Valorie Wrinkle

3855 NW Montgomery Avenue

Redmond, OR 97756

541-678-3894

vjwrinkle@gmail.com

2024-2025

MARCH 

 Hello to all my brothers and sisters of the VFW Auxiliary!

  As I write this, I am thinking about Spring being right around the corner (although Mother Nature can’t seem to make up her mind as to what season we are in right now!) and I realize that it is time to think about Auxiliary and District elections! I apologize for the length of this article, but you will see from reading the rest of this article that there are several items of business that need to be taken care of at your Spring meetings!

Districts: The Spring District Conventions will be here sooner than you think! Except for one being held in May, these meetings are held in April and will include elections of District officers. Auxiliary Secretaries should be prepared to submit a District Delegate form to the District Secretary prior to your District meeting or your Auxiliary will not have a vote at your District Convention. (See Auxiliaries section below for more information on District Delegates.)

Auxiliaries: Election of Delegates to the District Convention: You must elect one delegate and one alternate for every 15 members in good standing (or fraction thereof) of your Auxiliary at the time of election. This must be done no less than ten (10) calendar days before your District Convention, so I recommend that you take care of it at your March meeting to be sure you meet that requirement. There is no delegate fee for District. The Auxiliary Secretary must provide the list of delegates and alternates to the District Secretary prior to the District Convention. I will be emailing forms to all Auxiliary Secretaries. There is a ”fillable” form or if you want to fill them out by hand, there is a form for that as well.

             Election of Delegates to the Department Convention: You must elect one delegate and one alternate for every 15 members in good standing (or fraction thereof) of your Auxiliary at the time of election. This has to be done no less than thirty (30) calendar days before the Department Convention, so Department has given a deadline of April 30 to have your delegates submitted. Your Auxiliary Treasurer must send one copy of this form with your payment of delegate fees ($6 per delegate) to Department Treasurer Sonya Sallee. An additional copy of the delegate form must be sent to me as Department Secretary. Delegate fees must be paid on your Auxiliary President, District President if a member of your Auxiliary, any Department officers in your Auxiliary and Past Department Presidents in your Auxiliary in addition to your delegates. (This is all detailed on the form.)

            Election of Delegates to the National Convention: Per Section 305 of the National Bylaws, delegates and alternates to the National Convention shall be elected at the last regular meeting in April. You must elect one delegate and one alternate for every thirty-five (35) members in good standing (or fraction thereof) of your Auxiliary in good standing on March 31, 2025. Auxiliary Secretaries: you can find the form in MALTA under "Officer Resources.” You can then input the delegate information directly in MALTA (see "Manage Delegates” tab) but not until after April 1, 2025.  If you are unable to enter the information in MALTA, you will either need to send the form to National or send it to me and I will input it for you. Delegates must be in MALTA by May 31, 2025, or your Auxiliary will not have a vote at the National Convention.

             Election of Auxiliary Officers: Per Section 804B of the 2025 Bylaws, officers shall be nominated and elected at a regular business meeting in April. Are you ready to serve your Auxiliary in some capacity? If you have questions about the duties of any office, refer to your Podium Edition, Section 810 through Section 823. Page 18 through 23 of the yellow pages has even more information regarding the offices of Treasurer and Trustee. You can also find additional information on all offices in the "Building on the Auxiliary Foundation – Guidebook 1.” This book in available in MALTA for download and/or printing. And don’t be afraid to ask anyone in the Department line if you have questions about serving!

            Auxiliary Secretaries: Following election of officers, input the Installation information in MALTA (see Officers/Installation tab in Shortcuts.) Also send a copy of the Installation form to me so I can use the information to create the Roster for 2025-2026. Please send me the long form so I have all the necessary information. If for some reason you are unable to input the information in MALTA yourself, let me know when you send me the Installation form and I will do the input for you.

In closing, thank you for all you do for our veterans, their families and our organization and please feel free to contact me with any questions or concerns.