Department of Montana

Disabled American Veterans

Department of Montana

December 11, 2007

From:                     Michael A. Clouse, Department Senior Vice Commander

To:                          All Department Officers, State Executive Committee Members, And Chapter Members

Subject:                                 Department Membership Challenge

Dear Members:

As the Chairman of the Department Membership Committee I recently put out a Department wide challenge to each of the Chapters to recruit at least 20 new members into each of the Chapters of the State of Montana.  This Challenge is emphasize the following; Membership, Taking Care of Disabled Veterans, our Volunteers and Volunteer Drivers.

Membership in any organization is what makes an organization strong. Recently we checked our rolls in the state and found out we have decreased in numbers by more than a thousand members. This hurts the organization, less volunteers for our various programs and monies for the organization to support our Transportation program.

I would like you to treat this as a challenge to take care of the Disabled Veterans in our State.  Many new Servicemen and Servicewomen are returning to our state with disabilities from their Service to our Country.  Many of them are not aware of the Veterans Benefits that are coming to them or other various needs they may have upon returning to our state. I ask each of you to seek out Disabled Veterans who may not know what the DAV can do for them and what we are all about.  Help them contact our Service Officer for any help in filling benefits they may have coming to them. Help each of them to attend one of our Chapter meetings and explain to them our programs. If they want to join our organization follow up with them on any help with the application. Of course try and help them with any other needs they may have in your local communities. Please follow up with them and check that there needs have been met. If each of our active members recruited just one new member we could reach our challenge within the Department. Remember take care of your fellow Disabled Veterans that is what this organization is all about.

I encourage each of you to also talk about our volunteer programs throughout the Department in our various communities. I encourage you to ask to attend local church organizations, local community organizations, and other Veterans organizations meetings and talk about our volunteer programs. We are in need of finding more volunteers for all of our programs especially our Transportation program. We need additional Van coordinators and Van Drivers. If you find a volunteer veteran or non-veteran and they are interested in volunteering, offer to help them with the volunteer package from the VA. In some cases we are losing prospective volunteers because when they receive the packet in the mail it overwhelms them and they fail to complete the packet and we lose a volunteer. Or they get the packet and it’s not complete and returned with all the documents and when they start to volunteer they do not receive initial credit for there services. Please take the time to make a phone call or drive to house or to a meeting and help build better lives for our Disabled Veterans.

Sincerely;

Michael A. Clouse, Senior Vice Commander

D.A.V. Department of Montana