TO:                DEC, Detachment of NJ

DATE:           10 June 2024

RE:                 Children and Youth (C and Y) Commission Year-end Report, June 2024

A report on the Children and Youth Commission for the Detachment Convention is as follows:

National-level Children and Youth:

Spring NEC: The chairman attended the Spring NEC as a participant of the SAL-U class. At a dinner with National Commander Hall and the Membership, Training, and Development (MTD) Committee, plus perhaps 30 other Legion Family members, COTA CEO Rick Lofgren asked New Jersey to stand up and talk about their recent high-profile fundraisers for COTA in April.

National C and Y Committee: The chairman also attended the National Children and Youth Committee Meeting in Indianapolis on 03 May 2024, where National Chairman Joe Lohman (MD) asked New Jersey to make a report and discuss the recent successful COTA fundraisers. The explanation of the tandem Post 105 and 174 Picnics was met with approval and a ‘job well done’.

CWF All-Time High: The SAL this month reached $10 million in donations to the Child Welfare Foundation (CWF) since 1988, continuing as the program’s largest donor. It was announced that the Sons were $407,000 short of the all-time high this year – and we met that in the 12 months – $100,000 since the NEC alone.

Cookies for Vets: The program was completed on 04 April, when a contingent of Girl Scouts and Young Sons delivered 350 boxes - $1,700 of donated cookies – to the VA facilities at Lyons and Orange. A letter was received from the VA (attached), and thank-you letters were sent out on behalf of the Detachment to all donors. In tallying the numbers over the past three years of this project, we have donated $4,730 of cookies to our vets in those two New Jersey VA hospitals.

Children and Youth press promoting New Jersey

April COTA Picnics: Appearing on Legiontown, USA; the Legion.org national website, the national Sons newsletter “Round Up”, the Observer Newspaper, NJ.com via the Belleville Times, The Belleville Post, various Patch properties, and by the Department on all of their social media platforms

Cookies for Vets: Releases broadcast on News 12 New Jersey, Brooklyn, and Long Island; plus articles on Legiontown, USA; the national Sons newsletters “Millennium” and “Round Up”, the Observer Newspaper, NJ.com via the Belleville Times, The Belleville Post, various Patch properties, and by the Department on all of their social media platforms

Faithfully submitted “For God and Country”,

Russell “Rusty” Myers III (NJ-105)

Children and Youth Commission Chairman 2023-24

Sons of the American Legion, Detachment of New Jersey