Attended the Alabama Division Executive Committee meeting on Saturday February
28th at Dalraida Methodist Church in Montgomery. After the Invocation by Chaplain Baker and
the pledges to the Alabama State and Confederate Battle flags, Chief of Staff
Russ Hare led everyone in Dixie playing his acoustic guitar. Russ then made a brief presentation on Vision
2016, the SCVs initiative to grow membership and become recognized as the
preeminent authority on Southern heritage and American liberty issues. The National SCV GEC identified twelve areas
of the organization which need attention in order to reach the Vision 2016
goals and five of these were highlighted as priorities, Education, Training,
Marketing, Public Relations and Growth.
The Alabama Division has
chosen to concentrate on Education and Marketing so a brainstorming session was
conducted at the EC meeting where the attendees were separated into two groups
to elicit ideas to advance these two areas.
For Marketing the top ideas were 1) to erect more flagpoles and signs,
2) sponsor golf or fishing tournaments, and 3) produce professional public
service announcements for the Alabama Sons of Confederate Veterans. 1st Lt Jimmy Hill subsequently provided
details on the Flags 4 Alabama program where the Division will purchase a 30
foot flagpole and the first flag for qualified projects/sites. The Division website will be updated with
further information for this program including project checklists. The Dragoons
have identified the erection of a flag in Millbrook as one camp project to complete
this year and this is in process with 1st Lt Booth checking on legal aspects
including a deed for the required plot and Danny Smyth has volunteered to lead
the effort for the installation of the flagpole.
The Education brainstorming
group prioritized their top three ideas as 1) the development of educational
material specifically for young people, 2) conduct Division workshops to
explain the Cause and, 3) develop a list of talking points for Division camps
and members to explain and justify the SCV and the Cause. In the past, Tyrone Crowley and Commander
Waldo’s wife Kerri have made presentations at Victory Baptist School and
additional presentations are being scheduled for this spring to include
providing Confederate coloring books to the students; these books are available
from the Division and the Dragoons should invest in a supply of these for stores. An Education Officer’s position would be beneficial to advance these educational goals, responsible for delivering the Division
educational posters and flyers for the area Living History events to local
schools and helping to possibly coordinate more class presentations.
Lt. Commander in Chief Tom
Strain then presented a lineup of initiatives to help address membership
recruitment and retention, another of the Vision 2016 goals, to grow the
organization. These included automatic
draft of membership dues, an optional 3-year renewal term, creation of a Social
Media Specialist position at the National level, streaming DEC meetings to the
Divisions and camps, developing mobile device apps, producing widgets or
goodies which can be distributed to camps to enhance recruiting events as
promotional giveaways, branding the SCV and using it for product labeling
including for instance bottled water, expanding the widespread use of the
#ALSCV and #SCV Twitter hashtags for broadcasting communications, and creating
an SCV television station utilizing a web based provider like Vimeo. The Dragoons are well positioned utilizing
social media including our blog website, Twitter and Facebook accounts but
these fresh ideas are good concepts for helping recruitment efforts
and growing SCV membership.
All these initiatives are
fantastic for meeting the goals of Vision 2016 and advancing the Cause but,
they need ownership, follow-thru. At the
bottom of the EC Meeting agenda, a statement read, “Being right with no action
is like a garden only filled with weeds.”
I want to thank everyone who has stepped up to fill positions of
leadership and project ownership in the camp over the past year and those who
have expressed interest in filling roles in the upcoming elections and other
positions of need. I am honored to serve
with you all and to be associated with such an outstanding group of men as the
Prattville Dragoons as together we advance the Cause.
Stuart Waldo
SCV Camp 1524 Commander
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