MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE
John Fritz

I would like to thank James (TACO) Fulton (West), John (Jack) Tully (West), Gerald Heid (Central), Jon Hosfeld (Central), Joseph Yackera (East) and Nathan Krajcirik (East), our Membership Vice Chairs for their dedication to our membership program. Thank you to Dawn Foster and Troy Michaels for their hard work keeping the membership cards flowing to National and assistance in membership issues.

Unfortunately we came up short of our target this year, there are many reason why but the most glaring to me appears to be the same reason as the previous years, the effort of the Posts to see it through to the end and complete the task with the energy that it deserves, we just didn’t press hard enough throughout the Departments posts to drive home the idea that the perception of never leaving a member behind is the most important post survival process needed to sustain our survivability as a Department, District and more importantly the Post.

The following are the results for Membership Year 2024:
Department of PA: 98.23% shortfall of 1799.
Eastern Section: 98.61% shortfall of 348.
Central Section: 98.26% shortfall of 665.
Western Section: 98.16% shortfall of 786.

Congratulations to the following Districts on achieving Target of 100% plus:
District #1 102.44% plus 45 Members.
District #8 101.67% plus 48 Members.
District #11 101.60% plus 36 Members.
District #32 101.28% plus 22 Members.
District #10 100.30% plus 10 Members.
District #18 100.26% plus 9 Members.
District #26 100.06% plus 3 Members.

We the membership team have tried and succeeded in providing the District Commanders every possible tool available to meet our goals, an up to date delinquent list, a breakdown of each district by post of delinquent members needed to achieve their goals and the constant communication and an open door policy of help if needed and of course the 945 up to date list, The team has made many calls to posts and Districts to keep the momentum moving in a positive and correct direction. We’ve built a solid foundation for the upcoming 2025 Membership Year, we have to get off to an early start and get well ahead of the target, more posts visits/post contacts are needed to emphasize the important of reversing the negative slide and beginning the march to retention and recruitment, It won’t happen by itself, all legionnaires must take the charge and begin the process and never relent until the mission is completed and our goals are obtained.

It has been a rewarding experience serving the Department as the 2024 Membership Chairman, It’s a learning experience with every day’s effort, I would like to thank Commander Lavelle for the honor of selecting me for the position and the faith he had in myself and the Team to get the job done.