The
American Legion Riders
To: Participate in parades and other ceremonies
that are in keeping with the Aims and Purposes of the American Legion. To promote motorcycle safety programs and to
provide a social atmosphere for American Legion members who share the same
interest. To use our Association to
promote and support programs of the American Legion.
The Beginning of the American Legion
Riders
In the fall of 1993 Chuck (Tramp) Dare shared
a dream with then Post Commander (Polka) Bill Kaledas at the American Legion
Post 396 in Garden City, Michigan. The
idea came about to start a motorcycle association that would operate within the
American Legion. The idea was to provide
an atmosphere whereas Post, Auxiliary and S.A.L. members, who shared an
enthusiasm for motorcycles, could come together. It was meant to be a family oriented group.
Not knowing how to start this group up,
and stay within the scope of the American Legion, a letter was written to then
Department Adjutant Hubert Hess. In his
We started with just a small group. Within a few months we grew to nineteen
members. We worked on developing a set
of by-laws to help us to provide structure to our group. We designed an emblem for the American Legion
Riders. This emblem, contained within
its design, the emblem of the American Legion.
Working closely with our Department Adjutant we were able to gain
approval, by the national headquarters of the American Legion, to have our
emblem manufactured for our group. This
emblem is worn today by Legion Rider groups throughout the country.
Another important decision we made, with
concurrence of our Department Adjutant, was to not require members that wanted
to become legion Riders to transfer to our Post. Our Post sponsored the American Legion Rider
group, but not all of our members belong to our Post. We felt that if we required members to transfer
to our Post that this would cause a lot of hard feelings in other Post near our
own community. What we soon found out
was that our membership grew, not from current legion members, but many joined
the American Legion to become members of the American Legion Riders. A very conservative estimate would say that
over half of our current membership joined the American Legion to enable them
to join the Riders.
Right after starting we proceeded to get
down to "business". Our
objective was to support the aims and purposes of the American Legion, through
service to our Community, State and Nation.
We did such things as putting on a "Bingo" at the VA Hospital,
putting on fundraisers for local charities, participating in motorcycle
"runs" to raise money for charity and participation in ceremonies and
parades. We did have some Post members
who thought, in the beginning, that we would be just a bunch of
"Bikers". After seeing the
kinds of things we did, we gained a lot of respect in both the American Legion
community as well as our own community.
In 1996 we had an article published about
the American Legion Riders in the American Legion National publication of the
"Dispatch". An article in the
American Legion Magazine soon followed up this article. In about 1996 "Tramp" moved to
Where we are today
As the membership of the American Legion
Riders is a very diverse group, so are the programs that they are involved
in. By allowing each American Legion
Rider Chapter to give their members the ability to manage their program at the
Post level, the program has been allowed to grow. Today there exist Legion
Rider programs in several states, and many more starting. The types of things that these groups are
doing are far too many to mention in this article, but here are a few examples:
(1) Participation in the annual
POW/MIA Rally held each Memorial weekend in
(2) Sponsoring or participating
in local Charity events.
(3) Raising money for such
organizations as local VA Hospitals,
Battered Women and Children's Center,
Varied Children and Youth programs,
a School for Blind Children, Veterans Relief, Needy families and many,
many others.
(4) Sponsoring or participating in motorcycle
"Runs" to benefit numerous charities, including charities for
underprivileged children and medical research, just to name a few.
(5) Participation in memorial
ceremonies and community parades.
(6) One group is spearheading an
effort to erect a "
The
recognition by local communities has marked the program as a true success. The American Legion Riders Group in
Who benefits from forming an American
Legion Riders Group?
We all do!!!! Many of the groups, in existence today, have
all had stories where some of their Post members were a little reluctant to let
a group of "Bikers" in to their Post.
After seeing what these groups were doing for the American Legion their
opinion soon changed. Not only did the
Post welcome them, but in most cases did what they could to help support their
efforts, by participating in some of the groups fundraising events. There are also many stories where the
American Legion Riders group worked in conjunction with the Post to sponsor a
program. The Post was glad to have their
help and the Riders were honored to be asked.
We were able to break down some barriers. Just because one person wears a leather
motorcycle jacket and another wears a golf shirt and slacks, we now know that
we can work together to promote the aims and purposes of the American
Legion. We have done it, and everyone
involved was able to see the benefit.
The American Legion Riders was never intended to be a "Motorcycle
Club". As stated, it is to be able
to work with the Local Post to assist in promoting the American Legion.
Membership, Membership, Membership!! Literally every Post program of the American
Legion Riders has brought in members that may not have joined the American
Legion were it not for the Riders program.
The Riders program has been able to spark a new interest to join the
American Legion. Some of these members,
who joined for the Legion Rider program, have gone on to serve as Officers
within their Post. Conversely, we have
also had Post members go out and purchase motorcycles just to join the Riders. There was one story from a Post that recently
started an American Legion Riders group.
It advertised for the first meeting of the group. They originally intended for only about six
or seven members to show up to the first meeting. When the meeting started they had seventeen
people wanting to join, nine of these people were joining the American Legion
that night so that they could become members of the Legion Riders. Have you had a program that has brought in
that many new members in one night lately?
Pure enjoyment!! The program was designed to have people work
together and enjoy themselves. It may be
a group of Riders working on a fundraiser for a local charity, it may be just a
warm summer evening ride together or maybe just sitting at the Post sharing
stories. It's all about members working
together and playing together - it is there for them to enjoy.
What are the requirements to become an
American Legion Rider?
(1) Be a current member of the
American Legion, American Legion Auxiliary or Sons of the American Legion.
(2) Own a motorcycle (at least 350cc) or be the spouse of an owner who is an American Legion Rider member.
What do I have to do to get an American
Legion Riders Group started in my Post?
(1) Get the interest of a few
members of your Post. It only takes a
few to get the ball rolling.
(2) Obtain approval of your post
membership to sponsor your group.
(3) Obtain further information
by contacting; Bill Kaledas
30215 Rush
Garden City, MI. 48135
(734) 421-7146
e-mail: bkaledas@hotmail.com
or
Chuck (Tramp)
Dare
106 Bauman
e-mail: tramp962@centraltx.net
(4) We can provide an updated
list to let you know if an American Legion Riders Chapter already exist in your
State, along with contact names.
(5) Although this program is run
from the Post level, it is still a good idea to send "Courtesy
Letters" to your District and Department officers to keep them aware of
your progress. Where two or more chapters exist in a single state, you may want
to seek the advice of your Department Adjutant to bring the program in to a
Department program that will have a state (Department) board of officers.