Greetings from the Peach State and Post 35 in Columbus, Ga.

Now that our new officers have had a chance to get their feet on the ground and have a good feel for their jobs, Post 35 is on the move. We have started by taking a page out of Post 365 in Vista, Calif.'s playbook in making our post more family-friendly. We are currently contacting different retailers to see if we can get a reduced or, better yet, donated playground equipment. We even have a local Scout troop willing to come out and help us get it all together as a community service project.

Due to the hot, humid summers here in the South we are also planning indoor activities such as board games for all ages, from Candy Land to Risk and backgammon. Our karaoke DJ Sallie Nelson (a member of the Auxiliary) has already made list of age-appropriate songs for the different age groups. We are working on ideas for different themes for when Family Days and Nights kick off.

Vice Commander John Hedgecock has restarted our program of visiting the veterans in the hospital/nursing home at the VA hospital in Tuskegee, Ala., once a month and bringing comfort items to the vets there along with baked goodies from Monika Washington of our Auxiliary. He also found that the local nursing home here, Magnolia Manor, has several veterans, so we have included than in the monthly visit program.

One last item. On 20 September, Post 135 of Phenix City, Ala., hosted a POW/MIA remembrance. Since they join Post 35 in our remembrance, we supported them. Councilman Ret. Col. John House from Columbus, Ga. (Post 333) along with Finance Officer/Jr. Vice Commander Clyde Loupas, Sergeant at Arms Ret. LTC. Sam Nelson, Legionnaire Janet Aprill and Auxiliary member Sallie Nelson represented Post 35. We would be remiss if we did not mention the outstanding ceremony the cadets of Russell County (Ala.) JROTC put on in honor of the POW/MIAs, They did them and us proud, Well Done Cadets.