Lincoln Legionnaires assemble cold weather bags for homeless veterans, prepares for District 6 meeting in Lincoln

A handful of Legionnaires from Lincoln American Legion Post 9 spent the morning of March 6 gathered at the Lincoln Community Hall. Standing around tables piled with boxes of hygiene supplies and cold weather gear like socks, gloves and caps, they filled nylon sacks for distribution to homeless veterans.

Although helping veterans in need was the main goal, the morning's effort was also related to the upcoming Montana American Legion District 6 meeting slated for March 17.

"At the district meeting we're going to have a sample bag for each post to say 'hey, you can do this; you can get stuff to help your veterans in other towns and in other places,'" Post 9 Commander Rick Foreman said.

The cold-weather bags are the brainchild of Post 9 Veterans Service Officer Eric Gool, who said he's been making them up for several years.

"When you see these guys at the homeless shelter or a warming shelter, most of the time all they have is a bag of clothes. That's it. They don't have miscellaneous items," he said. "I've also learned that giving them the items themselves is better than cash, because cash will be used for everything but necessities. By getting necessities put together you're giving them something that will actually help them out. Not a hand out, but a hand up, type deal."

The purpose of providing example bags to the visiting posts is to demonstrate that they can use their community resources to gather donated items to help veterans.

"You don't have to do fundraising and go money grabbing," he said. "You just work within the resources within the community, put a nice bag together, then directly help your veteran population," Gool said.

Gool said he concentrates on providing bags for cold weather because during the warmer summer months many homeless veterans spend time off grid and can be difficult to find. "But when the snow flies they come out of the woodwork. I try to bridge 'em, especially when we get cold snaps, when we get minus 50 everybody needs extra stuff."

By providing them with cold weather gear like hats, scarves and other items for warmth, as well as personal hygiene articles, Gool said it can help many of them stay healthy.

The donations for the bags come from at least a dozen organizations, with most of the donated cold weather items coming from quilting and knitting organizations in Great Falls and Helena. Although Gool knows Lincoln has such organizations in Lincoln, the guilds in the cities can generally provide larger donations.

"Not to say we couldn't ask them here," he said. "It's just a short window. I've been collecting this stuff for quite a while and already had them built up. Moving forward we'll probably do more outreach (in Lincoln)."

The District 6 business meeting is scheduled for Sunday, March 17, in the back room at Lambkins. Foreman explained the district holds two business meetings a year, and they rotate them through the different posts. Any legion member is welcome to attend the district meeting.

Foreman said the Ladies Auxiliary will have their district meeting at the Hotel Lincoln and will join the posts that evening for dinner.

Lincoln Post 9 is also scheduled to host a free pancake breakfast for area veterans at the Community Hall on the morning of Friday, March 29. The breakfast is open to all veterans. Doors open at 8 a.m.