Department

"Honor Their Service"

From 2018-2019 Department of Alaska President Debbie Lowndes

Happy Fall Everyone:

As my first official unit visitations began I was inspired to continue this year visiting as many units as possible. It is important to me to make sure our Auxiliary members know how important their contribution to our mission is, whether it is holding an officer position, running a chairmanship, donating to a bake sale or even just renewing their membership each year, every effort helps.

I am so proud of the ladies that have stepped up to be American Legion Auxiliary (ALA) program chairman this year. It is refreshing and invigorating to see the energy and enthusiasm they have to work their programs and pass that same enthusiasm on to each unit. Thank you to all of you for your dedication and hard work.

It is vital to keep our members engaged in our mission. As leaders in our units and communities we have to be mentors. We have to continue to teach our Juniors and new members what the American Legion Auxiliary is and why we matter. Everyone joined the ALA for a reason and most likely it was to belong to a meaningful organization that believes in “Service not Self”.

We must also think of the future of our Units – who is going to carry on when our current leadership steps down. Are we training our members about the ALA programs? Are we allowing our newer members to voice their opinions and asking them to chair events without micro-managing? We are only hurting ourselves and our units if that is not the case. In this day and age “that is how we’ve always done it” or “we tried that, it didn’t work” are not valid reasons for not allowing someone else with the drive and enthusiasm to try something new or try something again. Let someone make an attempt at updating or streamlining some of your processes if they want to try. A person once stated that our programs our outdated. I disagree, our programs are not outdated, they are the core and tradition of the American Legion Auxiliary. It is our approach in how we work the programs that need to be refreshed. Either think outside the box or make the box shiny, pretty and new again.

Visit: AlaskaLegionAuxiliary.org