By Jennifer Gedney Havlick
The Minnesota Legionnaire
TWO HARBORS — Heard of Enhanced Buddy Checks?
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic American Legion National Commander Bill Oxford placed a strong emphasis on our Buddy Check program.
As I watched the pandemic begin to unfold, I thought we can do more than an average Buddy Check. I opened a note on my Facebook page and began writing what turned out to be titled Enhanced Buddy Checks.
Instead of calling and chatting, an Enhanced Buddy Check is making sure we can do anything for aging veterans, and if we cannot help, we make sure to find someone who can.
Make sure they have the support system for everything to stay safe under the pandemic restrictions, even things such as having neighborhoods kids take the trash to the curb.
Now I must be honest the first draft of this idea was rough. I basically typed what I was thinking at that moment. Now as I write this, I’ve had a few days to reach out to Legionnaires across the state of Minnesota and around the country to ask what they were doing in their areas.
The first ones I reached out to was our National Legion College Alumni Association group on Facebook. I posted the rough draft of the project and asked them if any of them where doing something like this.
I immediately received input about what they were doing and their interest in reaching out to their members.
Here in Minnesota I received word from New Prague Post 45 Membership Chairman Linda Dvorak that she had seen the note and was starting to reach out their members. She is the 3rd District commander and wife of Department Commander Mark Dvorak. Mark and Linda Dvorak both are retired from the U.S. Air Force.
Next, I received word that Hollywood, California, Post 43 had put a similar program together and was making great progress in contacting its 1,200 members.
I reached out to them via their website and received an email back from Post 43 Adjutant Dianna Wilson, who is an Army veteran detailing what they were doing and how they were tracking it. She even sent me the spreadsheet they were using to track their progress.
I received a call from an Auxiliary member in North Carolina who was calling her members and checking on them to see how they are doing.
The next morning, I started working on the list of posts in the 8th District. I talked to Judith Gunelius, adjutant of Post 182 in Effie. Judith and her husband, Farrell, are Air Force veterans who are in their 80s living in Big Fork. We talked about the pandemic and I asked them how they and their Post members were doing and if they needed anything.
Her response made me chuckle. She said that they were fine and staying put, and they had plenty of supplies. She told me they were busy painting a room in their home. Then she told me that Farrell went out to the garage and grabbed some toilet paper they had stored. Farrell came in and handed her three rolls of toilet paper and said that they needed to be careful about how much they use because they only had a few hundred rolls left.
We both laughed and she thanked me for calling to check on them. Then I talked to Larry Pocrnich of Hibbing Post 222. Larry is an Army veteran who also runs the Veterans Community Thrift store in Hibbing. Proceeds help veterans in the area.
The store has been closed since March 17 to protect workers and is planning a meeting on March 30 to determine the possibility of reopening. In the interim, he is calling members and holding small coffee groups of five or six for coffee and checking in.
James Kmecik, commander of Proctor Post 106, has started calling his members and checking on them to see if they need anything.
At Two Harbors Post 109, Chaplain Chris Belfield is calling members to check on them, even though he is self-quarantined with his wife. He is an Air Force retiree.
Let’s not forget the impromptu Facebook Messenger conference call of Saturday night, March 21. About 16 Legionnaires from across the state discussed cancellations, postponements and dealing with the outbreak over a group text on Messenger. One person suggested a group do a video conference call right then and there and, the next thing you know, Legionnaires from all corners of Minnesota were talking live and in person through their phones or computers.
Only eight could be on the video chat at any single time. It was a form of Enhanced Buddy Check. And it was a way to keep checking on each other.
This is just a small sampling of those in our Legion Family who I’ve talked with who are doing great things during this trying time. I will finish up calling my posts in the 8th District and then moving on to our unit president to see how they are doing and how we can help them assist their members.
This project is ongoing so please reach out to your members and to the families who have members deployed. Together we can ride through this storm and emerge kinder and stronger for God and Country.
Jennifer Gedney Havlick is the membership director for the 8th District and a past vice commander for the Department of Minnesota. She is a member of Two Harbors Post 109.
She was featured in a Stars & Stripes story. Read it here.
