Showing posts sorted by relevance for query life changer award. Sort by date Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by relevance for query life changer award. Sort by date Show all posts

Nominations open for the Life Changer award

Sunday, March 1, 2015


YOU likely know someone who has made life better for others. That someone might be a friend, a teacher, a doctor, a pastor or anyone. YOU can gain recognition for that deserving person by nominating him or her for an American Legion Life Changer Award. It’s easy to nominate someone and a successful nomination will provide a wonderful reward for that deserving person.

To make a nomination, write up to 300 words describing how your nominee made life better. Include the full name, address and phone number of the nominee, as well as your full name, address and phone number. Then, before May 1, 2015, e-mail the nomination to the email address,

If you don’t have email, you can send the nomination to American Legion Post 227, PO Box 55193, Shoreline, WA 98155-0193.

The Life Changer award is sponsored by the Starr Sutherland Jr. Post 227 of the American Legion. Post members will select the winner. The winner will receive a framed certificate plus a $200 gift certificate for dining at the enchanting Sky City restaurant atop the Seattle Space Needle.

Any questions about the awards program can be directed to the email address. That special someone who has made life better for you or for someone that you know, deserves recognition and YOU can get it for him or her.


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Virginia Harvey awarded American Legion Life Changer award

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Virginia Harvey accepts the award
from Post 227 Commander Richard White

On Tuesday evening, September 8, American Legion Post 227 in Shoreline awarded their 2015 Life Changer award to Virginia Harvey.

The purpose of the award is to recognize and honor a person who has made life better for others. Virginia has participated in USO trips and the Vets Art Show among other things.

Primarily though, she served as a volunteer at Veterans Hospital twice weekly for the past 15 years, traveling there by Seattle Transit.

In addition to delivering blood and other tasks, she has moved ailing veterans throughout the hospital in their wheelchairs. She certainly made life better for many ailing veterans.

Her award included a framed certificate and a $200 gift certificate to dine in the Sky City restaurant atop the Seattle Space Needle. The award was presented to Virginia by Post 227 Commander Richard White.



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Legion presents Life Changer Award to Everett woman

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Lea Coats speaks to the Legion about her organization
after Post Adjutant Thomas Drapac presented her with the Lifechanger Award
Photo by Jerry Pickard

On Saturday, August 11, 2012, American Legion Starr Sutherland Jr. Post 227 presented its first Lifechanger award to Everett resident Lea Coats, gave her a gift certificate to the Seattle Space Needle, and celebrated with a luau.

Mrs. Coats was nominated for the award by Mrs. He Youn Lee for helping her when she was in need.

Mrs. Coats is a Case Coach for Safe Families, which provides temporary homes for children whose families are in crisis and need support and a safe place for their children.

When parents are facing jail time, fleeing from abusive spouses, becoming homeless, or other situations that are stressful to the family and the children, her organization finds temporary homes for the children until their parents are able to care for them again.


Safe Families started in the Chicago area several years ago.  Coats' church, Brookview Community Church in Lynnwood, was the first to host a Safe Families family in Washington State.

"As a Case Coach for the program, I help train host families, meet with the families in need and walk them through paperwork.  I help find out what their needs are and how we can best help them get to a better place.  Then I help get the children into the Safe Families and continue to provide support for the families once the children are placed there. 
"The program is not foster care.  These are cases that do not rise to the level of abuse or neglect that would warrant the state being involved. Our hope is to be a safety net for families that lack support and help them get back on their feet as quickly as possible.  The children are placed voluntarily by their parents.  Their parents retain full guardianship. And the host families are also solely volunteers, there is no financial compensation for the care they provide."

The Life Changer award will be presented on an annual basis.


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Starr Sutherland Jr. American Legion Post 227

Monday, April 15, 2013

Post 227 in the Celebrate Shoreline parade

Post 227 is a part of the American Legion, an organization that was chartered by the US Congress in 1919 as a patriotic veterans organization devoted to mutual helpfulness. It is the nation’s largest veterans’ organization, committed to mentoring youth and sponsorship of wholesome programs in local communities, advocating patriotism and honor, promoting strong national security and continued devotion to fellow service members and veterans.

Memorial Day 2012 - members honor local Medal of Honor
awardee Robert Earl Bonney

The Legion’s success is entirely dependent on active membership, participation and volunteerism by members of Legion Posts in local communities. The Legion belongs to the people it serves and the communities in which it thrives. Post 227 is named for Starr Sutherland Jr., who was killed in action at the Battle of the Bulge and is buried in France.

Members host an annual pancake breakfast
Photo by Jerry Pickard

In Shoreline, Post 227 meets at 7 pm on the first Tuesday of each month from September through June in their building at the corner of NE 146th Street and 17th Avenue NE. Veterans of the US armed forces are welcome to join Post 227. The post participates in a variety of activities to serve the local community, the State of Washington and the nation.

In the Boys State program, founded in 1935, the Post helps select high school junior students each year to attend Boys State at a college of university to learn about the functioning of state government. Two Boys Staters from each state are selected to participate in Boys Nation, where they travel to Washington, DC, to learn about our US government.

2012 Scholarship winner Jessica Osburn
Photo by Jerry Pickard

In the American Legion Oratorical Contest, founded in 1938, high school students under the age of 20 are chosen to compete in speaking on a topic chosen each year by the American Legion. Winners at the local level advance to compete at the state level. State winners travel to Indianapolis to compete in national competition. Winners are rewarded with college scholarships funded by local posts and other organizations.

Post 227 helps to support the Special Olympics program. For over four decades, this program has been offering adults and children with intellectual disabilities year-around training and competitions in Olympic-style sports.

Post 227 provides volunteers and funds to the VA Hospital, the Fisher House, the USO at SeaTac airport and Salvation Army Housing for homeless veterans. We also support other groups that are assisting active duty personnel, veterans and their families who have recently returned from the Middle East.

Lea Coates, left, nominated by Mrs. He Youn Lee
for the 2012 Life Changer Award
Post Adjutant Thomas Drapac looks on
Photo by Jerry Pickard

Post 227 is in the second year of offering the Life Changer Award. Local citizens are invited to nominate for the award anyone who has made life better for an individual, an organization or even an entire community. Nominations are judged by a committee of Post 227 members. The winner receives a $200 gift certificate to dine at the Sky City restaurant atop the Seattle Space Needle.

The above programs are a sampling of Post 227 current interests. Our activities are limited only by the willingness of post members to suggest projects and to participate in them.

If you are a veteran of a US armed service and would like to participate in Post 227 activities and comradeship, you are welcome and encouraged to join Post 227. Just show up at the Post 227 building at 7 pm on the first Tuesday of any month, September through June and you will find a friendly welcome.


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American Legion Post 227 wants to increase its community partnerships

Saturday, June 16, 2018

The officers of The American Legion Starr Sutherland, Jr. Post 227 seek to partner with members of the surrounding communities for mutual benefit. Such partnerships are already underway in a number of areas, as indicated below.

Four of the boys that Post 227 sponsored for
Boys State are shown with
Post Vice Commander, Raymond Coffey.
In recent years, Post 227 has invited a speaker to speak at each monthly meeting. The meetings are held on the first Tuesday evening of each month.

The speaker usually discusses some aspect of military history, which might include his/her own experiences in the US military.

The meetings are widely advertised and members of the community, whether veterans or not, are specifically invited to attend to hear the speaker.

By leaving their email address on the meeting attendance form, visitors can be added to a list of persons receiving personal notices of future meetings.

Usually, a report on the speaker’s talk is published in the Shoreline Area News. You can access an example of these reports at this link.

A few of the items in the library.
Post 227 maintains a library containing books, magazines, DVDs and Video Tapes relating to the military. Any veteran or civilian member of the community is welcome to check out, use and return any item in the library without charge.

Several times each year, Post 227 holds a pancake breakfast for veterans and all members of the surrounding communities.

The breakfasts are prepared and served by Post members, sometimes with help from members of the community.

Post member Russ Greaby cooking
burgers and hot dogs at one of the BBQs.
Each summer, Post 227 holds a BBQ for veterans and members of the surrounding communities. 

The BBQs are prepared and served by Post members, sometimes with help from members of the community.

Post 227 sponsors boys from local high schools to participate in Boys State

In the one-week experience, they learn leadership skills and become familiar with governmental activities.

Shoreline Veterans Plaza
A Veterans Recognition Plaza was conceptualized and developed at Shoreline City Hall under the leadership of post members. The Plaza, shown in the picture, is located on the lawn north of the Shoreline City Hall. 

The red brick plaza is paved with bricks that are engraved with the names and service records of people who have served in the US military. Many bricks are not yet engraved. For a fee of $100, you can have a brick engraved with the name and service record of a person of your choice.

Post 227 sponsors an annual Life Changer Award. Each year, members of the community are invited to nominate persons who have made life better for others. You can read about the Life Changer Award in the Shoreline Area News here.

Post 227 must generate the funding needed to carry out Post activities. Member dues provide some annual funding and are supplemented by donations received at our periodic breakfasts and annual BBQ.

Post members serving breakfast at one of the tables.
The Post needs additional funding to carry out our mission. 

You can help by making a tax-deductible cash donation. Donating is easy. Simply go to the Post website. Then click on the DONATIONS button on the left side of the page. The donations page that pops up will explain why the donation is tax deductible and briefly describe some Post activities. Next, clicking on the yellow Donate button will take you to a page that will guide you through the donation process.

The members of Post 227 are grateful to the members of the surrounding communities for the support they have given our Post and we look forward to extending our partnership far into the future.

All photos by Jerry Pickard


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American Legion awards 2018 Life Changer and hears from Afghanistan combat veterans

Friday, September 7, 2018

From left, Christina Frappier, Ruby Takushi, and Larry Fischer
By Carroll Goering
Photos by Jerry Pickard

American Legion Post 227 members had an eventful evening at their meeting on Tuesday, September 4, 2018.

The Post’s Life Changer award was presented to the 2018 winner, Ruby Takushi, for founding Recovery Café in Seattle as a refuge of Healing, Hope, and Transformation for those suffering from drug or alcohol addictions. The Café offers food and a variety of healthy activities.

In a survey, over 90% of the participants had increased hope and decreased use of drugs and/or alcohol. The award was presented by Christina Frappier, who chaired the selection committee. Takushi was nominated by her friend, Helen Christ, who was in the audience to observe the award presentation.

From left, Tom Young, Daniella Young and Larry Fischer
Post Commander Larry Fischer introduced the invited speakers for the evening, Tom and Daniella Young, who served in combat in Afghanistan.

Tom’s father loved flying a light plane and taught Tom to fly. When Tom joined the Army in 2000, he applied to be a helicopter pilot but was not admitted to flight school.

He became an Army Private but was eventually assigned to be a helicopter mechanic. He later reapplied to flight school and was admitted.

After the 9/11 attacks, Tom was recalled from home leave to begin preparing for combat. He served eight combat tours in Afghanistan, first as a mechanic for CH-47 helicopters and later as a pilot with the rank of Chief Warrant Officer.

In 2009, Tom and his crew were shot down in Afghanistan. Tom was able to get the helicopter to the ground without losing a crew member but his gunner lost part of his leg from the ground attack.

Daniella’s grandfather joined an extreme religious cult and moved to South America with the cult. Daniella’s mother was a cult member when she gave birth to Daniella. Daniella was able to escape from the cult and return to the U.S. 

She joined the Army and became a combat intelligence officer and part of the first group of women to conduct combat operations in a war zone. As a US Army Officer, Daniella was a consultant to high level leadership, led teams of soldiers, and created strong teams. She served two tours in Afghanistan with honor.

Tom and Daniella met on the flight from Fort Campbell, Kentucky to Bagram, Afghanistan. They had their first ‘date’ at Green Beans coffee while deployed together. Daniella was Battalion intelligence officer and Tom was a standardization officer and instructor pilot for the unit. After Daniella’s second combat tour, they were married and she retired from the Army.

Daniella is CEO of Cultural Forte, a culture and innovation consulting firm. She has worked with CEO’s, government, military and non-profit leaders to help them make culture their forte, increasing business results by up to 700%. Tom is currently stationed at JBLM and they will be in the Seattle area until Tom retires in 2020. They love to fly private airplanes to wine country, run marathons and swim in the lakes with Lorelei, their trilingual 2-year-old daughter.



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Nominations open for the American Legion Life Changer Award 2014

Tuesday, April 1, 2014



for the American Legion 
Life Changer Award


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American Legion presents Life Changer award

Friday, November 7, 2014

Carroll Goering presents the check to Barbara Williams

On September 2, 2014 American Legion Post 227 presented their 2014 Life Changer Award to Mrs. Barbara Williams for her work as Volunteer Director of Kiwanis Camp Casey.

During the presentation, the Post learned that Mrs. Williams is responsible for raising $50,000 each year to pay for sending 90 children with disabilities to a free week of camp at Camp Casey.

The Post voted to donate $200 towards that fund raising effort. Post 227 member Carroll Goering presented the check to Mrs. Williams at the November 6 meeting of the North Central Seattle Kiwanis Club, the sponsor of Kiwanis Camp Casey.


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Post 227 presents Life Changer award at Tuesday meeting

Thursday, August 31, 2017

The American Legion Post 227 in Shoreline will hold their monthly meeting on Tuesday evening, September 5, 2017. At 6:00pm, a light meal will be served for post members and post affiliates.

The public is invited to attend the program, which begins at 6:40pm.

The 2017 winner of the Life Changer Award will be recognized. The boys who were sponsored by the Post 227 will speak of their experiences at Washington Boys State. There will be time for questions at the end.

A short break will follow the Boys State presentation, during which guests can depart. Post members are asked to remain for the business meeting following the break.

The meeting will be held at Post 227, located at 14521 17th Ave NE, Shoreline 98155 (on the street behind Goodwill). All military veterans, guests and people in the community are welcome to attend the program.

While at the Post, you can check out the Post library that contains many militarily related books, video tapes and DVDs. People in the community can borrow, use and return any of these items at no charge. They are encouraged to stay for the program as well. Post 227 members look forward to seeing you on September 5.



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The American Legion marks its 100th Anniversary

Thursday, January 31, 2019

The cake served at the January 8, 2019 meeting of Post 227
Photo by Jerry Pickard


By Carroll Goering and Jerry Pickard

At 11:00am on Monday, November 11, 1918, the guns fell silent to fulfill the agreement that had been signed earlier at Compiegne, France. The Great War, at it was called at the time, was finally over. The Allies, including the American Expeditionary Force led by General Pershing, had defeated the aggressor, Germany.

It was hoped at the time that it would be “the war to end all wars”, but that hope was dashed two decades later when Germany again attacked her European neighbors. The European neighbors, joined by the Americans, fought Germany again in what became WWII. The original Great War then became known at WWI.

From March 15 to 17, 1919, members of the American Expeditionary Force convened in Paris for the first American Legion caucus. They met again from May 8 to 10, 1919, and adopted “The American Legion” as the official name of a new organization. A draft preamble and constitution were approved. Meeting on June 9, the National Executive Committee adopted the Legion emblem.

On September 16, 1919, The US Congress chartered The American Legion. From November 10 to 12, 1919, the first American Legion convention was held in Minneapolis. The delegates approved the preamble and constitution. They also voted, 361 to 323, to place the national headquarters of The American Legion in Indianapolis. Indianapolis was chosen over Washington, DC. Finally, the delegates approved a resolution in support of the Boy Scouts of America, support that has continued to the present time.

During its first century of existence, The American Legion worked tirelessly to secure improved benefits for military veterans and created numerous programs to help local communities, especially the youth of those communities. The Legion has accumulated a long list of accomplishments. There are too many to recount in this story but the most important of them can be seen at The American Legion Post 227 website

Today, the American Legion has over 2.4 million members in more than 14,000 posts world wide. The posts are organized into 55 departments, one each for the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, France, Mexico and the Philippines. Within each state department are geographic Areas, Districts and local Posts.

The Department of Washington, with 23,599 members, contains 4 Areas, 12 Districts and 160 local Posts. Legion members belong to Posts, Post Commanders report to District Commanders, District Commanders report to Area Commanders, Area Commanders report to Department Commanders and Department Commanders report to the National Commander.

Dept. of Washington Commander Roach speaking at the January 9, 2019 meeting of Post 227.
Photo by Jerry Pickard


Starr Sutherland, Jr. Post 227 is The American Legion local post in Shoreline. The Post building is located at 14521 17th Avenue NE. The post was chartered March, 1948 and was named for First Lt. Starr Sutherland, Jr., who was killed in the Battle of the Bulge in WWII and is buried in Luxembourg Cemetery. Starr graduated from Lincoln High School in the Wallingford area and enrolled at the University of Washington. In 1943, with the war underway, he left the University of Washington to join the Army.

Post 227, along with 12 other Posts, is in District 11 and Area 1 of the Department of Washington. Post 227 meets the first Tuesday evening of each month at the Post building. Post 227 interacts with the local communities in various ways, including sponsoring boys to attend Boys State, hosting pancake breakfasts and a summer BBQ, awarding a Life Changer Award annually to a community member who makes life better for others, and inviting all veterans and visitors to attend Post meetings, which usually feature a speaker discussing some aspect of military life or history.

Most American Legion Posts have a women’s Auxiliary where wives of veterans meet and conduct programs in support of the local Post. Post 227 has a woman’s Auxiliary that was chartered about the same time, March, 1948, that Post 227 was chartered. The Post 227 Auxiliary raises funds in various ways, including distributing poppies each spring in exchange for donations and conducting rummage sales.

The celebration of the 100th anniversary of the American Legion began at the 2018 national convention that was held at Minneapolis, Minnesota, the site of the first American Legion convention.

Local posts, including Post 227, also celebrated the centennial. At their monthly meeting on January 8, 2019 Post 227 invited Department of Washington Commander Gary Roach to speak. Roach spoke about the American Legion and plans for celebrating the 100th Anniversary.

After the Commander’s talk, those in attendance had cake and ice cream. The cake was adorned with 10 candles, one for each decade of the Legion’s existence. As the candles were blown out, the attendees sang “happy anniversary” for the Legion.

The centennial year will conclude at the 2019 American Legion national convention, to be held August 23-29 at Indianapolis, Indiana, the home of the American Legion national headquarters.



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Valentine's theme for February Kiwanis dinner meeting

Sunday, February 9, 2020

The North Central Seattle Kiwanis Club will meet from 6:30 to 8:00pm Thursday, February 20, 2020 at the 125th Street Grill, 12255 Aurora Avenue North.

The Grill is located at the SW corner of 125th Street and Aurora Avenue. The evening will begin with a meal served by the restaurant.

After the meal, those in attendance will be invited to share their favorite memories of Valentines day, such as their best or worst Valentine's day, how they met their significant other, etc.

They can also enjoy Valentine's candy and read a brief history of Valentine's Day. 

Carroll Goering will make a short presentation about The American Legion Life Changer Award, which has been awarded annually beginning in 2012. 

During that time, seven members of our Kiwanis Club have played important roles in the award program. 

During the presentation, those in attendance will be invited to identify those seven members.

All Kiwanis members and members of the public are welcome to attend. Attendees who are not Kiwanis members are requested to RSVP



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Boys State representatives to speak at Legion meeting Tuesday

Monday, September 4, 2017

The boys who were selected to attend Washington Boys State will speak of their experiences at the Tuesday night meeting of the Post 227 American Legion, September 5, 2017.

The meeting will be held at Post 227 Legion Hall, located at 14521 17th Ave NE, Shoreline 98155 (on the street behind Goodwill). All military veterans, guests and people in the community are welcome to attend the program.

The public meeting begins at 6:40pm.

The 2017 winner of the Life Changer Award will be recognized.

After a short break, the Post business meeting will commence.

While at the Post, you can check out the Post library that contains many militarily related books, video tapes and DVDs. People in the community can borrow, use, and return any of these items at no charge.


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Captain and Mr. Young: Love and helicopters in modern warfare

Wednesday, August 29, 2018

The American Legion Post 227 in Shoreline will hold their monthly meeting on Tuesday evening, September 4, 2018. A meet and greet starts at 6:30pm and the program starts at 7:00pm. 

The meeting will be held at Post 227, located at 14521 17th Ave NE, Shoreline 98155.

The 2018 winner of the Post 227 Life Changer award will be presented with a framed certificate and a $200 gift certificate.

Then Daniella Young, CEO of a culture and innovation consulting firm and an expert on team building, will discuss her experiences as a US Army captain serving two years in Afghanistan with honor.

Her husband, Chief Warrant officer Tom Young, served eight combat tours as an Army helicopter pilot and survived being shot down in Afghanistan. There will be an opportunity for questions after the presentation.

While you are at the meeting, you can check out the Post Library that includes a large collection of militarily related books, video tapes and DVDs. Any of these can be checked out, used and returned by post members and community without charge. Also check out the Post 227 website.

A brief intermission for refreshments after the talk will allow visitors to depart. Post 227 members are urged to stay for the post meeting that will follow the intermission.

We look forward to seeing you at the meeting.


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Nominate someone for the Life Changer award

Friday, February 23, 2018

Send your nominations to P227al@yahoo.com



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Over 200 people at American Legion barbecue Saturday

Monday, July 17, 2017

Service Officer Russ Greaby flipping burgers for vets
Photo by Jerry Pickard
Text and photos by Jerry Pickard

Service Officer Russ Greaby and Asst. Adjutant Jerry Pickard cooked burgers and hot dogs throughout the annual barbecue for the American Legion Post 227 on Saturday.

Over 200 people attended during the course of the event.

Diners sat at inside tables or enjoyed the warm weather under canopies outside.

There was a raffle, announced by 2nd Vice Commander Larry Fischer.

Past Commander R. B. White, Leah Setala,
and 1st Vice Commander Raymond Coffey.
Five year old Symphony, whose parents are members of Post 127 in Bothell, sang the National Anthem to the delight of all and started the meeting.

Vickie Bowles of Pasco played her trumpet and sang patriotic songs   during the meal.

Chaplin Debbie Maund gave a presentation on Service Related Diseases that veterans commonly contract due to exposure to war chemicals, such as Agent Orange and spent uranium munitions.

Mrs. Leah Setala was presented with the "2017 Life Changer Award" for her work with children at St. Luke's School in Shoreline and her work at St. Francis House in downtown Seattle.



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