At the Cross Road

Fellow Voyagers,

Welcome to another year as a proud member of La Societe! Today we are at a cross roads. As a Voyager you already know that The Forty & Eight is committed to charitable and patriotic aims. Our purpose is to uphold and defend the United States Constitution, to promote the well being of veterans and their widows and orphans, and to actively participate in selected charitable endeavors, which include programs that promote child welfare and nurse's training. As Locale 265’s Chef de Gare I appreciate your continued support.

There is another area of concern that I would like to address. That area is membership. Although our Locale reached our goal of 100%, we only brought in 2 new members last year. As a Grand however, we achieved only 87.77% of our goal. It is the responsibility of every Voyager to recommend at least 1 new member each year.

As you know La Societe has changed its constitution to allow for any honorably discharged veteran to become a member. While you may feel that this may seem to trivialize our membership it does not. Nominees must still be voted on, the worthy individuals will be elected and the others will be blackballed. There are many worthy veterans who did not serve during a period of conflict. Did we have a say when we were sworn in to the Armed Forces whether or not there would be a conflict? No, but we did sign on to go if asked to. The fact that they served in peacetime allowed those who followed to achieve so much in war time. These service men and women are excluded by other veteran organizations such as, The American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars. I am pleased that we do not.

I am entrusting each Voyager to nominate at least 1 worthy member before November 31st. A copy of the new application form is enclosed with this letter.

For more information on dealing with and recruiting members from different Generations visit Locale 265s Blog at http://voiture265.blogspot.com/

La Societe des Quarante Hommes at Huit Chevaux will continue to be an independent, by invitation, honor organization of male and female U. S. veterans