Auxiliary Corner - September 2025
Hello Everyone! Summer is winding down and what a summer it was! After almost a year of planning, the 50th Remembrance of the Vietnam War event has come to a close. I am so proud of everyone and everything that we accomplished as a Legion Family to make this event a huge success! I can not thank you all enough for your time, dedication and contributions. I have never seen this Legion Family come together as we did for this event. I hope each and everyone of you are as proud as I am with this accomplishment. It was a beautiful, emotional four days. We met a lot of amazing people and were humbled by many more. The Auxiliary members had the honor of pinning over 300 Vietnam veterans with the 50th year commemorative pin. If you are a Vietnam veteran and did not receive your pin, please reach out to an auxiliary member and we will make sure you receive your pin. You earned it, you are entitled to it, and we would be proud to present it to you!
To everyone that had the opportunity to read names, thank you! We were able to complete the reading of over 58,000 names etched on that wall in record time of 62 hours and 48 minutes. According to the wall manager, Doc Russo, he has never seen it completed. He told me he didn’t think we would finish it. Challenge on! Don’t ever tell the Legion Family of Post 574 that we can not do something. We did it and we recognized and remembered every fallen soldier on that wall. We had people from as far away as Massachusetts come to read names. Our own Auxiliary Junior member, Gabby Chandler read for many hours and we appreciate her!
Our American Legion and Auxiliary District and also Department Leadership were in attendance and we thank them for their support. We had over 4,000 people in attendance throughout the duration of the event. I hope everyone that volunteered, took away a special memory from that weekend. I know I have quite a few.
Now that we are back in session, it is time to get busy again! September we will start planning our newest program, Operation Full Plate – A Veteran Food Program. If you know anyone that could benefit from this program, please email ofpunit574@yahoo.com. We would love to send them some information.
Sharon Rathbun continues to work on her auxiliary program – Her in Hero – which benefits our homeless women veterans. This is a wonderful program that is very dear to Sharon. Please reach out to her if you would like to be a part of that program.
Pat Tebordo will be announcing our next dine to donate event soon. This event directly benefits the auxiliary poppy program of which Pat is the chairperson. We hope you will all take part in this event.
Breakfast with Santa is right around the corner. That is another event that we will soon be underway with. This year’s theme, Frosty’s Winter Wonderland.
As most of you know, I was selected as New York State Department Unit Member of the year this summer. At the time of writing this newsletter, I am off to National Convention in Tampa Florida to represent New York State within the Auxiliary. I would like to thank all of you that supported me for this accomplishment. It is because of our amazing auxiliary that Unit 574 is recognized for the wonderful work that we do! Congratulations to you all!! Let’s keep showing them how its done!
Membership dues for 2026 are now being accepted. Please spread the word. Don’t forget to remind everyone how active our Auxiliary is. Let’s bring in some new members that would like to help with our veteran programs. The more active members we have, the more we can do to support our veterans!
Our next meeting will be Tuesday, September 2nd at 6pm. Our meetings will remain the first Tuesday of the month with the exception of November. November will be the first Wednesday because of election day being Tuesday.
Saturday Sept 6th at 10am will be the 911 ceremony. If you are available, please come to remember the 2,976 lives lost on that tragic day. We must never forget.
Please keep Gary Fisher and Morris Wells in your thoughts as they navigate through to a complete recovery.
Finally, as I read back through this newsletter, I have come to realize, we have come such a long way as an auxiliary. Each year our accomplishments are increasing. Our programs are being worked on and our veterans and veteran organizations are benefiting from that. I am excited to see what this year will bring. We have a lot of ideas, and are always working on more. If any members have ideas that you would like to bring up, please attend the meetings. We need our membership! Also, please don’t forget to keep track of your volunteer hours. Reports are coming due in November so I will need all volunteer hours from April until now submitted as soon as possible.
I appreciate each and every one of you.
All the best,
Julie Montello, President
“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others” - Ghandi