On behalf of the American Legion Post 36 and all the veterans and their families we support, thank you for supporting our breakfasts in 2018. The donations generously given at the breakfasts go a long way in providing the services we, along with our breakfast partner the Boothbay Region Community Resource Council, provide in the community. We had a record summer, Thank you! The breakfasts will start again in April 2019.

The monthly meeting of the Maine Veteran Coordination Committee was held Nov. 5. The assistant director of the Medical Center provided an update on the “Mission Act,” which, among other changes, brought all the community care services (funded by the VA) into one program that is managed by the VA. While Togus has already started to implement much of the new legislation, the VA has given the Medical Centers a year to fully implement. During this implementation process, if the veteran would like to have access to a private practitioner, the veteran should discuss this with his/her VA Primary Care doctor.

A new “hotel” is being built at Togus for families of veterans who are in-patients at Togus to stay at no cost. This “hotel” is paid for by the Fisher Foundation, a non-profit organization. There are approximately 87 Fisher Houses that have, or are being built, on or near 24 military and 33 VA hospitals around the world. The Togus Fisher House is expected to open int 2019. For those interested in training on veteran suicide, the VA recommends taking the training offered by the Psycharmor Organization at www.psycharmor.org. The director of the VA Benefits administration, the director of the Maine Bureau of Veterans Services, and representatives of our Congressional delegation also provided updates. In order to make these meetings more convenient to all veterans, future meetings will be held on the first Monday of each month at 5 p.m. in the Togus theater. These meetings are open to the public. The next meeting is Dec. 3.

American Legion Post 36 leads the effort each year to set up a holiday display in the memorial garden outside the hospice/nursing wing at Togus. This year, the display will be set up on Nov. 14-16. Anyone interested in helping with this display should contact me at 751-5672 or dapatch@roadrunner.com. The lighting ceremony will be held Nov. 29 at 4:30 p.m. All are invited to participate and sing Christmas Carols. As you can imagine, this is a very important experience for our veterans in the Hospice unit.

Our next American Legion meeting is Dec. 10. Are you a veteran and not a member? Come to the meeting and learn more about the Legion and how we serve our community.