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. 
​
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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​Dearest Members -
Well, here we go! We had a great turnout for the first
meeting of the year - 25 members, new and returning, were there for what I
hoped would be an exciting, well-organized meeting. It was exciting, but I
didn’t feel organized - I had everything mapped out in my head, but it didn’t
spill out the way I wanted it to. My intention with these monthly emails will
be to clarify and pass on info on what we have planned, activities to
participate in, if you are interested, and keep everyone abreast of what is
going on, whether you make it to the meeting or not.  Before I forget, I want
to pass on the following:
A message from Lori Soutar
Lori was kind enough to let me bump her announcement from the meeting,
because we were long on time. She wanted to thank each and every one of
you for all the kindness and caring you showed her over her recent serious
medical issues. I know you all join me when I say we are so glad she came
through her surgery so well, and is back with us as unit treasurer. She had
some hoops to jump through her first time in that role, and if that didn’t
chase her off, nothing will. I look forward to serving with her this year.
New Meeting Procedures
We have implemented a couple of new things to make our meetings more
streamlined for time as well as more interactive for you attending. We are
making sure we follow parliamentary procedure as much as possible, and
want to keep our reporting tight and to the point. The announcement
portion of the meeting will be expanded to allow for not only notice about
upcoming events, but important things that are happening in our member’s
lives. I welcome any announcement about new grandbabies, great kids,
birthdays, weddings, etc - even the sad news - if it is important to you, and
you want to share, we want to know too. 
I’ve started an incentive game to encourage you all to come to the
meetings - there will be things to do to earn bonus cards that, in May 2019,
you can redeem for a discount on your membership next year. You have to
earn twenty, and the only way to accumulate that amount is to come to the meetings. You must also read this email, as I have a secret “card” word
buried in all this text, and in order to get a card, you have to find it, write it
down, and bring it to the next meeting.
Fundraising
I am always on the lookout to find ways we can support the Auxiliary and its
programs without always having to open your wallet. This month, I found
out that if you shop on Amazon, you can raise money for the National
Auxiliary Foundation by shopping through Amazon Smile. A small
percentage of what you spend goes to the charity from each order you
make. It’s easy to register your Amazon account into this program, and you
still get to use your Prime benefits and such. I had the info passed out at
the last meeting, and I hope to get it permanently listed to the website.
Website
We are really planning to expand the website - it has been an underused
tool that has great potential for keeping our members well-informed as well
as getting news of our programs out to the public. Kudos to Mary
Hernandez for all the hard work getting this going. The website address is
losalamitosunit716.org. If you want to send an email to the unit, our
address is ​ unit716losalamitos@gmail.com​ . If you have questions or
suggestions for or about website content, you can email Mary at the above
address.
Activities
Kelly Huff, Membership chairman, has upped the ante to encourage all our
renewing members to get their dues paid early. If you pay your dues by the
next meeting in August, and if you come to the meeting, you will get three
cards towards your membership discount. I have also decided to get in on
this by offering the first 15 renewing members who can show their 2019
cards or payment receipt at the August meeting a commemorative Auxiliary
Centennial pin. But remember - you must be at the meeting to claim this
bonus.
We will be having a Card Party at the Post on Wednesday August 22 at 6
pm - no, not those kind of cards. Past Chaplain Carrie Taylor has many,
many blank greeting and note cards that need to be put to good use.
We will package, sign, and disperse these cards in a variety of ways,
contributing to more than one of our programs in just one evening. (Bonus
card word for August is “Organization”) Want to get involved? Come and
spend the evening having some fun and making a difference.
Hope to see you all at the membership meeting on Monday, August 13th,
at 7pm - our theme for that meeting will be Getting Organized, Part Two. I
have every intention of completing my organizational plan (yes, I can hear
the snickers). See you all soon!
Deborah Driscoll
Unit 716 President

​

NEXT MEETING 
MONDAY AUGUST 13 @7PM

​Christina Garcia Iniguez
Marcy Garcia        Connie Garcia Jeffries     
Joanna Garcia 
Anna Escudero
Stephanie Culpepper
Kirsten Hamman
​Renee Carson

Charlotte Carbaugh
Sally Cook
Skyler Cox
Danielle Drucker
Mary Healy
Donna Kirkwood
Leslie Littrell
Daiyieng Martin
Cynthia Mayfield
Concepcion Mesta
Heather Paetsch
Ameryn Smith
Dana Tull​

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Kathryn Campbell
Samantha Cocks
Nadine Concepcion-Reyes
Marion Dodge
Sara Donnahoo
Anna Escudero
Carol Huntsman
Peggy Martin
Beatrice Nikola
Martha Pacheco
Marji Rederburg
Jennifer Spears
Allison Stevens
Julia Tessenear
Emma Toal
Barbara Wallace
Martha White

​

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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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