chaptersinaction Valued Members
MOAA affiliates are tapping into an often-overlooked source of talent — auxiliary members who are stepping up to fill key leadership positions and leading community-service projects.
A
n important segment of MOAA’s membership is its roughly 57,000 auxiliary
members. Auxiliary members are the surviving spouses of MOAA members, and in many cases, they remain active in the association after taking over their spouses’ memberships. This is nowhere more evident than in our chapter system, where more than 9,000 are chapter members. Some 750 auxiliary mem- bers hold chapter leadership posi- tions as officers or board members — including several in chapter pres- ident and past president positions. This is just what we want to hap-
pen. Our auxiliary members are talented in their own right. They headed countless households when their servicemember spouses were deployed. They also ran many organi- zations on bases, including working in thrift shops and participating in various service groups and clubs. We tell our chapters they should con- sider auxiliary members for positions on their leadership teams and recruit them into their chapters. Many are
On the road: This month, Col. Lee Lange II, USMC-Ret., director of MOAA’s Council and Chapter Affairs Department, will visit members of the Heart of Texas Chapter. Go to MOAA Calendar, page 76, for the dates.
spouses of chapter members who have passed on, and their continued relationship with the chapter is a win-win situation for both the chap- ter and the auxiliary member. I had the good fortune to lead a
study group here at MOAA head- quarters in Alexandria, Va., when I first joined the association staff more than 10 years ago. We stud- ied our auxiliary membership and came up with a number of recom- mendations to better meet their needs. You’ll read more in this de- partment’s main story, “Auxiliary Members Lead,” which focuses on auxiliary members who are active in chapters. More recently, MOAA’s board of directors has recognized auxiliary members’ contributions to the association and its chapter system and has proposed a bylaw change that would allow auxil- iary members the right to vote on national-level issues. It also would open membership on MOAA’s board of directors to auxiliary members. This is a great initiative that rec- ognizes their many contributions to the association. This change to the bylaws will appear on the ballot accompanying the August issue of Military Officer. All of this is nothing new for our chapter system, where auxiliary members have been able to hold of-
42 MILITARY OFFICER JULY 2012
fice and vote on chapter matters for years. Now it’s time to take this suc- cess to the national level. Auxiliary members are carrying on in place of their MOAA member spouses and deserve the same opportunities to support the association.
— Col. Lee Lange II, USMC-Ret. Director, Council and Chapter Affairs
Auxiliary
Members Lead Surviving spouses are valuable to chapters.
I
n 2011, members of the Clear- water (Fla.) Chapter considered turning in their charter. Today, the chapter is thriving, thanks in part to auxiliary members who volunteered to fill leadership positions to keep the chapter moving forward. Auxiliary liaison Violet Smith, a former member of national MOAA’s Auxiliary Member Advisory Com- mittee (AMAC), spearheaded the ef- fort by setting up a meeting between the chapter’s board of directors and 10 talented auxiliary members. “By the time the meeting ended,
everyone was enthusiastic, and every one of the auxiliaries volunteered for a job in the chapter,” says Smith.
PHOTO: STEVE BARRETT
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