Chief of Staff and Extension: Member Awards with YOU in Mind!

Member Awards with YOU in Mind!

Members are invited to earn two (2) Extension awards this year! Challenge yourself and take President Peggy Haake up on a chance to take home the prizes!

Both awards require a member to nominate a fellow member, complete and send the form to their Department Chief of Staff for judging. Nomination forms can be found here: www.vfwauxiliary.org/resouces

AWARD No. 1: MONEY, MONEY, MONEY

$50.00 and a Citation to one member in the nation who assisted in revitalizing/rejuvenating a failing or weak Auxiliary and utilized Building on the VFW Auxiliary Foundation in their efforts. Note: Nominated member must be different than the nominated mentor for the Mentoring for Leadership Program. Auxiliary entries are due to the Department Chief of Staff by March 31, 2020. One entry from each Department Chief of Staff is due to the National Chief of Staff by April 30, 2020.

The winning entry will be announced at the 2020 National Convention in Reno, Nevada.

Here are a few Q & As to help in the nomination process:

Q.: Who is allowed to nominate?
A.: Any member in good standing that has knowledge of or is part of an Auxiliary that was revitalized and rejuvenated. (Refer to Chief of Staff section in 2019-2020 National Program Book and to previous blogs that define revitalize and rejuvenate.)

Q.: Who may be nominated?
A.: Any Member in good standing that has met the written criteria on the nomination form for the 2019-2020 Program Year.

• A local, District, Department or National Officer may be the nominee.
• A Department Chairman may be the nominee.
• A member in good standing may be the nominee.
• A committee member on a Suspension team may be the nominee.

If more space is needed to provide details, please feel free to attach an additional page.

AWARD NO. 2 : CITATION, CITATION, CITATION  

CITATION  to any member at any level who presents to a VFW Bachelor Post using the “Why Having an Auxiliary Can Boost Your Post” PowerPoint and/or PDF and “Ten Top Reasons for Your Post to have an Auxiliary” information sheet available at www.vfwauxiliary.org/resources. Commander of that bachelor Post is to complete the form and submit it to the Department Chief of Staff by March 31, 2020. The Department Chief of Staff is to send in all completed forms to the National Chief of Staff by April 30, 2020. Citations will be mailed to the Department for presentation at Department Convention.

Here are a few Q & As to help in obtaining a citation:

Q.: The form asks for a presenter’s name. Who will that be?
A.: The presenter is any member in good standing who met with a Post and presented the PowerPoint or pdf version as named above and used the Top Ten Reasons for having an Auxiliary.

• Presenter may be a member serving at the local, District, Department or National level.
• Presentation did not have to be at a Post meeting or Post home; as long as Post members were present.

Q.: Why does the Post Commander complete and send in the completed form to the Department Chief of Staff?
A.: The Post Commander is the individual that can summon Post members to meet for the purpose of having a presentation made by an Auxiliary member.

Q.: Why does the form ask how the presentation was received of the Commander?
A.: The Commander is the one that will ask for a notice to be sent to the membership for the purpose of voting to have a VFW Auxiliary to their Post. If there was little to no interaction, the Commander may not send the notice if he finds Post members are not interested. If interaction with positive questions and positive discussion takes place, it will be an easier call for the Commander to make.

Q.: Why is the question, “Will the Post consider having an Auxiliary to their Post” asked? And then give a reason if the answer is no?
A.: For years we have had Chiefs of Staffs, District Presidents and Deputy Chiefs of Staff call on bachelor Posts and ask, “Would your Post like to have an Auxiliary?” The reply was no and most often the asking or the sharing of who we are and what we do went by the wayside until the following year.

• The responses in this area will hopefully be noted by the Department Chief of Staff and shared with next year’s leadership to build on the way we are asking, what tools need to be shared and how to better our “ask” to be heard by Post members.
• In the past we might have heard, “We don’t want to be bothered,” or “We don’t want trouble in our canteens.”
• Now, we need to speak face to face when asking to talk to Post members about the Auxiliary.
  • We have better tools to distribute that are much more interesting to look at.
  • We have males and females on both sides of the house which allows more members of a Post member’s family to join the Auxiliary and serve veterans and their families.

The challenge before the members is to print out these forms, contact a bachelor Post to get to speak with Post members and regardless of the outcome have the form completed and ensure that Post Commander sends it in.