Getting to 100 years of existence is no easy task, but the American Legion Cecil Cox Post 147 is just months away from celebrating that milestone. However, the recent shutdown along with low volunteering numbers has made it difficult for the organizers to make plans.
Named after the first Clovis veteran to fall during World War I, the American Legion Cecil Cox Post 147 will be celebrating their 100th anniversary next March. The Post was chartered officially in 1921, even though it had been in existence since 1919. Clovis Post 147 helps veterans, service members and the community with volunteering and charitable donations to several community organizations.
Preparations are taking place now in order to be ready for the big day, but COVID-19 has made it difficult for organizers to make definite plans.
Commander for Post 147, Chris Hoffman, said that due to the coronavirus they haven’t been able to fundraise like they used to in past years. This means that they will not be able to sponsor as many organizations and their regular donations will not be as before.
“We helped ourselves over the last few years prepared for an event like this (COVID-19), but it only gives us financial security for a short time,” Hoffman said. “We had to revisit our budget a couple of times recently.”
Hoffman mentioned that one of the biggest fundraisers for them was the Clovis Rodeo and without it this year their budget significantly decreased. He also said that renting their facilities was another way they made money, but that they haven’t held any events in their space since March.
However, the decrease in fundraising hasn’t put a halt to their preparations for their 100 years celebration. Hoffman said that the plans for the anniversary celebration are still being put together and they intend to have it next March.
One person who is looking forward to the celebration is former Post 147 commander Al Blumer. Blumer has been a member of the American Legion for 77 years and served as commander of Post 147 from 1985 to 1986.
“I enjoyed my time at the Post,” Blumer said. “I always enjoyed going to the meetings…we had dinner together and talked. I really enjoyed the association.”
Blumer is in his 90s and is a former Navy Shipmen who was assigned to the USS Enterprise during World War II. After his time in the Navy, Blumer became a member of the American Legion and when he moved to Fresno and later became commander at Post 147.
Blumer said that there has been a lot of change in the American Legion during his time as a member. One of the biggest changes that he mentioned was membership numbers and how now they are not what they used to be.
“The younger veterans don’t seem to be interested in it like the older veterans are,” Blumer said.
Hoffman, much like Blumer also talked about the decreasing numbers of members and how it has affected the post. Hoffman mentioned that the majority of their volunteers are in their 70s and that those volunteers are becoming scarce.
Even with 500 paying members, Hoffman said that when they put on an event volunteers are really hard to come by.
“Five or six years ago when you asked for help you’d be shoulder to shoulder with people coming in (to volunteer),” Hoffman said. “Now it’s not so easy, the number of people has dropped off to maybe a handful.”
The Post is trying to reach a younger generation of veterans but Hoffman believes that this new generation has different priorities than the older generation. Hoffman said that it might be that the new generation of veterans want to spend more time with their family and so they have less time to volunteer. He believes that maybe because both parents spend more time at work that they rather spend their spare time with their families.
Hoffman said that all they are asking for is one hour a month of volunteer time and that will help them with their events. Hoffman explained that the one hour a month does not mean the time at meetings or at the post, but rather during their events and fundraisers.
Even with low volunteer numbers and the pandemic going on Hoffman is optimistic about the 100 year celebration for the post.
“We want to plan for it, what we want to plan for is to have a big event,” Hoffman said. “We’re going to have an open house, a re-dedication, we have new flags that we’ll be putting up in front. So it’s going to be a big event.”