Club notes: American Legion Auxiliary

The 92nd annual convention of the Wyoming American Legion Auxiliary (ALA) held in Cheyenne June 26-29, was attended by Unit 54 President Fran Payne-Rogers, secretary Pat Faust and historian Kathleen Martin. Serving the Department for 2013 Unit 54 members were Martin, Junior Activities Co-chairman, and Fran Payne, Public Relations.

Following the opening of the convention, processional was led by Pat (Payne) Faust, past Unit 54 department president, followed by 10 other past department presidents. All were introduced later during the meeting.

Cheyenne Mayor Rick Kaysen greeted the ladies with a hearty welcome to the city.

During the three-day sessions, officers were elected and installed for the 2013-14 year.

The officers are as follows:

Department president, Shareen Johnson — Lander Unit No. 33

Vice president, Leila Dean — Ft. Bridger Unit No. 36

Secretary treasurer, Peg Sillivan — Buffalo Unit No. 13

Chaplain, Becky Allred — Basin Unit No. 29

Historian, Fran Payne-Rogers —Saratoga Unit No. 54

District presidents and service presidents-

Saratoga Unit 54, through untiring efforts, work, money and time donated by the members, brought back several recognition certificates, awards and another goal membership ribbon.

Carrie Craig received a certificate of appreciation for her outstanding service and report for Veteran’s Affairs and Rehabilitation (VA&R) and Field Service. Craig gave 869 hours of service for veterans. In addition, Unit 54 members served 504 hours and donated $2,486 for this program.

Deb Clark was recognized for her service in the U.S. Navy. Clark is a dual member of the American Legion and Auxiliary, serving as Legion Adjutant and Auxiliary Sergeant at Arms.

Nellie Wood was awarded a certificate and check for Department’s Second Place Unit for more than 75 publicity books. Nellie has put this book together for the unit for at least 18 years.

Membership goals are easy to talk about, but hard to accomplish. Due to the extreme efforts of the secretary Pat Faust, the Unit met the third and fourth milestones and exceeded the goal of 90 with about 104 percent year-end membership, which gained the unit a goal flag ribbon and certificate.

Joyce Menke, department president, presented several personal awards to department officers and district presidents.

Payne-Rogers, president of the Saratoga unit, was awarded the honor of “Unit President of the Year” out of the 43 units in the department of Wyoming. Payne-Rogers wishes to congratulate and thank all the ladies for all their hard work during the past year.

Fran was also appointed as 2014 department leadership chairman with Faust as her co-chair.

During the meeting, Unit 54 presented donations of $250 for Girl’s State, $290 for child welfare and $1,000 to the 2013 Department President’s Project.

The summer months are without local meetings, so mark your calendar 6:30 p.m. for Sept. 17 at the Legion Home.

There is a training session from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday in Buffalo. For more information, call 307-710-3127.