American Legion Auxiliary Department of Colorado

A message from your President Ann Ritacco:

This year is a time for us to grow stronger as an organization alongside the Legion, the SAL and the
Riders. We will work as one large organization to work for our Veterans, Military and Families. We are going to work our programs and show the community who we are and why our 4 Pillars are important to us. Every month we will be highlighting a program or several of them. We will organize activities and give you ideas to use for the month. Then send your committee chair of that program what you liked and what did not at the end of the month so we then we will know what to try the next time. Send your pictures and a short story of how you worked the program. Let us see you in action and see you wearing our brand.

So as my theme states as The American Legion Family we work for our Veterans. We are not able to do this alone but as an organization we can do anything we put our minds to.

Our membership chair, Amy Grubb, asked us to bring a Friend to an activity that your unit or post is doing. Let them see what you do and let them be a part of our organization. They do not have to join as a member in order to help us but maybe they will or they know someone else that would like to join. If we all bring a friend then that is more volunteers that can bring our event to a successful end.
This year we are pairing same size units against each other to renew all members from last year and add anywhere from 1 to 6 new members depending on your year-end membership. Example would be up to 20 members you need to add 1 new member and if you have over 200 members then you need to add 6 new members.

Committee Chairs. This year as another change, I appointed several newer members to these positions.
My thoughts are that we need start training people to come up into the organization and to learn from those that have already been there and done it before they are not able to. It cannot be the same people running these committees and not training new leaders for our future. It is our future that we are trying to preserve so that we are ready to carry on for our Veterans, Military and their Families.

I look forward to working with Commander Terri Clinton and Commander Jim Gaddis this year in building our family. We will work our programs and we will grow because the communities that we live in will see what we are doing and they will want to be a part of our success.

Again I am honored to be representing this great organization for the Department of Colorado.

Thank you,
Ann Ritacco
Department of Colorado
Auxiliary President 2017-2018