Troop 440

Tim Buck, commander of the Sons of American Legion Post 488 and event co-chair, described the day as a family food-tasting event with more than 40 food tasting stations planned. Participating restaurants, individuals and organizations will donate their time and expenses to provide their own special dish. Anyone wishing to show their culinary skills is invited to participate.

“The three groups wanted to do something to unify the membership,” said Buck. “It all came together after Bob’s passing. Our goal is to have the community come together in honor of Bob, to raise funds to continue the projects Bob was doing, to keep the projects Bob was very much interested in alive.”

Cell phones for soldiers, holiday meals for vets

Martell was instrumental in collecting tens of thousands of unwanted or unused cell phones for the Massachusetts-based Cell Phones for Soldiers organization.

Everywhere he went, Martell would solicit phones from groups and individuals, reminding them of the importance of the nation’s soldiers in keeping the country safe. Drop-off boxes were placed in area businesses like Planet Pizza in Monroe to remind and encourage people to donate their phones and related accessories.

He would gather up large quantities and send them to ReCellular, the company which pays Cell Phones for Soldiers for each donated phone. In turn, ReCellular provides an hour of talk time to soldiers abroad through pre-paid telephone calling card.

Well over 500,000 cards have been distributed to solders overseas, giving them the opportunity to call home for free.

Martell was responsible for at least 10,000 of those cards.

Martell’s other signature project was working with area restaurants who provided complimentary holiday meals to veterans at the Castle Point and Montrose veterans hospitals. He handled the logistics of arranging meals, their transportation and distribution, often telling others that such meals were a highlight to those veterans who were hospital-bound for the rest of their lives, with many of them never having visitors or receiving gifts.

“Veterans’ causes were always important to him and we’ve met some good friends through him,” said Nick Barile, co-owner of Planet Pizza in Monroe, which has regularly donated a special meal to the hospitalized vets and will be participating in the Aug. 13 food event. “We’re very happy to be a part of this.”

    

Tom Jones, owner of Birchwood Caterers and co-chair of the event, will be offering homemade potato chips and frog’s legs — yes, frog’s legs, at the tasting event.

“Bob spent a lot of his own money to keep (the meal program for hospitalized vets) going,” Jones said, who vowed to continue to provide the special Thanksgiving, Christmas and annual barbecue meals Birchwood has provided for the past 15 years. “He went around the town asking restaurants to help, but he took so much of his own money to do this, for food, gas, postage. He was very giving toward that.”

'Find a way to keep things going’

Martell’s personal financial contributions were so significant Jones wants to be sure that seed money is there to keep the programs alive.

Monroe — American Legion Post 488 in Monroe hosted the U.S. Military Academy Color Guard this past Monday evening, giving the Boy Scout and Brownie Girl Scout troops it sponsors an opportunity to learn about flag etiquette and how the color guard operates.

Part of their presentation included responding to questions from the all the scouts as well as giving the girls and boys impromptu lessons in proper marching techniques, and how to hold a saber and the unloaded rifles they carry during the presentation of the flags.

For example, color guard members said, the Army flag has a ribbon for every campaign that the Army has been engaged in since America’s formation. Those ribbons are also color-coded and that particular flag weighs about 50 pounds. The U.S. flag is kept in a black wrapped covering until it’s time for practice or performance.

The color guard, dressed in their summer dress uniforms featuring short-sleeved white shirts, explained how they are selected for the roles and the time it takes to practice the necessary precision marching. They also talked about the special attention and proper care given to every detail of the flags’ presentation.

Since last fall, which was the beginning of the academic year at West Point, the color guard has appeared in almost 100 events representing the U.S. Military Academy.

The cadets demonstrated to Boy Scout Troop 440, Cub Scout Troop 488, Brownie Girl Scout Troop 388 and their family members and guests how they present the American, Army and West Point flags at various public and military functions.

“We appreciated the cadets visiting us and taking the time to speak to our members and the boy scouts and Brownies,” said Martin Currid, American Legion Post 488 first vice commander. “A program like this is an outstanding representation of one of the post’s many important missions of educating our youth about patriotism, the military and civics.”

Monroe - Troop 440 Scout Anthony Petito Jr. recently completed his Eagle Scout project, which was to enhance and blaze a trail at the new Mombasha Park in the Town of Monroe. He said the idea was suggested by Monroe Town Councilman Harley Doles; support followed from Monroe Supervisor Sandy Leonard and Council Jim Rogers. Here is Petito’s account of the project:

“I took this grass overgrown area of about 2,800 feet by 3 feet wide and transformed it into a pathway with benches, distance markers with mileage designations and map stands.

Twenty-five scouts participated as well as 20 adults consisting of leaders and scout mothers. Everyone worked long hours and put their best feet forward, completing this task in just two days:

Saturday, Nov. 6: 178 man hours;

Sunday, Nov. 7: 125 man hours.

We cleared logs, removed debris, marked the trail, leveled the trail with peas-stone gravel (donated by the Town of Monroe Highway Department), relocated stones and bridged a drainage area for easy traversing passed scenic wetlands.

A special “Thanks” to “Mike from Ridge Supply Corporation of Chestnut Ridge for donating all the decking, posts and lumber for my project.

The project will improve the community because it will increase traffic to the site during off-peak hours and days.

This will be a short trail for parents/families with small children who will be able to utilize the park while older children are playing soccer or baseball.

There is a strong possibility this trail will be dedicated “To Whose Who Have Served” (Soldiers, police, firemen and EMS).

This a quiet place to reflect and remember all the people who have “Served Our Community” to make it a better place for all.”