Minnesota American Legion Fall Conference in St. Cloud

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- The Minnesota American Legion is holding its annual Fall Conference in St. Cloud this week. The event on Friday and Saturday will be at the River's Edge Convention Center.

Commander Carl Moon says one of the topics of discussion is recruiting more younger veterans.

We want to let the younger veterans know that even if you cannot be active in the Legion, their membership helps us tremendously, we have a lot of say when we go to Congress nationally in support of issues for veterans because of our numbers.  So, numbers mean a lot.

Moon says the American Legion also has programs that support veterans' families including scholarships for their children, and support for active-duty veterans and their families.

Moon says another topic of discussion is their Fund 85.

It's to help veterans who need assistance and have exhausted their other forms of compensation for problems whether it's their car broke down, or they are running short of money to pay their rent or house payment.  We have a fund that was set up specifically for Minnesota veterans.

Moon says Minnesota veterans can get up to $5,000 in a one-time payment to help offset their emergency needs.

Moon says they'll get an update on the national program Be The One.

Be the one to check on your buddies, and check on your neighbors, whether they are veterans or not.  If you haven't seen them in a while, or if you have concerns that there's some health issues or depression, be the one to reach out to those people and see how they are doing.

Moon says Be The One has been around for three years now and it is based around reducing veteran suicides.

Moon says his Commander's Project focuses on the Veterans Defense Project. In 2021 the Restorative Justice Act was passed that set up veterans courts in Minnesota.

Unfortunately, we have 87 counties in Minnesota and only 26 of those counties have veterans courts.  I'm hoping to raise $60,000 to help educate and establish more veterans courts in those rural counties.

Moon says veterans courts deal with low-level veteran offenders who get sentenced to probation for one year, instead of going to jail, and then give them the help they need to get their life back on track.

Other topics during the conference include voter outreach, cannabis, and the 2025 legislative agenda.

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He says between 450 and 500 people are expected to attend this year's conference.

This is the third year of a five-year contract to hold the American Legion Fall Conference in St. Cloud.

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