We are wives, mothers, grandmothers, sisters,
daughters & granddaughters
of American Legion members, those who have served America with pride and honor.
We are The American Legion Auxiliary!

​Mission Statement
In the spirit of Service, Not Self, the mission of the American Legion Auxiliary is to support The American Legion and to honor the sacrifice of those who serve by enhancing the lives of our veterans, military, and their families, both at home and abroad. For God and Country, we advocate for veterans, educate our citizens, mentor youth, and promote patriotism, good citizenship, peace and security. 
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Vision Statement
The vision of the American Legion Auxiliary is to support The American Legion while becoming the premier service organization and foundation of every community providing support for our veterans, our military, and their families by shaping a positive future in an atmosphere of fellowship, patriotism, peace and security.

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Unit 716 Newsletter - April 2019

Dearest members - it is with such a heavy heart that I must tell you one of the greatest ladies this unit will ever know, Joan Claytor, passed away on Saturday. Joan, along with Karen Killen and Sissy Harris, was a driving force behind the past success of this unit, and she was a great mentor and supporter for all of us. She was unit president from 1988-1991, and again from 1997-2000. For many years, she served as membership, VA and R, and Girls State chairman, all at the same time, and she was also active on a District level, especially with Girls State. Her dedication to the unit was absolute, even facing down a post commander who felt she didn’t know her place; she stood firm, and we all still benefit from her determination to see the Auxiliary respected for what we do. She was a gracious and genteel lady, in every sense of that word; she was strong and committed and caring and had an impish sense of humor. Her passing closes a great chapter in our unit’s recent history, and I hope we can all do our best to emulate her service and devotion to the cause, and continue the legacy these great ladies left in our care.

I can hear her laugh in my head, and I can’t believe we won’t get to hear it again.

As I write this, arrangements are pending, and we will keep everyone informed about the family’s plans and what we can do to help. We will be draping the charter on Tuesday evening, and have the memorial meeting planned for June. I am asking Cindy to liaison with the family for us, so we can handle this with the utmost deference to their feelings at this sad time.

In the meantime, we still have business to attend to.

We will be voting in a new executive board at the meeting in May, so I want to encourage EVERYONE to attend. If you would like to run for a seat on the board, you must have someone nominate you. Please come to the meeting prepared for this; there will be no open discussion about possible nominees at the meeting. If you wish to run for office but absolutely cannot make the meeting, please make sure your name will be put up for nomination by another member, then send me an email, in formal letter form, stating that you will accept the position if elected. Also, please bring your current membership card to the meeting - only members in good standing are allowed to vote and run for office. One more thing - please do not run for office unless you can fulfill your obligations for the whole year (barring any emergency, of course).

We will also be voting on delegates to attend the convention, held in Ontario the last weekend in June. This year, our delegates will be considering the following resolutions (paraphrased):
           1. Members have been paying a $1.00 assessment for a department                 publication that has not been forthcoming for several years. This                   money has been put into a restricted account. Since this                                 publication, if resurrected, can be sent out by email, and since the                 Department general fund is lacking, the resolution calls for the                       restricted fund to be redirected to the general fund for                                    administrative costs. There will be no additional cost to members.                  Also, starting next membership year, we will be paying to                                department a $22 per capita for senior members, and a $ per                        capita for Junior members. This means we keep $8/$6 of the                          $30/$10 we currently pay. This per capita increase passed in 2018.

          2. An increase in delegate fees, from $20 to $30, is up for vote. The                  last increase was in 2010, and this new increase will take effect                      next year. The reason for the increase is to cover convention costs.

          3. The delegates fees will be kept in a new restricted fund, for                            convention use only.

​I include these resolutions in this newsletter because I want you to have the info ahead of time. We have an archaic rule about reading these resolutions twice before we vote on them, but not all of you will be at the meetings so maybe we can count this as one reading. We as members vote yea or nay on these resolutions, then the delegates take that vote to convention.

May is Poppy Month. This year, we will be using May as our kickoff month for the Centennial celebration, tying it in with our poppy program. Every year the Auxiliary is in charge of the Memorial Day BBQ, and this year we are ramping it up to include the public. We hope to have many items to raffle, to increase the donations to the Poppy fund; this has proven to be successful in the past. If any member would like to put together a gift basket or other item to include in the raffle drawing that day, please let me know. The BBQ will be on Memorial Day, Monday May 27, from 2-5 pm. Anyone available to assist on that day - please let me know that too. We will be discussing this at the meeting.

There will be no more bonus words to look for. Instead, please bring all the cards you have been collecting (you must have 12 or more) - I will pass out envelopes so you can turn them in. Everyone who reads this and brings their cards in for collection at the May meeting will get one additional card for their total.

There will be a planning meeting for the Centennial celebration on the first Monday in May, at 6 pm, for anyone interested in attending. The next membership meeting will be May 13th at 7pm.

I leave you with this,

“It takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, and a lifetime to forget them.”

Deborah 

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NEXT MEETING 
MONDAY
JUNE 10 @7PM

Renee Stasiak
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Los Alamitos Unit 716 Officers 2018-2019

President - Deborah Driscoll
First Vice - Kelly Huff
Second Vice - Susana Stevens
Secretary - Leslie Goneya
Treasurer - Lori Soutar
Sgt at Arms and Historian - Krista Young
Marshall - Joanie Harris
Parliamentarian - Mary Hernandez
E-Board
Cheryl Eubanks
Barbara Schrack
Joanie Redman
Junior Past president - Irene Hallam

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SUPPORT THE AMERICAN LEGION AUXILIARY UNIT 716 LOS ALAMITOS. Thank you for your generosity. Without the support of our generous donors, the American Legion Auxiliary could not maintain the range of work undertaken by our organization. To those of you who joined us in service to our veterans, military and their families this year, we extend a special word of thanks.

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