoln’s solemn promise.”

Visits to the tomb by national commanders have become a tradition in the past, and this year marks the 76th annual American Legion Lincoln Day Pilgrimage. After Hill’s visit to the tomb, he continued the theme to hundreds of American Legion family members during a luncheon hosted by Springfield American Legion Post 32.

“With the times, we have expanded (Lincoln’s) commitment to also include caring for her who shall have borne the battle and for her widower and her orphan,” Hill said. “The demographic of the American veteran is changing. We now have a much more diverse veterans’ population than in past generations. This diversity includes a growing and significant number of women veterans who sacrifice no less than their male counterparts. In this war without a front, there are no safe areas. As such, women who historically were not severely wounded in great numbers during previous conflicts are now returning home with limbs missing, terrible burns or blindness.
“We advocate for a strong Department of Veterans Affairs that not only treats common war ailments such as post traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury and severe burns, but also addresses breast and cervical cancer, sexual trauma and maternity care,” Hill continued. “The American Legion family will be there for all of our veterans because that is what we do.”

Hill pointed to President Obama’s signing of a law last October, which enacted advance funding for VA appropriations, as an example of Legion advocacy that made a difference. “Now, the VA knows a year in advance what resources will be available so it can plan accordingly. Advance appropriations will go a long way toward minimizing compromises in the delivery of the high quality health care our veterans expect and deserve.”

Despite significant legislative successes, Hill stressed that The American Legion’s advocacy is still needed. He called the huge backlog of veterans waiting for VA compensation, “one aspect of President Lincoln’s promise that remains unfulfilled.”