Membership: We’re All in This Together for Our Veterans

Membership: We’re All in This Together for Our Veterans

Thank you to everyone who promoted National Membership Week and for sharing all your outreach activities on social media. It was very impressive to see all the amazing and fun activities many of you planned during that week. Just remember, even though there are two designated National Membership Weeks this year, our recruiting efforts need to be ongoing.

We are coming up to our second quarterly milestone on December 31, 2015. All Departments must be at least 90% in membership on or before December 31st in order to receive the $300 monetary award. Many Departments are almost there and others are working hard to get there. I hope all Departments will receive the next quarterly monetary award.

I’d like to congratulate the 11 Departments who reached the first milestone of reaching 80% by September 30th. You will receive $250 for reaching that goal. Your Department took the challenge, accepted no excuses and followed through by reaching the goal. In addition to the 11 Departments who reached 80% by September 30, another 14 have reached 80%, bringing the total to 25 Departments who have reached 80%. I look forward to awarding Departments with even more money when you reach 90% by December 31st!

We are a little behind in membership. In order to break the long overdue record we are all going to have to work a little harder. We need to continue recruiting new members and we need existing members to pay their dues if they have not done so.Remember if a member does not have their dues paid by December 31, 2015 they will NOT be a member in good standing and cannot come into your January meeting until they are current.

The time has come for us to step-up our game. All Presidents made a pledge to our veterans at National Convention that they would be 100% in membership this year. Please do not let them down; they were there for you now you need to be there for them. This Veterans Day, let us show our veterans that we are not only thankful for their service, but also grateful for the opportunity to pay them back by building a strong network of veteran advocates – the VFW Auxiliary.

We are all in this together and we WILL break a National record. I believe in you. However, the only way for this to happen is if we work hard as a team and keep recruiting. Many Departments are working very hard on membership and exceeding their goals while others are struggling. We need to show our veterans we care about them and follow through on our commitment we made to them. If we are strong, our strength will speak for itself. If you need help, ask! The time is now to contact your Conference Chairman for ideas, visit the National website for resources, and/or contact me for any further assistance you may need. Do not wait until the last minute to ask for help. 

Overall, the end result of our hard work is really about making lives better for veterans and their families. We can do this by building the biggest and best Auxiliary ever in the history of this organization.

This Thanksgiving, show your thanks by recruiting a new member or paying the dues of an existing member. In addition, challenge a new member to sign up just one new member. If you ask, they will more than likely come through for you.

We have nine months to go to break a record and to show the world how much we care about our veterans, their families, and their children.

Thank you for your service to this organization. I am so honored to be on this journey with each of you. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!