Employment & Education Division also found ways to adapt to the pandemic, which derailed its massive annual veteran career fair normally conducted during the national convention. On Sept. 15, nearly 800 veteran and military family jobseekers from across the nation participated in a free virtual employment event with more than 220 hiring companies, presented by the national Veterans Employment & Education Commission, the American Legion Department of Texas, the Texas Veterans Commission and the Texas Workforce Commission. National Commander Oxford welcomed jobhunters with a video message, as did Veterans Employment & Education Commission Chairman Daniel Seehafer, from their homes in North Carolina and Wisconsin, respectively. Earlier in the summer, the VE&E Commission organized an online workshop featuring the leader of military and veteran services for LinkedIn, Sarah Roberts, who offered tips to set up effective professional profiles on the social media platform; The American Legion’s national LinkedIn page saw a surge in followers, to nearly 20,000, by the end of the summer, as social media connections grew in importance during the time of self-isolation. The American Legion Department of North Carolina scheduled its own virtual veterans career fair for Nov. 17, which drew 176 jobseekers from 19 different states, the District of Columbia and Japan. Other virtual veteran career events soon followed in early 2021. The new virtual reality also evolved at the local level. When the
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Merced County Fair in California was canceled due to the pandemic, hundreds of 4-H and Future Farmers of America participants were certain their opportunity to show and sell their animals was lost. Members of the community, led by American Legion Post 83 in Merced, gave the young exhibitors an alternative – a virtual livestock show. “The FFA and 4-H groups were concerned about their kids not being able to show their animals ... and not get their awards,” said District 12 Commander Gene Hamill, who was contacted to see if Post 83 had any programs that could help. “I told her that we do Children and Youth, and we also have an agricultural program. This is all about children, so this would be great for us.” The livestock show was streamed online with exhibitors creating videos of themselves with their animals, as if it were the actual fair. Post 83 helped raise money for awards and belt buckles for exhibitors, some of which were purchased with money raised from pick-up dinners sold by the Legionnaires. Hamill said the virtual livestock show was a “huge opportunity for our local post to get exposure, but also (to show) The American Legion overall as an (organization) that helps our communities. We’re here to be able to assist them in these tough times.” Teens for Veterans, a group of high school students that volunteers in support of Rayson Miller American Legion Post 899 in Pittsford, N.Y., performed a 40-minute virtual concert and posted it on YouTube in honor of those who have served in uniform.
“We Are Thinking of You” featured 11 teen musicians playing their instruments from home, while socially distancing. “These tough times are a reminder to reflect back on the sacrifices you have made to improve our country,” the concert’s YouTube description explained. “We are wishing you all to remain safe, to be happy and to stay healthy.” Isabella He, who founded Teens for Veterans in 2017, played Bach’s Partita No. 3 in E major on her violin during the April concert, which was shown at the Canandaigua VA Medical Center and shared through national American Legion social media channels. “Even though the world was – and is – in a dark place, I wanted to focus on an uplifting melody and spread happiness through music,” she said. “It was great to know that even though we are self-isolating, we are connecting with music. I just wanted them to know we were thinking of them.” A potentially serious casualty of the national convention’s cancellation was the annual Legacy Run, which had raised more than $11 million for the organization’s Legacy Scholarship Fund in a decade and a half. More than $3.2 million in scholarships had been awarded to the children of U.S. military personnel and veterans who either lost their lives or had been rated over 50% disabled by VA since the terrorist attacks of 9/11. The Legacy Run, which normally departs from a specified city and rumbles more than 1,000 miles on motorcycles and three-wheelers, winding up at the national convention city, is the marquee fundraising event for American Legion Legacy
COVID OPERATIONS: THE AMERICAN LEGION FAMILY’S RESPONSE TO THE GLOBAL PANDEMIC