American Legion Auxiliary national president visits Ephrata
American Legion Auxiliary National President Vickie Koutz visited American Legion Post and Unit 28 in Ephrata last week.
REBECCA PETTINGILL/COLUMBIA BASIN HERALD
American Legion Auxiliary National President Vickie Koutz accepts a $500 check from American Legion Post and Unit 28 in Ephrata last week. Koutz is focused on raising money for family members and volunteers that accompany veterans to the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival.
The event gave friends and new acquaintances time to network and get to know each other. The American Legion and its auxiliary work to support veterans in the area and ensure they have what they need to maintain their quality of life, including veterans that understand their experiences.
EPHRATA – The American Legion Auxiliary National President Vickie Koutz visited American Legion Post and Unit 28 in Ephrata last week for a celebration of veterans contributions to the community and country.
“This is our way of thanking them for all that they do for us,” said Koutz. “I try to thank all the veterans for their service to our country because if it wasn’t for them we wouldn’t have the opportunity to even be here today.”
The event featured legion and auxiliary members from across the state. The visitors and members of Post and Unit 28 gathered about an hour before Koutz arrived to mingle and network. Once Koutz arrived, there was a small opening ceremony, a luncheon and then a program of several speakers.
City of Ephrata Mayor Bruce Reim was in attendance and said a few words about the city being grateful for veterans and being able to build relationships with them through different community events.
“We feel honored as the city because we get to be part of that; be it the Memorial Day celebration; be it the Veteran’s Day Celebration,” said Reim. “All I wanted to say was, ‘Thank you.’”
Koutz spoke to the attendees as well, focusing some of her presentation on her presidential project. The American Legion Auxiliary National President serves a one-year term and gets to pick a project they are passionate about and raise funds for during that time. Koutz’s project is on National Veterans Creative Arts Festival companions. She explained during her speech that she found out that companions who accompany and help veterans at the National Veterans Creative Arts Festival aren’t paid for and sometimes the companions can’t afford to pay for the meal plan to eat with the veteran at the event.
“That is what broke my heart,” said Koutz. “To think that we brought them there but we aren't really taking care of them too. So, that’s when I decided that if I ever became this National President, with this title for a year, that I wanted to help those companions that did not have the money to eat with their veteran because I think it’s really important.”
Her project on companions doesn’t stop at the meals for the companion; it also provides funds for travel and/or a separate hotel room if needed for non-family member companions.
“As I talk, I don’t want to just talk about my project, even though I think that’s real important, we have a lot of other things that we donate money to as a Legion family, especially as Auxiliary,” said Koutz.
Koutz said auxiliary members are important when it comes to supporting veterans in a lot of different ways including in political matters.
“We advocate for our veterans, we – the auxiliary – are the letter writers, we tend to have more letter writers in the auxiliary to the legislators when there’s bills coming up that affect our veterans,” said Koutz. “We actually support the American Legion’s priority points when it comes to D.C. and what they legislate for.”
Rebecca Pettingill may be reached at rpettingill@columbiabasinherald.com.
