To help with perspective note that it was in March of 1920 that sixteen members of American Legion Post 297 in Philadelphia envisioned the 40 & 8. Our first Grande Promenade occurred in June and Joseph Breen was unanimously elected the first Chef de Chemin de Fer. Monetary support for the well being of the people of the United States began in 1922 at Promenade Nationale with the establishment of a child welfare project. In 1941 we began issuing Nurses Scholarships to deserving individuals willing to undergo formal training and make a career of that very noble profession. In 1946 an acute shortage of nurses came to the attention of our Voyageurs and a Nurses Training Program was initiated at the Voiture Locale level. In 1955 Voiture Nationale formally established our current Nurses Training Program.
The Nurses Training Program is primarily administered by Voiture Locales. There are no fixed guidelines for either the number of scholarships or the dollar value of the scholarships awarded. Many Locales have established their own guidelines specifying the quantity and value of each scholarship. For some the program remains stable from year-to-year and for others the program varies with the success of fund-raising efforts.
Our Program is administered by a National Committee that is headed by a National Directeur assisted by a Treasurer and four Sous Directeurs. They operate each year with two major objectives in mind: (1) fund raising through soliciting and receiving donations for the Nurses Training Pin (2) consolidation of report data from all of our Grand Voitures. In turn, each Grand has a Directeur Nurses Training that coordinates with each Voiture Locale within that Grande to promote pin distribution and donations, and to encourage every Locale to report the details of accomplishments of their program. The Voiture Locale report form and the Grande Voiture report form are available on line at http://www.fortyandeight.org in our Petite Communique. Every Voyageur is expected to support the Nurses Training Program through the contribution of time, talent, treasure, and/or prayers. Our lives depend on it.