06/10/2026
Michigan passport program boosts camaraderie and membership!😎
https://www.legion.org/information-center/news/dispatch/2026/june/michigan-passport-program-boosts-camaraderie-and-membership?utm_campaign=Source+Code+Here&utm_content=MEMBERSHIP&utm_term=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Adestra
Dispatch-
The new program encourages Legion Family members to visit different posts statewide and collect stamps from each visit.
Roger Deaton saw American Legion posts closing in his state of Michigan and immediately began to think how he could change it. As a former supply chain manager in the auto industry, Deaton traveled the world and proudly filled a passport with stamps from all the countries he visited. This sparked an idea.
He kicked off a Michigan American Legion passport program in January that encourages Legion Family members to visit posts in the state and collect an official stamp in their passport. Hundreds of Michigan Legion Family members and posts are participating.
“This is about camaraderie,” said Deaton, Department of Michigan 2nd vice commander and Americanism chairman. “If I get the more than 100,000 (Legion Family) members visiting posts in Michigan, I’ll never shut down another post. And we’re promoting the family. When I walk into a post, I bring 11 members. I have grandkids, my wife, my daughter, my sons. We're going to grow with the family – the Auxiliary, the Sons and the Legion Riders are going to help us grow.”
Deaton didn’t have to search far for the passport and stamp. American Legion Emblem Sales sells Legion-branded passports and passport stamps for posts. He called Emblem Sales customer service to share his idea. And to prepare them for an influx of orders.
“I said, ‘I’m going to kick this off and it’s going to be huge,’” Deaton said. “Because we need this. We have to get everyone fired up and people coming back to the posts.”
Deaton’s American Legion business card features a QR code that takes you directly to Emblem Sales to order the passport and post stamp. He hands these out during his travels to posts throughout the department when he’s collecting stamps for his Legion passport.
“I like to visit posts; I visit two or three a week because I love it,” he said.
While visiting a Legion post, Deaton receives a tour, learns about the post history, programs and community outreach, and takes photos to promote the visited post on his personal page.
“People either want to be part of the Legion, or they need the Legion. You have to be able to have both,” he said. “You have to have events, you have to have strong programs that brings members in, and you're going to find members that need us because of our service officers.
“The American Legion has so many programs, and I tell posts that you can’t do them all so pick one or two programs that you're good at. And your volunteers and members will come.”
Deaton is incentivizing Legion Family members with the passport program. Participants who collect 10 post stamps in their passport receive a hat pin. The pin looks like a Michigan license plate with the number 10 in the middle.
“The passport program is working,” Deaton said. “The camaraderie is off the hook. It’s a thing now.”
And news of Michigan’s passport program is catching on with other departments too.
“If we want to be sustainable, we got to come up with these fun programs. We've got to have strong programs. I love the Legion. I love our family.”
