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DWINDLING LEGION RANKS TAP INTO VOLUNTEERS --
Non-members now helping Legion Posts survive.
Story here...
http://www.buffalonews.com/
editorial/20070303/1060900.asp
Story below:
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FOCUS: AMERICAN LEGION
Dwindling vets tap volunteers
Decline in numbers strains group events
By EMMA D. SAPONG
News Staff Reporter
For two straight months, Eric Fabozzi and his mother, Gina, have helped
make the popular all-you-can-eat Sunday pancake breakfasts possible at
the A.J. Jurek American Legion Post in Swormville.
What makes that unusual is that neither is a veteran.
The East Amherst mother-and-son team is among a growing number of
volunteers who have assumed duties veterans once filled but no longer
fulfill. Some are getting older. Others are ill. Many have died.
"In one week, we lost three members," said Sal Schillaci, post
commander. "We are Korean and World War II veterans, so we are getting
up there. We are in our upper 70s and 80s."
Schillaci and other post commanders have had to call upon the community
many times to help with pancake breakfasts, bingo nights or fundraisers,
even using the newspaper to publicize the need for volunteers.
At the American Legion Post 735 in West Seneca, the organization has
become more dependent on its auxiliary and its Sons of Legions members
in order to hold its various events and benefits, including the recent
spaghetti dinner and cancer research fundraiser.
"Years ago, it was mostly legionnaires organizing our events, but they
were a lot younger then and there were more of them," said Phil Kordosa,
post commander.
Men's bingo night at the George F. Lamm Post on Wehrle Drive in Amherst
comes to fruition weekly with the help of nonveterans, said Ron Diebold,
a past post commander.
"Our older guys can't make it up the stairs anymore," Diebold said. "The
members are getting older and dying."
The men said the problem persists because younger veterans are not
joining. But national and local American Legion officials insist the
organization is doing well.
"It's a question of people's participation, not a lack of membership,"
said Mike Kogotek, a past national commander and a member of the Matthew
Glab Post in Lackawanna.
3.3 million at peak
The numbers say otherwise.
The American Legion, the country's largest veterans service
organization, was founded in 1919 by World War I veterans. At its peak -
just after World War II in 1946 - it was 3.3 million strong.
Organization officials have said in the past that membership fluctuates,
partly because of the number of veterans from each war.
The number of people deployed to fight in World War II dwarfs that of
Vietnam and the recent Iraqi conflicts, which accounts for the high
number of membership after World War II.
The organization currently has 2.7 million members with 14,000 posts,
with new posts opening every week, said Ramona Joyce, a spokeswoman for
the national organization.
However, Joyce said there are some regions, including Western New York,
that could be struggling to retain its membership goals because of
population shifts.
Dennis McCarthy, chairman of membership for Erie County's American
Legions, said the organization is at 90 percent of its countywide goal,
which is based on last year's numbers, of 10,118 members, with 9,068.
The Jarrett post in Swormville has a membership target of 371 and
actually has 335, McCarthy said.
McCarthy said the organization doesn't keep membership records for more
than a year, so he can't trace year-to-year changes in membership of the
county's posts. But in a July 1998 article in The Buffalo News, the
total number of members was pegged at about 14,000. That means that in
the past nine years, local American Legion posts have lost nearly 5,000
members, a 35 percent drop.
The Jarrett post encourages eligible volunteers, who are direct
descendants of a veteran, to join the organization as auxiliary members.
Pancake popularity
Carol Dunshie of Cheektowaga, who has worked three of the breakfasts,
was approached to join.
"I'm having a good time, the people are very friendly," she said. "It
kind of reminds me of when I was a waitress. The people there are very
friendly."
The pancake feast held the third the Sunday every month attracts between
300 and 500 during its 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. serving time. It takes about 40
people to prepare the breakfast and serve the patrons, and about 12 of
them are not veterans.
But many have ties to veterans. Dunshie's son is considering a military
career and she gets information from the veterans during the breakfasts.
Gina Fabozzi's father served in World War II and Eric is a World War II
buff. After two Sundays, they are now committed to donating 31/2 hours a
month to the Jarrett post's fundraiser.
"It's a welcoming environment, and we feel good helping," the
14-year-old said. "I'm more in the kitchen, and my mom is out in the
dining area working."
Eric dutifully cracks eggs, washes sinks full of syrup-stained plates
and restacks them for the nonstop flow of pancake fans.
Younger vets awaited
His mother, Gina, pours orange juice, refills the butter, creamer and
syrup and sets tables.
"This cause is close to our hearts," she said, while she and Eric took a
break from their work on a recent Sunday.
Schillaci said the younger veterans probably need time to readjust to
life after serving and could join later. But in the meantime, "I'm
hoping to build a bank of volunteers so we don't have to keep relying on
the same ones."
e-mail: esapong@buffnews.com
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Larry Scott --
