American Legion Riders

The American Legion Riders of Iowa, Marion Chapter 298

Chapter 298 officers for 2023

Director Jason Achenbach

Assistant Director Larry Rolfson

Treasurer Roger Norfolk

Secretary/Historian Kellie Jorgenson

Road Captain Roger Norfolk

Chaplain (appointed position)

Our meetings are the third Saturday of each month at 9 A.M. (Except in December)

Our Dues are $20 a year.

The Marion American Legion Riders Chapter began in the summer of 2007.

What we are is members of the American Legion, American Legion Auxiliary, and Sons of the American Legion who also ride motorcycles. We're not special and apart, just have something extra and use it to raise money for furthering the policies and publicizing the image of the American Legion.

COBRA Rides Calendar (Coalition Of Benefit Rides Association)

Post Calendar with our events

Marion ALR Constitution and Bylaws 2023.pdf

Our Constitution and Bylaws were approved by the Post 298 Executive Board on 13 November, 2023.

We began as a Chapter In 2007. This is the newsletter that has the details of our beginning.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dJbv0X3CxIuYRCr_zwY0pY5vP65IjF5O/view

Our Directors thus far are:

Bill Bickford Aug 2007 -Dec 2008

Bob Bales Jan 2009 - Dec 2010

Roger Norfolk Jan 2011 - Dec 2012

Bob Bales Jan 2013 - Dec 2022

Jason Achenbach Jan 2023 -

Where do I get the stuff?

We have found several things that help us along. If you want to buy a leather vest, http://leatherup.com/ is a good site and gives a discount if you use the Online Discount Code of 55632

When you go to buy your patches for your vest, they are only allowed if from Emblem Sales. Here is the link to patches http://emblem.legion.org/Patches/products/275/ The guidelines are pretty loose overall. To hit the requirements, you need only a small American flag, that goes on the left front of the vest (Product Number 820.400 at a cost of $1.50 or so) and a big back patch. Get the big back patch (Product Number 720.402X) that allows printing underneath. You would need to get the printing "Iowa Chapter" and underneath that "Marion Post 298". The headgear of choice is the beret (Product Number 705.301) but most don't have that. We're not too crazy over hats, but would want them for ceremonial purposes. A ball cap with the Rider patch would be accepted, and not many of us have that.

One goal of our Chapter is to help raise funds for the Legacy Scholarship. The Legacy Scholarship Fund is an effort by the American Legion to help provide a college education for any child who's mother or father has died while on active duty since Sep 11th, 2001, or child of a parent with a 50% rated disability or higher. One of the Riders fundraising efforts is the annual Legacy Run which is open to anyone to ride. The ride is from various points around the US to the National Convention. In 2012, 6 of our 13 members rode from Niagara Falls to Indianapolis for this worthy cause. In 2014 the route was from Indianapolis to Charlotte and 3 of us participated. This is one of our primary actions to make contributions to those in need. 2019 is the 12th Legacy Run. So far we have had at least one rider in every Legacy Run. 2019 was from Florida to Indianapolis. 2020 - well, Covid! 2021 was from Rogers, AR to Phoenix. 2022 was from Mobile to Milwaukee.

We are quite proud of what our little band has raised for the Legacy Scholarship Fund, especially when our maximum size was 33 and we normally number under 20.

More information can be found here. https://www.legion.org/scholarships/legacy

Legacy Scholarship 2020 Annual Report Information

Year Amount awarded Number of scholarships awarded

2017 $671,892 55 (between $586 and $20,000 each)

2018 $744,436 41 (between $1,770 and $20,000 each)

2019 $1,122,624 57 (between $2,298 and $20,000 each)

2020 $667,931 35 (between $5,634 and $20,000 each)

Total awarded 2004 - 2020 $3,699,564

Total scholarships awarded 401

Below are the pictures of the Marion Riders giving donations to this fund.

The American Legion Legacy Scholarship and Legacy Run are important to the Chapter

Below is a list of the Runs and who has attended

2008 $500

Duane Pipho

2009 $2,218

Roger Norfolk

2010 $1,902.93

Duane Pipho

2011 $2,768.43

Roger Norfolk

2012 $4,000

Duane and Bobbie Pipho, Jim Sova, Mike Etzel, Roger Norfolk

2013 $4,000

Mike Etzel, Roger Norfolk

2014 $3,600

Mike Etzel, Duane and Bobbie Pipho, Roger Norfolk

2015 $4,067.45

Roger Norfolk

2016 $3,000

Mike Etzel

2017 $3,000

Duane Pipho, Roger Norfolk

2018 $3,000

Roger Norfolk

2019 $3,000

Roger Norfolk

2020 had no run.

Chapter 298 donated $1,000

2021 $1,070

Jorge Pena, Roger Norfolk

2022 $4,466.31

Roger Norfolk

2023 $2,125

Roger, Robert Demastus, Cheryl King

Total so far $43,468.12

Following are just some pictures of us out riding and such.

18 Feb 2024 Jason and Lori making donation to our Scouts

9 March 2024 Double Donation to Camp Courageous

Dec 11 2023

Sponsor a Boy's State Attendee

Lori and Jason making donations for Riders and Auxiliary

Jason making donation to Willis Dady Homeless shelter

On a ride - May 2022

16 Nov 2023 Donation to the Freedom Foundation

Sep 17 2022 Donation to the Auxiliary Unit 298 School Supplies project

Carl Kerschenske is shown with Aaron Schultz, the 19 year-old Kirkwood student who was noted on TV and the newspapers for cleaning veterans headstones in local cemeteries. Riders Chapter 298 voted to donate $200 for his cleaning supplies. Carl gave him an additional $50 at the donation presentation.

From left: Mark Clark - Chairman of the National American Legion Riders Committee and Senior Road Captain of the 2022 Legacy Scholarship Run, Roger Norfolk, Post 298, Kathy Daudistel - National American Legion Auxiliary President, Michael Fox - National Sons of the American Legion Commander, and Paul Dillard - National American Legion Commander. Roger presented the total contributions of the Post 298 American Legion Family of $4,466.31. Total contributions for 2022 set a new record of 1.32 million dollars.