The American Legion it's the largest wartime veterans service organization with nearly 2 million members throughout America.

Its greatest contribution are getting the original GI Bill through Congress and the creation of the Department of Veterans Affairs locally.

Post 291.

In Newport Beach, I spent 100 years helping active military personnel, veterans, and their families.

Tonight we meet two leaders continuing this tradition.

I'm so happy you're joining us.

And then you from Los Angeles.

This is Clark's PBS.

Welcome to everybody with Angela Williamson and Innovation, Arts, education and public affairs program.

Everybody, with Angela Williamson is made possible by viewers like you.

Thank you.

And now your host, doctor Angela Williamson.

plateau and Service Officer Corey Vigil are our guest.

Thank you so much for being here.

Well, thank you for having us.

It is my pleasure.

And definitely it's an honor as well.

Before we talk about this wonderful anniversary that's happening right now, I want the audience to get to know a little bit about both of you.

So we'll start here first, commander.

Well, I guess my journey started in college.

I got an ROTC scholarship, and went into the service, commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Army, and spent 30 years in the Army.

So from 1980 to 2010.

So once I got out, retired from the military.

Later on, I heard about the American Legion and my wife, who's a veteran, she joined first.

she's a social one.

Okay.

And then, so we were doing it.

I was asked to join the post and run for commander, and which I did, and I was successful.

I've been the commander for the past almost three years now.

Before you joined the American Legion, did you have a different perception of what you thought it was and what it is?

When today.

Well, very much so.

You know, I've been to I went to some of the American Legion, also veteran of foreign wars, and they were social gathering places.

they had some had you could eat and they always had a bar and they were they were nice gathering places because it allows the veterans to go somewhere where they feel comfortable and can talk about their experiences.

and not be judged.

So that's, that's it was very nice, but that was not for us at that time.

And well, when you're raising kids and all of that, so then you get older and the kids are out of the house and then you have more time.

And then it looks you have more time to volunteer.

And you find out that there's more to the American Legion than.

Well, yes, yes, much more.

Before we talk about much more, let's get to know our next guest.

Thank you so much for being here.

Thank you for having me.

So tell our audience a little bit about you and how you discovered the American Legion.

We found out it was through a wife here.

How did you find out about it?

I found out about it.

I served in the United States Navy for eight years.

And after I discharged, I wanted to find a place where I can meet other veterans.

I had a difficult transition, and I just wanted somewhere that I can go and be a part of a team again.

And, I got referred by a son of the American Legion, somebody that I worked with, and they told me, check out the American Legion over in Newport.

It's a really big legion.

I think you can make some friends there.

And they really take care of their veterans there.

And I walked to the door, and I just started volunteering, and eventually I became the service officer.

And you're one big family because you also talked about it was hard to transition out, and it was because you found the American Legion that you started to volunteer and feel whole again.

Right.

And I understand.

Definitely.

My second enlistment, I discharge from Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, right?

Yes.

And when I left, I wanted to stay in California, but I had no family in California, so I thought it was a great opportunity for me to, like, try to connect and be around other veterans.

And when I went to the American Legion, I was able to connect with a couple Marines that I served with, a couple Navy personnel I served with, and I really had a a warm welcome.

And that's kind of where that transition started.

So you need a really good support system if you want to have a decent transition.

And the American Legion was just it was a perfect fit for me.

once the public starts to understand what we're doing, it then we're about veterans.

And I have to say, Corey is he's the tip of the spear as the service officer, he's the one who interfaces with the veterans in need, all the time.

I mean, besides his job, he's a busy man taking care of people who not only need assistance, you know, funding to help them with rent and all kinds of things.

but he gets calls for homeless veterans and puts them in hotels and I don't want to steal his thunder.

I'll let him talk about it.

But he's a very, very busy person.

And you know what?

This is a great transition because now we can talk about when everybody's probably wondering what is on the table, this service award.

Oh, yes.

And tell us a little bit about what you do.

Thanks for that transition a little bit about what you do to help veterans and why it's so important, especially when you get that phone call.

There's a veteran in trouble.

Maybe they're homeless also too.

We need to talk about veteran suicide.

Right?

Correct.

Correct.

My transition I again, I didn't go through an easy transition.

And I think that's probably why I've been very effective at my job.

So I you know, I've been homeless for 30 days and I get it.

And there's veterans that have been homeless longer, periods of time.

And I think that's what made me get real good at utilizing these services.

So we get a lot of veterans, that I'll call whether it's, calling the American Legion or they get referred by partner agencies, other veteran organizations.

Sometimes they even come from congressional reps or Board of Supervisors within the county, and they'll ask for veterans to get support.

Maybe they're having a difficult time utilizing the VA. sometimes, you know, the VA does, very good services.

So it just depends.

veterans have preference on, you know, part of their transition on how they're going to receive help.

It's my job to know, like where can I send them?

What's going to be effective with them?

Who's going to work with them.

Because every veteran is going to be different.

They're not going to be the same problems I'm going to approach a female veteran differently than I would a male veteran.

What if I had a veteran that was an officer, an officer?

It's going to be a lot different than talking to somebody that's enlisted.

Tell me the difference.

The difference is with officers, the the, the frame of mind when they go through their training, they're responsible for a lot of people.

And there is a different approach.

Of course, being an officer, you have to have a bachelor's degree.

There's some education.

lifestyle could be completely different.

Even though we're all military, I would have a different conversation with the officer than I would with somebody that's enlisted.

Because we have leadership among enlisted.

The approach could be different.

If I have an officer that's seeking help and they could be going through a difficult transition, I want to be very tactful in the way I'm communicating with them.

especially because, you know, a lot of vets in general don't like to ask for help.

So can you imagine an officer who's been in charge of many large amounts of, active duty?

It's going to be very difficult to try to make that connection.

So I have to take a different approach with everybody.

And as far as giving them services.

Well, within the American Legion, within the post, we also have sons of the American Legion who are sons of, you know, grandparents and things who served.

My father served in World War Two.

So I'm I'm a son of the American Legion, and they call me a Dooly because I'm both a legionnaire and a son.

Look at you.

Oh, yes.

And then we also have our auxiliary, which are four, daughters and spouses.

So we have those families, and we're the only post in the country has a yacht club.

We're on Newport Harbor, and, they, they're getting very involved with helping out veterans and other people in need to by putting them on the water and for therapy.

And that's, that's a very nice.

And they support our post also a great you know, taking out the Legionnaires and their families for sunset cruises and things like that.

But in total, combined with all of that, I think our posted over half $1 million in, donations to individual veterans, our two veteran organizations.

Just post to 91 to.

71 house.

To 91.

And how did you do that?

And also to you have to raise this money as well too.

So how does that happen?

Well, we have membership dues and so do the sons and the auxiliary.

And they also raise money as sons have a golf tournament every year, which is a lot of fun.

And through that they raise funds.

The auxiliary has a few events, dinner dances and things like that where they raise their money.

So each organization raises money and the post.

We do have a bar and a restaurant.

We run seven days a week, so we're open.

We have staff to keep it open full time.

And so the profits we make from that we use to take care of the veterans also.

Wow.

So everything that's coming in, it's actually going out to oh yeah.

Oh that's so phenomenal.

But you also talked about two.

And I don't know which one of you can talk about this.

You talked about the yacht club and you talked about the water therapy.

And so let's talk about how important that type of therapy is, especially with being in Orange County.

Well, one of their big events is to take the visually impaired out and they take 100 people, usually.

And that requires 100 volunteers, because each person who's visually impaired needs assistance to get down the dock and get on the boat, and they take them out and they actually go out in the blue water sailboat and, they all enjoy that.

And then we, we provide them a lunch when they get back.

Now, the sons, they spent money to buy paddleboards where you come out wheelchairs.

So we have people who are paralyzed and in wheelchairs actually able to go out in the harbor and paddle.

So and that just gives them a level of freedom that they didn't expect they would have or don't have.

So what I'm hearing is that depending on where your post is, you can change the type of therapy, the type of services that you're offering to your membership, correct?

Oh well, yeah, I don't want to steal Cory's thunder, but we also work with, equestrian.

There's horse therapy, that they do.

Oh, there's probably others.

Cory, Cory.

Talk.

We have, we have quite a few.

Can you imagine, somebody on a wheelchair, on the paddleboard and being able to have the ability to be in the Newport Ocean and getting that freedom, especially if there's, a loss of limbs during service.

Can you imagine the freedom, of making that veteran feel probably human again, in their words, we have we have the opportunity to do that.

And those are programs that we have.

So so keep in mind, we vet out a lot of our veterans that come in.

We take a look at their background and we see what's important to them.

He mentioned the equestrian.

So if we have veterans maybe that have grew up in other states, they've been around horses or somebody that's new to wanting to be around horses.

We vet them out.

We try to make a really good fit for them.

We have we have so many.

We have so many programs.

I think another thing I wanted to mention that we just talked about too is during Covid, our post raised over 240,000 during Covid, and that was instrumental because we had a lot of veterans struggling at that time, especially with a lot of the mental health programs that were getting decreased.

Our count, that was a vital time.

I think that was a pin point for our Legion at that time, because that was a very difficult time for a lot of people.

And I think we really, got put on the map, for our Legion, during that time.

And it was instrumental.

thank you so much.

Before we go to our break, and we want to talk about what you are doing to move into 100 years into the next 100 years.

We'll talk about that.

But before we do that, why is it important for each of you to be part of this legacy?

Well, when I became commander, I ran on improving the membership experience because all the things that we've been talking about, we also try to do things for the members.

we have we try to keep our prices down because we have members who are on fixed incomes, who are living on their retirement or social security.

So we allow them to come down to the post.

And, we had to raise our prices recently a little bit, but you could get a prime rib dinner and a glass of wine for under $30.

And listen to a live jazz band on the water.

Wow.

Yeah.

So those are the things we try to do is, you know, reward the veterans and the auxiliary, the sons, the and the yacht club to have the ability to go places.

Because you go on Newport Beach, you go to restaurants, it'd be $200 and you can have that or less at our post.

So.

Well, and every money that's coming in is going back out.

Yes.

Yes okay.

Your turn.

I'm biased I'm very biased I'm biased.

I care about helping veterans and their families.

That is my number one priority there.

That's my vision.

I do this every day.

I a lot of people don't know I work two full time jobs in the community already.

So I work for an organization called Strong Family, Strong Children.

So I'm working with military connected families already.

And then I work with the Mental Health Association in Santa Ana.

So we're working with, chronically homeless veterans and, the severe mental health.

And then this is my full time volunteer position.

So I'm already in the community doing this work, which has made it very beneficial for me and working with vets.

But my main priority, I live this seven days a week because I am a veteran, so I understand a lot of the issues that have happened, and my transition translates to the work that I'm doing in the community.

That's what's really important to me.

So we got both sides covered here at our Legion, which I think makes us a great team.

You are a great team, and when we come back, we'll talk more about what we're doing to celebrate 100 years and moving forward, but also to this explains why you have this award here.

Phenomenal.

Hold on one second.

Okay.

We'll be right back.

Come back to hear more about post 291 100 years of service.

Phenomenal Und um die.

People couldn't see my potential.

So I had to show them.

I've run this place for 20 years, but I still need to prove that I'm more than what you see on paper.

Today, I'm the CEO of my own company.

The way my mind works, I have a very mechanical brain.

Why are we not rethinking this?

I am more.

I'm more than who I am on paper.

Put a frog in a pot of boiling water and it'll jump right out.

But put a frog in a pot of cool water again and slowly heat it up.

And that from World War II veterans, we can tell ourselves a lie that it's easier to stay in that boiling water to disconnect.

But you've never been interested in.

Easy.

You are not a frog.

Find resources.

Advocate.

Reach.

Welcome back.

Okay, before we move on, I know our audience is dying to know more about this award here.

So please tell us a little bit about this volunteer award and how you received that.

So this is an award that I, received, from the presidents, a presidential lifetime award.

So it's focused on the minimum criteria that you have to have 5000 hours of volunteer work.

I have more than the 5000.

Definitely.

it's a super, it's an amazing honor.

I, continue to volunteer and remember that's what the American Legion is about, too.

We have volunteers that make this machine run, and that's one of the things that I continue to do.

I've been doing this for five years.

I've been volunteering at this position.

So I've been under a couple commanders, and, I have continue to keep doing this job.

And now I have the luxury of working for this commander right now.

And that's what I got this award for.

Well, congratulations and well deserved, both of you.

You are a powerful team.

In fact, going into this 100 years, you actually have had a wonderful celebration.

So tell us a little bit about that celebration.

Four days.

Four days.

The American Legion was founded in 1919, and our post got there.

that became a post in 1924.

So that's how we're doing our hundredth anniversary.

And, we're in, our second location.

So we're we had a little building that we call the hut.

Now it's over in the corner of the parking lot.

That was the original building.

Now we have a grand hall, and we're right on the water and all that.

So that's working out great.

So our centennial, we wanted to make it a big deal.

Of course, it's because the 100th anniversary and thought, okay, when are we going to do it?

How are we going to do it?

And we came up with 4th of July.

Every 4th of July, the post does a pancake breakfast, and we have a band in the parking lot and all of that.

So we do that.

We've done that every year.

Now we're going to expand that.

Are we expanded that to, still do the pancake breakfast and we still have the band, but we have three bands now.

So we're going to have bands throughout the day.

We're opening up to the public, and we're also going to have, we have lunch and dinner.

So and we have our raffle that, went really well.

this year we gave away the year 1002 thousand $505,000 for the prizes.

So.

Oh, people like buying those tickets.

So.

And, our yacht club does.

They did their boat parade, which was very successful.

And, the, grand marshal was the mayor of our city, Will O'Neil, and, brought his family along.

And, that's always a great event.

I think this year we had 75 boats participate, and they go around Newport Harbor, and the people are out there celebrating 4th of July.

So that's always a great event.

And explained to me?

Gaming, right.

So when I think gaming right, am I thinking everyone board games?

Am I thinking virtual games?

Tell me.

More.

We have, monthly.

We have an event monthly.

It's held the last Friday of each month that our American Legion.

We have it in the smaller section of the fireside Room.

We usually have.

We average maybe anywhere between 25 and 25 attendees.

The last month that we had, we had 21 attendees.

We also opened it up to, first responders.

So now we're getting a lot of support from first responders as well.

So what happens is they show up around 6:00. we have, Krieger Gaming Company that sets up, TVs, the video gaming.

So there's a variety of games, some of them would be like the Call of Duty games.

And then if people don't want to play any of those games, they'll have an opportunity to play other games, depending on what their interest is.

But we've had a couple veterans come in and we can tell that they weren't feeling so well, and they would attend the event and we would buy them dinner.

And, people would talk while we're playing.

And it was a unique because we had a couple veterans that were more isolated, so they didn't communicate as much.

But after a couple of times, they would show off to a couple of the gaming nights and they opened up a little bit more.

And it's interesting because we even had a couple veterans that never connected with the Veterans Affairs.

How do you not connect with the Veterans Affairs once you've discharged from the military?

You know, it's it's possible, but it's just you have benefits there.

Yeah.

Benefits that you might not know about.

Or maybe you don't want to talk about it.

So we really had a warm handoff and we were able to connect them with services.

We had a veterans shop that was homeless.

We were able to get him into a motel the same night, and then we were able to link him up with the Veterans Affairs housing.

And just a week later, he was, housed in transitional housing.

So that's the impact of that gaming night.

That's these are the areas that we're able to focus on with the mental health and the suicide.

Well, and then I'm seeing, too, that you are able because I don't know about the veterans.

I'm just us making one assumption they could be an introvert too.

And that might be hard to if you already going through trauma.

You're an introvert.

On top of that, having a gaming night, it's a different type of atmospheric pulls everybody in right?

Yeah.

We also do coffee talk once a month.

The first the first Saturday of the month.

we allow people to come in, we have breakfast and we have speakers.

It could be.

Oh, goodness.

Well, Corey usually gets all the speakers.

I'll let him talk, but yeah.

So for the speakers, we we have the American Legion had a national convention last year in North Carolina, and, they pushed a gaming night to address the potential suicide and linkage, especially with our post 911 event veterans, our newer veterans.

And what we did is we we created an environment to where we can have it was non-formal for a coffee talk.

So what we do is we have it every first Saturday of the month.

And our first meeting that we had, we had six veterans show up.

Our last meeting that we recently had, we had 118.

So it's built up over time.

We got engagement from the community.

We have veterans, we have advocates for veterans.

We have spouses.

Spouses are extremely important in the veteran community because they serve along with the veteran that's serving, whether it's male or female member.

We have a lot of female veterans out there.

They put in a lot of work.

Those are our sisters.

We have to take care of them as well.

And, we we've created a safe environment where they can come get support.

You know, we have a couple, veterans that showed up and they would meet somebody, and they actually served during that time, including a few that I have served during combat service.

So they were part of the same regiment.

They were part of the same unit.

They were part of the same battalion.

How interesting is that?

To meet somebody that you probably served with or you were deployed around the same time?

Such a great group.

Well, and what I'm hearing from you is that it's that connection which you said several times during our interview, but then you are now finding your family because you served together.

You understand what it took to get the job done and to be a service to our country.

Well, I cannot in our conversation together without asking each of you to let me know how we can continue to help the American Legion move forward in the next 100 years.

How can we help?

Well, I think, you know, the American Legion doesn't do a real good job about getting out to the public and letting the public know what we do.

So I thank you so much for this opportunity.

I think once they the public understands more of what we're doing, they can get involved.

our post is not the normal post.

We're the third largest in the country and out of 12,000.

So we're very, very fortunate with what we have.

Many of the posts are smaller community posts, but they do things for the community, and I think the communities need to not, say the post reaching out to the community.

The community needs to reach out to the post and help the veterans.

That is a great call to action.

What about you?

I would say go to the website WW l291.com.

We run the largest grant in Orange County.

It's called the Veterans Emergency Assistance Fund.

This is the fund that has been critical during Covid.

And this is the fund that's critical as of right now today.

And as we move forward, we get phone calls from the social workers, from the VA, from the vet centers, from organizations just in general, service providers and concerned family and friends.

And what they do is they send veterans to us and we have a screening process.

We vet them out within a short time.

It's not a long process.

And what we're able to do is try to see kind of what they're going through at the time.

So if we have a veteran that's homeless, we can put them in a motel for a period of time until we transition them into housing.

We've had veterans where their vehicle broke down.

They had an emergency.

Somebody might have passed away in the family.

we have, couples.

Like, what happens if, something happens to the child?

There's an emergency.

There's a hospital.

There's a couple different things that we could do.

Child care is is very critical with this grant.

and just in general, gas and grocery carts, that's that's big, you know, especially with the inflation going on right now.

So with that grant, if you want to support veterans, that grant is a restricted account, which means that nobody can touch that grant.

It's only for veterans so it can't be used on the post.

Can't be used for fixtures maintenance, anything.

It's specifically for veterans.

We get most of the donations from our own members, but we've had support outside because we've helped so many people.

So we're getting a big support outside in the community as well.

We need that to continue because we'll be able to help veterans.

Both of them great ways for us to help you and thank you so much for spending some time with me tonight, but also to thank you for your service.

Not only to our nation, but back to your brothers and sisters in arms.

So thank you so much for that.

Thank you so much for having.

Pleasure being here.

It was definitely my honor.

And thank you for joining us on everybody with Angela Williamson.

Viewers like you make this show possible.

Join us on social media to continue this conversation.

Good night and stay well.

Fantastic job.

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