American Legion Auxiliary Unit 593
Minutes for November 5, 2009
Regular Meeting
The meeting of Prunedale Unit 593 was called to order by President Koni Dearman at 7:10 pm on November 5, 2009 in the Lower Hall. Opening rituals were performed. All officers were present except Chaplain, Sergeant-at-Arms, and Marshall. Linda Shroeder sat is as Chaplain and Renee Yaqub sat in as Sergeant-at-Arms. We had a quorum. The minutes from the October 2009 meeting were read and placed on filed.
Reports:
President- Koni presented the unit with a Certificate of Appreciation from the Monterey Bay Vets for making the sandwiches and brownies. She also read off statistics that the American Legion Auxiliary have had in the past year. Connie Raya noted that the stats were formed based on the numbers listed on end of year reports.
1st Vice: Diana informed us that we currently have 64 into department with 1 Junior member. We have 2 new members to vote on: Bertha Valdez and Lori Retz. Diana made a motion to accept the two new members. Motion Seconded by Noni. Motion was carried.
Chaplain- Liz Woodard passed away. A Celebration was held at Post 121 on Oct 24th. Linda McIntyre is struggling. She’s had 3 surgeries and a graft. The graft did not hold and she got an infection so they had to remove it.
Children and Youth- Liz reported that the kid’s Halloween Party was a success. We had around 25 kids. The kids painted shirts and wood figures. We had a jump house. Ellen brought 2 horses, a mini goat, and her puppy. The kids got to ride the horses and we got lots of pictures.
Girl’s State- Noni discussed the increased costs of the Girls State program this year. It used to be $300 per girl, and this year it is being increased to $400. Stefanie asked if this increased was going to help cover the costs of transportation. Noni said no, and brought up that as a district we should put together a bus to get the girls to Girls State. One of our girls wasn’t going to be able to get there last year, if it wasn’t for the other girl’s mother.
District President Visit:
District President, Michelle Soares attended our meeting today. District Leadership Chairman and Deputy to Palo Alto Connie Raya, District 2nd Vice Renee Yaqub, District Historian Eleanor Bray, and District Distinguished Guest Chairman Margarita Crouch were present. Michelle Soares asked about our Department Pins and Junior Conference Tickets. Renee has both, but is not sure what happened to the Junior Conference Tickets. We decided to just pay for them.
Michelle then mentioned the tragedy at Fort Hood. A Sergeant killed 12 and injured 31 people. She asked that we keep them and their families in our prayers.
District 28 is known as Treasure Island and the theme song is Guitars and Tiki Bars by Kenny Chesney.
Michelle told us some of her history with the American Legion Auxiliary. She had never heard of the organization until 6 years ago when her mother wanted her to take her to get her 20 year pin. Since then she has held me chairmanships and been many officers in both the unit and the district.
She then discussed the Tax Status of units and how we must file a 990 with the IRS every year. We must also have our own EIN.
Michelle brought up the Across the board donations and discussed how important they are. Across the board donations are Americanism, Children and Youth, Education, PPP, Gift Shop/Patient Remembrance, and VA&R. The following programs are in the hole: Education, PPP, Gift Shop/Patient Remembrance, and VA&R. It is recommended that 50% to 75% of your money be spent on donations.
The Auxiliary has 6 Basic Programs that hold us together: Americanism, Children and Youth, Education, Legislative, Poppy, & VA&R. Membership is the foundation of our programs.
Connie Raya then discussed the VA&R program. She then mentioned that the best way to learn about the programs was to look at the past years reports. They very rarely change so they will likely be the same questions this year.
Koni Dearman then presented Michelle with a gift. It was a patriotic necklace.
New/Unfinished Business:
Liz mentioned that the Kid’s Christmas Party will be held on December 19th and that we needed to get with the Legion to get the money from the cuss jar this year.
Noni brought up the idea of making Tamales. We decided to make them on December 6th at noon. Noni is planning on cooking the meat ahead of time at home, so that we don’t spend all day at the post.
Stefanie made schnitzel for the last dinner and we sold out in 45 minutes again. Since everybody raved about it Stefanie has decided to make it twice a year instead of only once.
Diana discussed having food donation barrels for Christ for needy families. We discussed the idea and decided Diana and Marilyn are going to work together to put this together. We are going to put a paper behind the par for people to sign up for food. There will be a couple of days delay between when they sign up and when they receive food for us to process what they need and what we have.
Marilyn discussed bringing back the raffle before dinners for November and December. This would be an easy way for people to go through things before the holidays and for us to get a little extra money.
Diana brought up that we are having a membership drive at the Early Bird Dinner and in March.
Renee let us know that Jim Scarpa donated $11 that he won at the legion meeting raffle for the Christmas Party.
November 5th- Thanksgiving Dinner at VA Palo Alto Hospital
November 8th- Veteran’s Memorial Service at Veteran’s Hill
November 11th- Veteran’s Day
November 14th- Early Bird Dinner and Membership Drive
November 15th- District Meeting at Post 121
November 20th- Auxiliary Dinner- Stew and Cornbread
November 22nd- Auxiliary Breakfast
December 5th- Christmas Party at VA Palo Alto Hospital
December 6th- Unit making Tamales
The next meeting will be held in the Lower Hall on Thursday, December 3rd at 7:00 p.m. Meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m.
Minutes for November 5, 2009
Regular Meeting
The meeting of Prunedale Unit 593 was called to order by President Koni Dearman at 7:10 pm on November 5, 2009 in the Lower Hall. Opening rituals were performed. All officers were present except Chaplain, Sergeant-at-Arms, and Marshall. Linda Shroeder sat is as Chaplain and Renee Yaqub sat in as Sergeant-at-Arms. We had a quorum. The minutes from the October 2009 meeting were read and placed on filed.
Reports:
President- Koni presented the unit with a Certificate of Appreciation from the Monterey Bay Vets for making the sandwiches and brownies. She also read off statistics that the American Legion Auxiliary have had in the past year. Connie Raya noted that the stats were formed based on the numbers listed on end of year reports.
1st Vice: Diana informed us that we currently have 64 into department with 1 Junior member. We have 2 new members to vote on: Bertha Valdez and Lori Retz. Diana made a motion to accept the two new members. Motion Seconded by Noni. Motion was carried.
Chaplain- Liz Woodard passed away. A Celebration was held at Post 121 on Oct 24th. Linda McIntyre is struggling. She’s had 3 surgeries and a graft. The graft did not hold and she got an infection so they had to remove it.
Children and Youth- Liz reported that the kid’s Halloween Party was a success. We had around 25 kids. The kids painted shirts and wood figures. We had a jump house. Ellen brought 2 horses, a mini goat, and her puppy. The kids got to ride the horses and we got lots of pictures.
Girl’s State- Noni discussed the increased costs of the Girls State program this year. It used to be $300 per girl, and this year it is being increased to $400. Stefanie asked if this increased was going to help cover the costs of transportation. Noni said no, and brought up that as a district we should put together a bus to get the girls to Girls State. One of our girls wasn’t going to be able to get there last year, if it wasn’t for the other girl’s mother.
District President Visit:
District President, Michelle Soares attended our meeting today. District Leadership Chairman and Deputy to Palo Alto Connie Raya, District 2nd Vice Renee Yaqub, District Historian Eleanor Bray, and District Distinguished Guest Chairman Margarita Crouch were present. Michelle Soares asked about our Department Pins and Junior Conference Tickets. Renee has both, but is not sure what happened to the Junior Conference Tickets. We decided to just pay for them.
Michelle then mentioned the tragedy at Fort Hood. A Sergeant killed 12 and injured 31 people. She asked that we keep them and their families in our prayers.
District 28 is known as Treasure Island and the theme song is Guitars and Tiki Bars by Kenny Chesney.
Michelle told us some of her history with the American Legion Auxiliary. She had never heard of the organization until 6 years ago when her mother wanted her to take her to get her 20 year pin. Since then she has held me chairmanships and been many officers in both the unit and the district.
She then discussed the Tax Status of units and how we must file a 990 with the IRS every year. We must also have our own EIN.
Michelle brought up the Across the board donations and discussed how important they are. Across the board donations are Americanism, Children and Youth, Education, PPP, Gift Shop/Patient Remembrance, and VA&R. The following programs are in the hole: Education, PPP, Gift Shop/Patient Remembrance, and VA&R. It is recommended that 50% to 75% of your money be spent on donations.
The Auxiliary has 6 Basic Programs that hold us together: Americanism, Children and Youth, Education, Legislative, Poppy, & VA&R. Membership is the foundation of our programs.
Connie Raya then discussed the VA&R program. She then mentioned that the best way to learn about the programs was to look at the past years reports. They very rarely change so they will likely be the same questions this year.
Koni Dearman then presented Michelle with a gift. It was a patriotic necklace.
New/Unfinished Business:
Liz mentioned that the Kid’s Christmas Party will be held on December 19th and that we needed to get with the Legion to get the money from the cuss jar this year.
Noni brought up the idea of making Tamales. We decided to make them on December 6th at noon. Noni is planning on cooking the meat ahead of time at home, so that we don’t spend all day at the post.
Stefanie made schnitzel for the last dinner and we sold out in 45 minutes again. Since everybody raved about it Stefanie has decided to make it twice a year instead of only once.
Diana discussed having food donation barrels for Christ for needy families. We discussed the idea and decided Diana and Marilyn are going to work together to put this together. We are going to put a paper behind the par for people to sign up for food. There will be a couple of days delay between when they sign up and when they receive food for us to process what they need and what we have.
Marilyn discussed bringing back the raffle before dinners for November and December. This would be an easy way for people to go through things before the holidays and for us to get a little extra money.
Diana brought up that we are having a membership drive at the Early Bird Dinner and in March.
Renee let us know that Jim Scarpa donated $11 that he won at the legion meeting raffle for the Christmas Party.
November 5th- Thanksgiving Dinner at VA Palo Alto Hospital
November 8th- Veteran’s Memorial Service at Veteran’s Hill
November 11th- Veteran’s Day
November 14th- Early Bird Dinner and Membership Drive
November 15th- District Meeting at Post 121
November 20th- Auxiliary Dinner- Stew and Cornbread
November 22nd- Auxiliary Breakfast
December 5th- Christmas Party at VA Palo Alto Hospital
December 6th- Unit making Tamales
The next meeting will be held in the Lower Hall on Thursday, December 3rd at 7:00 p.m. Meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m.
