The Kinder Alvin L. Nevils American Legion Post 244 was recognized at this year’s state convention for outstanding organizational work done by the veterans’ group.
Post 244 Commander Eric B. Kuyper won the M.C. “Mike” Gehr Blue Cap Award for his “outstanding activities and time generously given in the promoting the program of the American Legion.” This is a prestigious award funded by the Gehr family and awarded annually on the district and state levels to a member who works hard.
“Being awarded the Mike Gehr Blue Hat award for the whole state of Louisiana is a huge honor,” Kuyper said. “This award you can only win once and is like the Heisman Trophy for Louisiana American Legionaries. It can only be awarded to someone in a post who has never been an officer at the district or state level so it’s for people working for veterans in their own communities. This is the first time that anyone in Post 244 has been given this award in our 76 years of being a post.”
The post won this award at the district level (District Seven) in March. From the eight districts in the state, the winners compete at the state level and Kuyper was recognized for his work with the post at the state level.
In the area of membership, the post won the Department Commander’s Big 12 Goal Date Award for its membership drive. They achieved “the greatest percentage of 144.737 percent in the 50 to 100 members bracket by March 11, 2020.” They also received the Vice-Commander’s Award “for achieving the greatest percentage of membership from 2020 to 2021 with 139.474 percent by November 12, 2020.”
Kuyper said, “Being ranked as the top post in recruiting and retention for 2020-21 for posts under 100 members is a great honor. We have never done this before in Post 244 history. It shows how much the community supports our veterans and how much the post is working to help our community.”
On behalf of the post, Kuyper named the outgoing state commander an honorary Sawdust Soldier (#sawdustsoldiers).
The VA gave a presentation to the veterans as well as a speech from the VFW organization.
Over 400 American Legionnaires attended the convention with Sons of the Legion, Legion Auxiliary and other guests. The event was held Thursday, June 17, to Sunday, June 20, in downtown Alexandria at the Holiday Inn.