Membership Director: Who wins box seats at the St. Paul Saints game?

By Joe Bares
Joe Bares

The winners for my St. Paul Saints baseball contest, each winning two tickets to sit with Department Commander Linda Dvorak in a special box suite on May 22, are:

  • Terry Larson of Forest Lake Post 225 Forrest Lake
  • Ashley Venburg of Forest Lake Post 225 Forrest Lake
  • Shaun Eineke of Bloomington Post 550
  • Kenneth Ringeisen of Fairmont Post 36

These four were super-charged engines who signed up many new members. If you want to purchase tickets to the game, click here.

Wow! What a week. I am writing my article the day after the conclusion of the National Commander’s Tour of Minnesota. What a great experience!

I wanted to pass along the commander’s six priorities:

  1. Be The One: Visit betheone.org.
  2. Better Together: Successful posts are ones where the American Legion Family works together.
  3. Legislative: We have power in numbers to get Congress to maintain and expand veterans’ benefits.
  4. The 3 C’s: Communication, Community, Camaraderie. What methods do you use to communicate? What is your post best-known for in your community? Do you observe Memorial Day, Independence Day, Veterans Day, American Legion Birthday (March 15)?
  5. American Legion Veterans & Children’s Foundation: Donations to the VCF pay for accredited veteran service officer training. Those VSOs then go out and negotiate disability claims for veterans (last year north of $29 billion), and that ends up benefiting local communities. It’s a national donation and gives back locally. VCF also supports the Legion’s Temporary Finance Assistance program, helping veterans and their families in need.
  6. America 250: Visit Legion.org/usa250/challenge

By the time the Legionnaire reaches mailboxes, we will have passed the 100 percent target cutoff of May 10. As I write this, we are at 92.72 percent and ranked 21st nationally.

While that is where we stand today, my goal remains clear: 100 percent by Dec. 31, 2026.

I am asking everyone to stay engaged — continue renewing non-renewed members and keep recruiting new members for The American Legion Department of Minnesota during Department Commander Linda Dvorak’s membership year. The work we do now will directly impact our 2027 numbers and set the tone for futMure success.

Now is also the time to start planning for the 2026-27 membership year. Waiting until November, December or Mid-Winter is simply too late. With district conventions beginning in May, that is when conversations must begin and plans must be developed if we want a successful year.

I am asking all individuals, posts, districts and incoming department officers to take this seriously:

  • Ensure your district leadership is actively making visits and sharing information.
  • Place stronger emphasis on the role of department vice commanders — planning and executing events within their districts is part of their responsibility

This has been emphasized before, but it has not been consistently executed. Moving forward, there must be accountability. Leadership is more than a title — it requires action, follow-through and results.

Let’s commit now to building a stronger, more organized membership effort for the year ahead.

Joe Bares of Jordan Post 3 is the membership director for the American Legion Department of Minnesota.