As many know now, the Honor Flight Maine (HGM) Telethon was last Thursday and was a huge success, raising over $191,000 and still counting enabling us to send approximately 200 more veterans to Washington D.C. to share the experience seeing their (our) memorials.  The volunteers taking the calls were doing that from their own homes, except for the News Center Maine folks who took calls from the studio.  It is always a great experience talking to folks wanting to make donations, often sharing their experience of going on the trip, or the experience of friends or family who made the trip and want to help ensure other veterans are able to have this incredible opportunity. As you know, HFM’s goal is to send all veterans to D.C.  Many callers were donating just because they wanted to support Maine veterans. Jim Singer joined me for a few hours, taking calls too. Since Jim was on the October trip, he was able to share his experience with the callers and convince veteran callers that they should put in an application, even if reluctantly, as he was. There are now over 400 on the waiting list and since the veterans going are now  younger (less than 80) and healthier, it becomes who submitted their applications first. If we continue to raise $200,000 a year, those on the waiting list now will go in 2024 or 2025. 

This Thursday, Nov. 30 at 6 p.m., there will be the annual Holiday Display Lighting ceremony at Togus Building 207, the CLC wing (hospice, nursing, dementia). This year’s team participating in putting up the display were the Armstead family (Chris, Gretchen and Imij), Millie and Ron Edwards, Wayne Johnston, Shawn Lewin, Suzanne Harmon, and me. Participating in the event will be other members of the Legion family, with the Auxiliary preparing the hot chocolate and cookies for everyone in the units. Holiday songs will be led by our own Doug Gimbel. I have to mention that both Lowe’s Brunswick and Home Deport Augusta contributed to this year’s display.  Be sure to thank their managers when you shop there. 

This Monday, Dec. 4, the Maine Veterans Coordinating Committee (MVCC) will have its Monthly Zoom meeting, this month at 3 p.m. (1500 for you military types). The guest speaker this month will be Maggie Catanese, executive director of the Vet2Vet program. Vet2Vet Maine is committed to alleviating social isolation and loneliness among Maine’s veterans and linking them to needed services. The accomplish this by connecting trained veteran volunteers with fellow veterans who need a friend. The volunteers visit at least twice a month and provide companionship, offer assistance with benefits, support independent living, and foster friendships and mentoring among veterans. This program, in many ways, is like our “Bridge the Gap” program of our Post. This meeting is open to all, and I host the meeting. The meeting ID is: 847 7321 7133 and the Passcode is: 236644.  If you want the actual link, email me at dapatch@roadrunner.com.