OHIO WINS FIRST PLACE VOD

VFW ANNOUNCES VOICE OF DEMOCRACY
SCHOLARSHIP WINNER


Kansas City, Mo., March 8, 2010 – Madison Mullen, a senior at Olentangy Liberty High School was named the first place national winner and recipient of the $30,000 VFW T. C. Selman Memorial Scholarship Award in the 2009-2010 Voice of Democracy Scholarship Program during the VFW National Voice of Democracy Conference on March 7, at the Hyatt Regency Crystal City Hotel, Washington, D.C. VFW Post 3297 and its Ladies Auxiliary in Delaware, Ohio., sponsored Madison.

“Since 1947, VFW’s Voice of Democracy competition has successfully inspired high school students across the country and provided them an opportunity and a means to put into words, their patriotic convictions and how it impacts their lives. We take great pride in this program and are proud of each student who submitted an essay,” said VFW Commander-in-Chief Thomas J. Tradewell, Sr. “We had so many outstanding essays, this was arguably the toughest year for our judges.”

The Voice of Democracy program requires the entrants to write and record a three-to-five minute script on a patriotic theme. “Does America Still Have Heroes?” was this year’s theme. Just over 50,000 students participate in the program worldwide.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. is a nonprofit veterans' service organization composed of combat veterans and those who currently serve on active duty or in the Guard and Reserves. Founded in 1899 and chartered by Congress in 1936, the VFW is the nation's largest organization of war veterans and is one of its oldest veterans' organizations. With 2.2 million members located in 7,800 VFW Posts worldwide, the VFW and its Auxiliaries are dedicated to "honor the dead by helping the living" through veterans service, legislative initiatives, youth scholarships, Buddy Poppy and national military service programs. Annually, the VFW and its Auxiliaries contribute more than 13 million hours of community service to the nation. For more information or to join, visit the organization's Web site at www.vfw.org.