At the heart of this story is a desire to continue to be part of something bigger than oneself. Especially now with so much politically based division we, of The American Legion go out to help people. It doesn’t matter what race, color, creed or political background people come from. We see hungry Americans and we come together as veterans to do what we vowed to do and that’s to continue to serve America.
My wife “Naoko” and I “Michael Gorsuch” joined The American Legion to be active in the community. We go out, find worthwhile activities, participate in them to see how things work and then bring it back to my Post, “my wife is a past president of Auxiliary Unit 555 and is currently their secretary” while I am a past commander of Stanton Post 783 & am currently a member of Cypress Post 295.”
2020 brought job losses, hunger and quite honestly division. But what we have found is that we can take care of what we can in our community. Being the light and giving hope is what our veterans can do. Fortunately, we have a Post commander “Steve Nulk USNAVY” that is more than willing to get on board, put on the cap and go out into the community. At a meeting I brought up the proposal to go to the OC food bank here in Orange County California. They are putting together food boxes for many things, especially for the senior community. This would be an excellent opportunity to “get the cap out” and show what unity of purpose can do. A date was proposed, vote taken and “Aye” to go forward. We chose the 6th of February at 11am for a two-hour shift. Those participating registered on the OC Food bank website and waited for the day.
Arriving at the site we situated ourselves on a food packing line, socially distanced and wearing masks. Two hours straight we packed food into boxes, sharing in the easy camaraderie that the military gave us. It was an experience that was challenging and with purpose and at the end of the day we loaded 13.25 pallets equaling 530 boxes. Not bad for our group’s first time.
Members talked about doing this more often and with our Post leadership enthusiastically behind this, I wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes an event that continues to happen in the future. This shows the importance of not only an active leadership but membership that’s willing to take on a challenge.
Camouflage is made of many colors that form a garment that covers the body. We are the colors of the camouflage and the “body” is our country. Anyone who seeks to separate the colors looks to not only damage the garment but the body it covers. Beware of thread pullers and remember that together we can get the job done.
For God and Country
Michael Gorsuch
USARMY “Airborne”
Gulf War
Author: caLegion Contributor
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