What We Do On the Sunday before and on Memorial Day each year, we perform over fifteen different honor guard services with rifles salutes at every cemetery and war memorial in the Jim Thorpe and Albrightsville area. We provide honor guards with rifles for the funeral services for approximately 25 - 35 veterans who are laid to rest here in our area each year. In May each year, we host the Carbon County Special Kids Fishing Derby. We have been doing this for over 60 years now. We stock the Silk Mill Run in the Jim Thorpe Germantown Grove with lots of trout. Every special needs child in Carbon County gets a day out of school to come enjoy a day of fishing and fun. Two days and over 80 volunteers are needed to help the 300+ children who come out. This is primarily funded by the money raised during our Stay at Home Festival and donations from the members and the community. We maintain a flag collection box at the Jim Thorpe Market. On the Saturday in June preceeding flag day, we cremate all retired US flags from all the Carbon County cemeteries and any turned in by members of the general public. On the first Saturday in July each year, at the Jim Thorpe Memorial Park, we host an Independence Day Festival called the Jim Thorpe Stay at Home Festival. This is our biggest fundraiser of the year. This festival has been a long held tradition here in Jim Thorpe. Thousands of people attend this event. The day starts out with free fun filled games and contests for the kids. We have a blueberry pie eating contest, watermelon seed spitting contest, potato sack races, water balloon tosses, water relay races, a peanut scramble, and a bunch more. Every child who participates gets a prize. Two lucky kids get to go home with free brand new bicycles. We have free live entertainment on the main stage all day, amusement rides, carnival games, clowns, entertainers, and lots of great food! It all ends with a huge fireworks display. If you've never been, please come on out! The festivities are from 3 - 11pm. See our jtfestival.com page for more info. We also sponsor the Carbon County Monarchs Baseball Team. The Carbon County Monarchs is the American Legion Baseball Team here in our area. American Legion Baseball is very similar to a high school All-Star Team. Our kids from Carbon County take on other American Legion Teams from other areas. Often times college and professional level scouts attend these games. Did you know that over 50% of all Major League Baseball players have played American Legion Baseball? Each year we sponsor students in our area to compete in the American Legion Local, State and National Oratorical and Essay Contests. Winners of these contests win cash prizes and even scholarships if they make it far enough in the competition. Both the American Legion and the American Legion Auxiliary provide scholarships directly to high school students graduating from the Jim Thorpe Area High School for academic achievement and Americanism. All these events and programs are just some examples of the many great things we do. There is so much more. We also donate thousands of dollars each year to many state and local charities right here in Pennsylvania. We also donate to many national veterans programs. Each year, we also donate funds to help maintain the cemeteries of our fallen comrades who are buried on foreign shores. We, the Legion officers, members, and volunteers receive absolutely $0 dollars in compensation for what we do. |
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