Sep 15, 2011
At the 112th VFW National Convention held in San Antonio, Texas, VFW National Military Services (NMS) decided to offer up a friendly competition between VFW and Ladies Auxiliary attendees.
NMS thought a fun way for attendees to support the troops would be through a contest called the NMS Services Challenge. Veterans from each branch of service and Ladies Auxiliary members would compete against each other to see who could donate the most money to NMS.
Ballot boxes for each service branch and one for the Ladies Auxiliary were placed at the NMS booth. People could donate to NMS by filling out a donor supporter card and placing it in the proper ballot box.
Each donor received a NMS lapel pin for their level of donation. Those who gave $10 or more received a gold pin, those who donated $5-$9 got a silver pin and those who gave $1-$4 received a bronze pin.
Every donor supporter card was later placed on a wall in the lobby of the convention center for all to see. The total each group donated was tracked daily on the wall with paper thermometers.
By the end of the challenge, VFW and Ladies Auxiliary members demonstrated their strong commitment to our troops through their great generosity. Ladies Auxiliary donors came away as the winning group, contributing a whopping $2,450. The Army finished second with $1,164. The Navy donated $667, the Air Force totaled $616, the Marine Corps pitched in $412 and the Coast Guard threw in $77, for a grand total of $5,386 raised for NMS!
Not only was the competition a huge success, participants had fun competing against their fellow VFW and Ladies Auxiliary members.
For those VFW members wishing for another shot at bragging rights, NMS may hold the competition again at next year’s National Convention in Reno, Nev.
To learn more about NMS programs, click here.