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Currently, Jackie Simpson serves as the chapter’s secretary and trea- surer, and Phyllis Bouck is the as- sistant treasurer. Pat Hughes assists the membership committee with re- cruiting efforts and handles nametags at monthly meetings. In the fall, Pat Grace will chair the personal affairs committee, which includes fellow auxiliary member Sandy Schwartz. Several other auxiliary members greet people at monthly meetings. “Our auxiliary members are indis- pensable to our chapter,” says Presi- dent Lt. Col. Paul Hodges, USA-Ret. “They’ve helped increase enthusi- asm about the chapter and what it’s doing and allowed us to spread the workload over many people so no one person feels overwhelmed.”
Valued members Auxiliary members — the surviving spouses of former MOAA members who are deceased or of deceased individuals who, if living, would be eligible for membership — became eligible to join the association in 1975. Today, MOAA has more than 57,000 auxiliary members. AMAC was established in 2004 to meet these members’ needs. In ad- dition to advising the association’s board of directors and staff on mat- ters that affect auxiliary members, AMAC has a network of auxiliary liaisons in MOAA chapters who help surviving military spouses. In February 2011, MOAA’s aux- iliary members showed what they were capable of accomplishing when AMAC launched the Cell Phones for Soldiers campaign. Chapters were asked to collect old cellphones that could be recycled in exchange for prepaid phone cards deployed ser- vicemembers can use to call home.
AMAC’s goal was to collect 16,667 cellphones to generate 1 million min- utes of talk time. When the campaign ended in February 2012, 29,358 cell- phones had been collected, generat- ing 1,761,480 minutes of prepaid talk time. AMAC exceeded its original goal by 76 percent. AMAC member Patricia Bergquist
oversaw collection efforts in a 22-state region, with chapter members collect- ing 12,961 used cellphones. She also led the Middle Tennessee Chapter’s collection efforts that netted 4,907 cellphones. Bergquist, the auxiliary liaison for the Middle Ten- nessee Chapter and the Tennessee Coun- cil of Chapters, be- lieves the Cell Phones for Soldiers campaign showcased auxiliary members’ leadership skills and provided chapters with a ser- vice project members wanted to support. “What we found out, after our auxilia- ry members got their chapters involved, is many chapters still want to continue to do [Cell Phones for Soldiers],” says Bergquist.
Ready to lead Many other affiliates are tapping into the talent and leadership skills of auxiliary members. Carol Meteney is president of the Kitsap (Wash.) Chap- ter, and Myra Lovejoy is the chapter’s auxiliary liaison and a member of the board of directors, along with fellow auxiliary member Betty Freiwald. “We have been fortunate during
recent years in having several aux- iliary members volunteer as candi-
are tapping into the talent and leadership skills of auxiliary members.
Many MOAA affiliates
dates for various open positions in our 12-person board of directors,” says former Kitsap Chapter President Cmdr. Joe Sommer Jr., USN-Ret. In Arizona, Priscilla Clay serves on the board of directors for the Luke Chapter and is the auxiliary liaison for her chapter and the Arizona Council of Chapters, through which she can communicate with auxiliary liaisons in chapters across the state. Clay also authors a column on issues affecting surviving spouses for the chapter’s newsletter, NewsGram. The nearby Tuc-
son (Ariz.) Chapter also relies on its auxiliaries. Shirley Phillips, the chapter’s auxiliary liaison, col- lected more than 500 cellphones during the Cell Phone for Soldiers campaign and raises money to buy toys during the holidays for children of servicemembers deployed out of Davis Monthan AFB. Fel- low auxiliary member
Betty Smith is the chapter’s parlia- mentarian, and auxiliary member Marie Tsguris helps with the chapter’s VA volunteer program. In 2011, the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System honored Tsguris for her 1,750 hours of volunteer labor in the past six years. She also received the VFW Vol- unteer of the Year Award in 2011. “Auxiliary members are very important to the MOAA Tucson Chapter,” says Col. Tom Owens, USAFR-Ret., the chapter’s president. “They provide vital interface to the community and carry out many func- tions that regular members do not.”
JULY 2012 MILITARY OFFICER 43
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