Aeries and Auxiliary’s working together???????
Back when The Eagles was formed 100+ years ago the Auxiliary had not been
established yet but when they did organize the Auxiliary it was a welcome partnership with the Aerie, Over the years they have proven themselves to be a driving force in the success of many of our Aeries and the Eagles organization as a whole and has shown what a big difference they can make when allowed to support and help your Aeries grow and prosper in our community’s.
It is a sad legacy we are leaving behind when we as an Aerie ignore the work and
partnership the Auxiliary has provided over the years, as trustees and officers we have not embraced the true value in having a strong and healthy Auxiliary, As I have seen over the years, we the Aerie put less value on the how we can keep our auxiliary healthy as we just look at the bottom line of our financial reports and forget the hard work they also put in over the many years before and now helping to cook, clean ,organize and provide events and functions in support of the aerie. But I feel this is the aerie’s fault due to the fact we did not teach Fraternalism to our new members and just told them to run the Aerie not explaining to them why we call each other brothers and Sisters and how when we work together, we can
accomplish so much more as a team and a family.
When I hear that an Aerie member tells a new female applicant to not join the auxiliary that they can do more as an Aerie member it is a terrible excuse for a reason to join, we should support our Auxiliary at every opportunity because when we do, we can accomplish more together as a family. As your State local Aerie advisor, I will be working hard to challenge this thought process and bring new ideas and support for our sisters along with possible actions against any Aerie that openly discriminate against the auxiliary and their members.
We need to do better as an organization learn what true Fraternalism really is and
practice it all the time as I said I will be looking at each local Aerie and Auxiliary and if I find these types of practices going on I will do my best to correct this thru training, discussions and possible legal actions if warranted. We can do better, but our own practices of putting into office new members who have no idea what the Eagles are and what we stand for has been a great disservice to our organization.
We can and should do a better job of being an EAGLE!!!
Dan Thompson
Washington State Aerie Advisor
