Chief of Staff and Extension: Help Stop the “Homelessness” in Our Auxiliaries

Help Stop the “Homelessness” in our Auxiliaries

Our Departments are already feeling the loss of Auxiliaries as Special Orders come from National Headquarters announcing Auxiliary closures. The closures may render our Auxiliary Brothers and Sisters “homeless”; that is without belonging to a working Auxiliary. How does this happen?

• Failure to elect and install officers for 2019-2020 per Sections 804A and 806A of the VFW Auxiliary Bylaws.
• Failure to hold regular meetings with a quorum present for transaction of business per Sections 210 and 212 of the VFW Auxiliary Bylaws.
• Cancelled by direct order of the VFW Commander-in-Chief. The VFW Auxiliary is dropped from the rolls of the National Organization due to the cancellation of a Post.

There are time constraints to see that members are relocated to a Healthy Auxiliary.

If any one of the above examples is happening to your Auxiliary, please do take the initiative:

• To respond to letters from your Auxiliary or from your Department President or Secretary by letting the sender know what Auxiliary you will want to transfer into.
• Call on your fellow Auxiliary members to be sure they too will respond to communication so they make their choice of the Auxiliary to transfer into.
• To not be “homeless”! Not responding and stating where you want to be transferred to will list you as a Member at Large in your Department.
  • No Auxiliary home and family
  • No voice
  • Not getting your service to veterans volunteer time counted in the Department Programs
  • While your membership stays on Department rolls, your Districts (if your Department has them) bear the burden of making up membership numbers from defunct Auxiliaries.

Your Auxiliary is not closing? Homelessness doesn’t concern you or affect you? Why should you worry about “homeless” members?

• As an Auxiliary member, you should choose to concern yourself to bring members back into the fold, into your VFW Auxiliary home, into your Auxiliary family.
• By working the Member at Large list for your area, you are helping by being part of the solution!
• Bringing in a Member at Large to your Auxiliary may help your membership numbers.
• It may give you another volunteer, or a new Chairman, or even a new Officer down the road.
• There are members (especially Life Members) on the Member at Large list that may not even realize their Auxiliary has folded.

As an Auxiliary member in good standing, you could keep the homeless numbers down. Here’s how:

• Offer to be the team lead for the Member at Large project for your Auxiliary
  • Recruit fellow members to contact those on the Member at Large list.
  • No one needs to go at a task alone. Besides, it’s a great time to get to know your Brothers and Sisters under different circumstances besides in a business meeting.
• Assist your Auxiliary by going through your Department Member at Large list.
• Have your Auxiliary format a letter inviting a Member at Large to join your VFW Auxiliary Family and give some examples of how your Auxiliary bring our National programs into the community, making a difference for our veterans and their families.
  • Let them know the Department and National is under new leadership.
  • Let them know if the Auxiliary is under new leadership.
  • Let them know some of the National Programs areas of emphasis and how this is the year of “Serving Our Veterans with Aloha!”
  • Host a Family Freedom Festival to show them visually what the Programs mean to your Auxiliary and to our veterans.
  • Have your Auxiliary host a “Welcome Back Night” of training for members from the Member at Large list to show them all the resources MALTA and the National website holds for us.

Let your Department Chief of Staff know that your Auxiliary is working this aspect of Extension. Work together with your Membership and Mentoring for Leadership Chairmen. Let me know if your Auxiliary has taken up the “homeless” cause.

Send your contact information, Auxiliary number, Department and a brief write-up to kaleoran@aol.com.

Help us stop the “homelessness” in our Auxiliaries this year!