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Welcome to Hugh’s News. Pleasecheck inside for a letter from ourCommander, Family updates,calendars, and more. If you would liketo contribute to the newsletter, pleasesend your article, pictures, or flyers tothe Historian, Drew Davis, by the 25thof the month--tampapost138@gmail.com. For God and Country,Post 138HUGH’S NEWSHUGH GILBERT STRICKLANDPOST 1385535 W PRESCOTT STPORT TAMPA CITYJULY 2025Post 138OfficersCommander: 1st Vice: 2nd Vice: 3rd Vice: Finance: Chaplain: Sgt-at-Arms: Historian: EBoard: Essence Aikens, Jennifer Fuchs,Charles Holsopple, StuartPapaw, Chris Ragusa, JoeWelchVeterans Service Officer:OpenAdjutant:Mike “Tank” ShermanEBoard: 3rd Monday @ 6:30General Mtg:3rd Wednesday @ 6:30MeetingsKim Corbin Rick Warner, Sr. Rick Warner, Jr. Open Cary Pilet Vincent Torres Charles Stanford Drew Davis “One Dream, One Team” Message

COMMANDER’S CORNERPAGE 2Dear Legion Family,Welcome to the July edition of Hugh’s News. I appreciate the opportunity to serve as your Commander and lookforward to working with you throughout the year as part of the Post 138 family.Starting July 1st, we’ll resume accepting drink chips at the bar. Members will have until December 31, 2025 touse them. Please note: chips will no longer be sold, only accepted during this transition period and after that,they’re history.Thanks to the efforts of the Auxiliary, the Post has new furniture inside and out. Their hard work through raffles,block parties, and generous support helped provide a much-needed sense of normalcy after the hurricanes lastfall. We’re grateful for their contribution.We’re planning to offer live entertainment on Saturday evenings. If you know of a local band or performer,please pass along their information to our 2nd Vice, the Manager, or myself.Most of the hurricane-related repairs have been completed. A special thank-you to Larry Kordosky for the timeand dedication he gave to overseeing the rebuild. We also appreciate the many volunteers who gave their timeto help over the past nine months. You’ve made a difference, and we’ll soon be putting the final touches on thefront room and it should be ready to use soon.Here are a few upcoming events to keep in mind:Friday, July 4th, beginning at 6 PM: We’ll host our annual Independence Day celebration, with karaoke,music, fireworks, and the Hot Mess food truck. Bring a chair or blanket and enjoy the evening. We need helpchecking IDs that evening–signup on the bulletin board.Saturday, July 19th, from 1–4 PM: Stop by the Post to renew your membership during our Early MembershipDrive and receive a free fish fry dinner.A reminder: the Post is a members-only club. Please have both your membership card and photo ID readywhen approaching the bar. Guests must be signed in. If asked by a Post Officer to show your card, weappreciate your cooperation—they are expected to do the same. You may also renew your membership at thePost or online at mylegion.org.Our next General Membership Meeting will take place on Wednesday, July 16 at 6:30 PM. All members arewelcome to attend and stay informed about what’s happening at the Post.Thank you for your continued support.For God and Country,Kim Corbin, CommanderHugh Gilbert Strickland American Legion Post 138JULY 20252025 ConventionAwardsTop Scouting ProgramSpecial Olympics Silver Award

LEGION 138 FAMILYPAGE 3Director: Mike ShermanAsst. Director: Rick Warner, Sr.Adjutant: Andrea ShermanFinance: Beverly WootenRoad Capt/Safety: Jose MolinaSgt-at-Arms: Eric RikansrudAsst. Sgt-at-Arms: Steve Lentz Chaplain: Lisa AnseeuwAdvisory Board:Maxine Warner, Wayne Wooten,Elizabeth Hudson, BobPopelstein, Larry KyMeeting Times:General Mtg 3rd Sat @ 9:30amCommander: Steve Lentz1st Vice: Wayne Wooten3rd Vice/Adjutant: Vic KellyFinance Ofc: Larry Arnold Sgt-at-Arms: Erik Rikansrud Historian: James ParkerChaplain: Kurt "Kowboy" OshsMeeting Times:General Mtg 3rd Tue @ 6:30President: Tammy ZellV. President: Andrea ShermanTreasurer: Dawn DavisSgt-at-Arms: Denise ReillyAsst. Sgt-at Arms: Paige ShermanChaplain: Carmen OroscoHistorian: Darla FlynnSecretary: Maxine WarnerExecutive Committee: Georjeana Halstead, MelissaMousseau, Dawn SteeleMeeting Times:EComm 4th Monday @ 5:30pmGen. Mtg 4th Monday @ 6:30pmJULY 2025

FROM YOUR CHAPLAINPAGE 4JULY 2025

Post 138 Chaplain’s Prayer for July 2025Heavenly Father,In this season of reflection and renewal, we liftup our great nation to You.You have seen us through battles, throughhardships, and through times of confusion.Now, Lord, help us see each other not asenemies, but as neighbors.Bring peace to our streets, wisdom to ourleaders, and courage to our citizens.Bless our newly installed officers—may theylead with integrity, compassion, and strength.Strengthen our veterans who continue to serve—now as mentors, protectors, and examples ofwhat sacrifice looks like.And may this Post, our humble gathering place,always be a light in dark times—a home forhealing, remembrance, and purpose.As it says in 2 Timothy 1:7 —“For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but ofpower and of love and of a sound mind.”Let us carry that spirit forward this month—andevery month—as Legionnaires, as veterans, andas proud Americans.In your holy name we pray,Amen.-For God and Country,Chaplain Vincent TorresFROM YOUR CHAPLAINPAGE 5JULY 2025TAPSTODD BALDWINJIMMY BARNETTCONNIE MORSEJACK MALONEJACK HUDSONLYNN BROWN AUXPOPS BEGYDAVID NAIL SONSLAIRD DUNCANMAC GIBBONSSICK CALL

FROM AUXILIARYPAGE 6JULY 2025 I am so excited and looking forward to serving as your Unit President for this next year!And July is the perfect month to talk about all the “fireworks” that are in store for us in thisnew year!! But before I tell you about that, let me tell you all a little bit about myself sincewe’ve added so many new members in recent years who may not know me yet. I havebeen a member of the American Legion Auxiliary and Unit 138 since 2017. When electionsrolled around towards the end of that first year, I was elected as Unit Treasurer and alsotook on my first chairmanship with our Unit Americanism program. I remained in both ofthose roles for three years before I was then elected to the position of Vice President. Icontinued to work with the Americanism Chairmanship, along with being the Historian fortwo years and Constitution & Bylaws Chairman this past year. I’ve also assisted with manyyear-end reports whenever the need arose. I remained Vice President for three years, untilI stepped back to Executive Committee member last year to allow for some extra time totake care of some personal home issues. Over the years I have also held DistrictChairmanships with Americanism, Constitution & Bylaws and as the Historian. In 2023 Iwas selected to be the Department of Florida Americanism Chairman and was alsoelected to be a Department Delegate to the National Convention which was held inCharlotte, North Carolina. For the recently completed 2024-2025 term, I held theDepartment Chairmanship for National Security and was again elected as a NationalConvention Delegate, this time hitting the road to New Orleans. My work with theDepartment will be continuing this year as the Community Service chairman, and willagain be going to National Convention, which is in our very own Tampa this August! I havealso been asked to be the District 15 Membership Chairman, which leads to some excitinginformation about the year ahead! As many of you may know, each year our Department President and MembershipChairman have their themes for the coming year. For 2025-2026, our DepartmentPresident, Robin Burk, has the theme of “A Passion for Our Veterans”, and from theDepartment Membership Chairman, who is our very own Dawn Davis, and she asks us to“Share Our Story” for membership. To represent all of this, the President’s color is red, andDistrict 15 will be sharing our voices with the “bullhorn” and the song “Firework” by KatyPerry. If you are planning to be involved in any District or Department events this year,check out the various dollar stores right now to get headbands or other items that havethat patriotic/firework look to it! We will be creating ‘firework’ decorations out of papertowel cores in preparation for the membership parade at Fall Conference, so if you’d liketo help in making our part in the parade “explode”, please come to our 15th District Schoolof Instruction to craft the fireworks and learn about all of the programs for this year. It isgoing to be held on Saturday, August 2 starting at 9:30am right here at our own Post 138!Sign in begins at 9:00am.

PAGE 7JULY 2025TAPSCheck out theAuxiliary’s otherSocial Media Pages& Join!TIKTOKINSTAGRAMOne of the other upcoming events that I want to highlight in July is our Early BirdMembership Drive on Saturday, July 19 starting at 1pm. We hope you will come out andrenew your membership for 2026 (your 2025 membership card is still valid until January 1,2026). With your renewal on this date, you will receive a delicious fried fish meal, and inOctober, a FREE steak dinner! If you can’t make it out on the 19th, you can still do an earlybird renewal between that date and September 30 to receive the steak dinner. Remember,we are a membership organization, so without you, this great organization ceases to exist! Over the past four years we have had a terrific precedent of success establishedthrough Dawn’s wonderful leadership that I plan to work hard on continuing. You will likelysee some differences based on my style of leadership and expectations, but in the end,many things will seem the same, as we are still working the same mission, which is tosupport our Veterans, Active Duty, First Responders, Children & Youth, and our Community. Ilook forward to working with and supporting our entire Legion family in the weeks andmonths ahead in completing the resilient comeback of our Post home, as well asestablishing new means of outreach and support for our members. If you have anyspecific ideas, thoughts, or concerns about our Auxiliary, please don’t hesitate to talk to meat any time. With your continued support, we will continue to be the GREAT 138!I look forward to seeing you at the Post soon!For God and Country,Tammy Zell,President, Unit 138AUXILIARY CONT....Multiple Membership AwardsBest PR Media Placement Group 6Best PR Social Media Group 6Juniors-Journeyman AwardJunior Member of the YearLeadership AwardBest National Security Program of the YearUnit Written HistoryVoorhees Awards--Best Pictorial BookAmericanism Essay Contest 2 winnersUnit of the Year2025 Convention

ADDITIONAL INFORMATIONPAGE 8JULY 2025DepartmentConvention AwardsCongratulations to all entitieswho took home accolades atDepartment Convention.Auxiliary and Legion hastheirs listed next to theirletters.Our Riders took home the Top10 Award for Medium SizeGroup.The Sons took home 100% formembership and had 105%for membership.Great job, Legion Family!.Did you know....If you are unableto make our PostBlood Drive andgive bloodsomewhere else,give them ourPost number. Wewill still receivecredit for thedonation.National ConventionNewsNational Convention will beAugust 23 - 29 . Our Post willbe a huge attraction for manyLegion members from aroundthe country, and we will also behost to COTA party on August23rd.rd thDuring this time, we will have alot of activities andentertainment planned.WE NEED VOLUNTEERS!If you are available to helpduring that time: bar back, IDcheck, sell raffles, bartend, etc..,watch for the SIGNUP sheets.Thank you!!POST 138 LICENSE PLATES$10UPDATED LOUNGE RULES WILL BE POSTED ON THEBULLETIN BOARD OF THE POST AS OF JULY 1, 2025.

TAPSHi all, this is your Dockmaster! Just a little educational note--to get a sticker for your trailer for the boat ramp, all youneed is to be a current member of Post 138. You need to bring your registration to your trailer--not your boat, but your trailer,and it is in your name. It’s $15 a year and is good through December 31. The sticker needs to be put on the winch upright on the port side of the trailer. You will be entered into the book--it’s behind the bar. The bartender can help you. If you see me there, you can ask me, and I will sign you up.Also, trailers are to be parked on the grass at the southeast side of the roadcoming in facing towards the ramp if it’s for you, park along the road on the grass.If you have a kayak, you also have to register the kayak itself and put the sticker onthe kayak, If you bring kayaks in on a trailer and are leaving the trailer at the rampparking, it has to have a sticker also, and it needs to be in your name to matchyour membership. The ramp for the kayaks is a sand ramp, to the north--kayaklaunching only, not the boat ramp.Also, fishing on the dock is allowed by members and their guests. They must havea current membership card with them at all times. Please no bicycles on the dock park them elsewhere.Happy boating and fishing!Your Dockmaster,Eric Rikansrud If you need to get a hold of me at anytime my phone number is 727-422-5633FROM THE DOCKMASTERPAGE 9JULY 2025

TAPSUPCOMING EVENTSPAGE 10JULY 2025scan with your phone’s camera to take you to the Facebook groups.Legion Sons RidersAuxiliaryCheck out each entity’s Facebook page & join tostay up to date on our events!Website (under construction): http://www.tampapost138.com

Top Handle DrinkwareJuly 12th

PICTURES FROM MAY & JUNEPAGE 17JULY 2025TAG US IN YOURPICTURES ONFACEBOOK, SO WECAN ADD THEM TOTHE NEWSLETTER!

BIKESON THEBAY

FAMILY INSTALLATION 2025LEGIONAUXILIARYSONSRIDERS

“One Dream,One Team”THE GREAT 138

FAMILY OFFICERSL-R Tammy Zell, Aux. Pres, Steve Lentz, SAL Cmdr, Mike “TankSherman” Riders Director, Kim Corbin, Legion Cmdr

INSTALLATION 2025AUXILIARYRIDERSLEGION

THANK YOU VOLUNTEERSFOR HELPING WITH THENEW FURNITURE!WE ARE THE GREAT 138!