VFW POST 4787 VFW WHITESTONE,NY
Home
POST PAGE
LADIES AUXILIARY-FYI
FAVORITE SITES
POST PHOTO PAGE
CONTACT ME/GUEST PAGE

F Y I --- LADIES AUXILIARY

VFWemblem.gif

ON THIS PAGE I HOPE TO PUT IMFO OF INTEREST TO ALL POST MEMBERS.
ANYONE CAN ADD TO THIS PAGE BY JUST E-MAILING ANY ARTICLES THAT YOU THINK MIGHT BE OF INTEREST TO OUR POST MEMBERS

AUXILIARY PRESIDENT IS -- Grace Tucci 
  Ladies Auxiliary VFW Members are...
Wives, widows, mothers, foster and stepmothers (who have performed the duties of parent), grandmothers, daughters, granddaughters, foster and stepdaughters (who attained that status prior to the age of sixteen and for whom the duties of parent were performed), sisters, half sisters, foster and stepsisters (who attained that status prior to age sixteen) of persons who were or are eligible for membership in the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States. Members must be citizens of the United States and not less than sixteen years old.

Women eligible for membership in the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States shall be eligible for dual membership in the Ladies Auxiliary.

For as long as men have been going into battle, women have been nursing sick and wounded warriors back to health. Until recently, this was a necessity because governments did not provide adequate medical facilities for their servicemen. In fact, medical care was often so abysmal that more men died of disease and food poisoning than of wounds.

Today, the Ladies Auxiliary is involved in a kaleidoscopic range of activities. While continuing to support the VFW and its causes, the Ladies Auxiliary has developed a social conscience of its own. With the paramount goal of helping families in distress, its members perform community service, fund cancer research, fight drug abuse and illiteracy, advocate for the rights of the elderly, and support the VFW National Home, Special Olympics, and other worthy causes.

Membership has been broadened to include not only wives of VFW members, but also their mothers, widows, sisters, half-sisters, daughters, grandmothers, and granddaughters. Foster mothers and foster daughters are also eligible, provided their relationship with the VFW member predates his military service. With their inexhaustible supply of goals and members, there is no doubt that the Ladies Auxiliary is here to stay.

The Ladies Auxiliary's Americanism program, like the VFW program of the same name, strives to foster love for the United States and loyalty to its institutions and ideals. In the program's infancy, it was closely associated with the VFW's Americanism program. Back then, Auxiliary members and VFW members often worked side by side toward common Americanism goals - for example, the adoption of the "Star-Spangled Banner" as America's official national anthem, and the passage of the "Cash Bonus" for World War I veterans.

As the Auxiliary's Americanism program matured, it began to take on patriotic projects of its own. Among its first was the sponsorship of a nationwide essay contest on the subject of "What the Statue of Liberty Means to Me." This contest, held at the request of the National Park Service, was part of the golden anniversary celebrations for the statue in 1936. The winner of the contest, Edna Falk of Pueblo, Colorado, was awarded the Auxiliary's gold medal and a trip to Paris provided by the Auxiliary, the Federation of French Veterans of the Great War, and a Paris newspaper. This essay contest was held yearly until 1964. To this date, the Auxiliary continues to hold annual birthday parties for the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island (formerly Bedloe's Island).

In 1956, one of the Auxiliary's Americanism projects again centered around the Statue of Liberty. That year, the Auxiliary became the first organization to pledge a substantial amount for the construction of a Museum of Immigration in the base of the statue. The Auxiliary delivered the final installment of its $50,000 pledge during the cornerstone-laying ceremonies in 1962.

Through its Americanism program, the Ladies Auxiliary has also supported other patriotic organizations. In 1961 and 1962, the Auxiliary funded construction of the Lucy Knox Evaluation Room at the Freedoms Foundations Center in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. In this room, juries choose prize-winning examples of Americanism for Freedoms Foundations awards each year. In 1980, the Auxiliary was itself honored by the Freedoms Foundations when it received the Principal Award for a non-profit publication.

Of course, not all the Auxiliary's Americanism activities are on such a grand scale. Many programs are also carried out at the local level. Each year, for example, local units present thousands of American flags to government units, youth groups, schools, and churches. Units also teach proper care of the flag, distribute Americanism literature, sponsor citizenship classes, and otherwise help keep the flame of patriotism burning brightly.
 


VFWslogo.jpg

VFW Urges Congress to Immediately Pass DOD, VA Budgets: Funds needed to turn benefits commissions' recommendations into reality

WASHINGTON, Oct. 18, 2007--The national commander of America's largest organization of combat veterans is urging Congress to immediately pass two key funding packages so that the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs can begin bringing the recommendations made by a pair of wounded veterans' benefits commissions into reality.

"The two most important issues in America today are the war and the care of our wounded veterans," said George Lisicki, a Vietnam veteran from Carteret, N.J., who leads the 2.3 million-member Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. and its Auxiliaries.

"But Congress has yet to pass any fiscal year 2008 funding bill, to include the VA's, which Congress has touted as the largest VA budget increase in history," he said. "You can't brag about something until you finish the job, and that means consolidating the two House and Senate versions into one bill for the president's signature."

This marks the eighth consecutive year the VA started a new fiscal year without an on-time budget. The federal government's new fiscal year began Oct. 1.

The VFW wants the DOD and VA budgets passed so that some of recommendations made by the two commissions – the Veterans' Disability Benefits Commission and the President's Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors – can be accomplished without the need to seek additional appropriations.

One key recommendation the VFW fully supports is having the VA assign disability ratings to transitioning servicemen and women instead of having the onus fall on DOD; making fit-for-duty determinations will remain a military service responsibility. Other recommendations would address the VA claims backlog, provide compensation for a disability's impact on an individual's quality of life, expand TRICARE benefits, and allow all current war veterans to receive VA mental health services without first receiving a service-connected determination, among others.

But nothing is going to move forward without funding.

"There is absolutely no excuse for Congress to fail in its primary responsibility to legislate and appropriate funding," said Lisicki. "DOD is fighting a war and the VA is a partner in that fight. They need funding, not empty rhetoric, because the war is producing casualties who will need a lifetime of care. The budget holdup is severely restricting medical research, healthcare advancements, and equipment and facility upgrades. Congress keeps demanding that DOD and VA improve their systems, but improvements go hand-in-hand with funding."

Lisicki believes the reason for Congress' inaction is some of the members are too busy politicking to do their jobs.

"Partisan politics is preventing our country from moving forward," he said. "We need elected officials who know how to think on their own and who can compromise when it puts the best interests of America first, and that's why I am now urging my entire membership to tell their senators and representatives to pass the DOD and VA budgets immediately.

"Our nation is at war. There are no higher priorities."

This site  The Web

Web hosting by Web.com