MEETING THE NEEDS OF AUXILIARY MEMBERS

The Auxiliary Member Advisory Committee was formed by MOAA’s board of directors in March 2004 to help meet the needs of auxiliary members and encourage them to be more active in the association. The committee members–Carolyn Epling, chairperson, Albuquerque, N.M.; Margery LeTourneau, Alexandria, VA; Paula Muth, Belleville, NE; Anne Patton, Encinitas, CA, and Violet Smith, Clearwater, FL–all are auxiliaries and military widows.

Our efforts include examining MOAA’s programs, plans, and policies as they relate to the three Rs (recruitment, retention, and representation) of MOAA’s auxiliary members. Keeping in mind those three Rs, we focused on developing programs that would recruit, retain, and represent auxiliary members of MOAA. We identified the need to create a survivor outreach program. Over the past year (2004), the program has tracked down the names of military officers who have been killed since Sept 11, when the war on terrorism commenced, and enlisted council and chapter members to contact the surviving spouses to offer support.

To raise the visibility of auxiliary members, we will write periodic columns in The Affiliate and hope to publish items in Military Officer that cover topics affecting auxiliaries. We are also helping update MOAA’s survivor benefits guide, which will be published within the next year.

Another task is to develop an auxiliary outreach program that works with chapters to encourage spouses to consider themselves part of the MOAA family and to retain their auxiliary memberships if they lose their spouse.

Another element of the auxiliary outreach is to encourage auxiliaries to be more involved in MOAA’s legislative efforts. They can have an enormous impact on legislation, especially when the issues relate to survivors. The auxiliary committee participated in MOAA’s annual Storming the Hill event for the first time this past spring, and legislators and staff appreciated hearing directly from survivors. Nothing illustrates these issues better than hearing personal stories from the victims.

The Auxiliary Member Advisory Committee

Comments RSS