Veterans Creative Arts Festival 2009
 

Sponsor, ALA
Send your Donations to the Department Office
Attn: Secretary/Treasurer Juanita Lochner
112 State Street, Suite 1310,
Albany, NY 12207

Department President Inauguration Speech

Karyn Porempski was elected President of the American Legion Auxiliary, Department of New York,
on July 11, 2009 at the Department Convention held in Albany, New York,
for the year 2009 - 2010.

INAUGURATION SPEECH

July 11, 2009

        Madame Installing officer Vi, Past Department President Sue (how does that sound?) and her husband Don, my wonderful family, our great Legion family, members, distinguished guests and special friends all.   Good Morning.

        The moment is here and I am overwhelmed.  This is a dream come true and I appreciate the confidence and trust you have placed in me to allow me to lead this wonderful organization that I love so dearly.  Last Saturday we celebrated the Fourth of July, our 233^rd birthday, our independence day – a truly patriotic holiday filled with ball games, hot dogs, parades, floats, American flags and fireworks.  We also commemorated the re-opening of the crown of the Statute of Liberty for the first time since 9-11. What a wonderful opportunity we have to continue instilling patriotism into the minds and hearts of our citizens that they exhibited that day and impart a true understanding of the great love we have for the ideals and principals for which our country was founded.  To educate the public about things that we do instinctively like standing and saluting the flag as it passes by or removing your cap and placing it over your heart when the National Anthem is played.  We must lead by example and educate our citizenry and inject that patriotic feeling and make it contagious for everyone to “Celebrate America”.

        All of you who are my inspiration and mentors – I am asking you to “BEE SPECTACULAR”  by helping me to fulfill our promise to our veterans and their dependent children – the very reason our organization was chartered, which leads me into the Department Presidents project that I would like to present and ask you to support.  It will be two-fold with any donations received being split in half.  Working on the premise to encompass veterans of all ages I have chosen Creative Arts, New York to assist the VA hospitals that sponsor Creative Arts programs in our great state.  Veterans are eligible to enter the event if they receive medical care through the VA Healthcare System.  The VA has for many years incorporated creative arts competition into its recreational therapy program.  The annual Arts competition recognizes the progress and recovery made through therapy.  One occupational therapist stated participants range in age from 21 year old Iraqi veterans to veterans in their 80’s who fought in World War II.  It is a shared belief that it is a creative release for the veterans who get involved.  This rapidly growing field integrates the arts, including literary, performing, visual arts and design, into a wide variety of healthcare settings for therapeutic, educational and recreational purposes.  The first place nominations from the exhibit will be submitted to a VA creative arts judging committee who send selected entries to a national competition in June.  National winners may be invited to the National Creative Arts Festival that is held each October and is sponsored by the VA, Help Hospitalized Veterans and the American Legion Auxiliary.

        The Syracuse Healthcare Facility informed me that they average 125 to 150 entries per year from over 100 veterans and the program continues to grow each year.  Some timely comments received from veterans who have participated include Larry who entered his wood scape craft piece after much encouragement.  He was hesitant to enter feeling his limitations of being a paraplegic would be a hindrance to having has artpiece “be perfect”.  His artwork was fantastic and he went on to win a gold medal at the local art show.  He stated, “I never thought I would win anything and the compliments that I received from staff is enough to keep me motivated to continue to paint these woodscapes all year round as part of my therapy”.

        Robert, a first time registrant, has a visual impairment and was not sure if he could paint a ceramic stein.  He was very proud of finishing his final project with the help of a magnifying glass.  He was pleased to learn he had won a 1^st place medal and looks forward to participating every year.

Some examples of where the donations will be utilized.  Cost of ribbons, medals, certificates, frames, video productions, program books, production, arts and crafts supplies.   None of these items are provided for by the VA.

        The second prong of the project will include our Gulf War, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom veterans.  The needs of these veterans goes far beyond those that we have tried to provide under our WFA (Warriors Family Assistance) program.  It is my intention to help the VA with these funds to assist them in providing needed services that fall through the cracks and are not provided because of bureaucratic red tape and budget constraints.  We are trying to fill in the gaps with this veteran population.  Some examples of line items needed:  grocery gift cards, public transportation, including metro cards, buses and taxis.  Also prepaid cell phones, books and resource materials, gas cards and nicely furnished, family friendly areas in our Healthcare facilities.

Also many of our veterans have small children and have been forced to cancel their VA appointments because they are not able to afford day care for their children.  This is definitely an ongoing problem and the idea of a voucher program has surfaced but they have been unable to implement it because of many, many rules and regulations.  This is definitely something we are working on to see if it can be implemented and provided for through these funds. 

          The project will be reported under the VA&R Program.

          Will you help our organization provide these services to our very well deserving veterans?

We hope to have the Department of New York all a buzz in this administration by implementing the theme “Teamwork Is The Key To Our Success”.  Working together as a team we will Strive to fill the Hive with new bees (members) – with your Department President as the Queen Bee and our membership chairman Nancy as the Bee-Keeper.  We will keep the honeycomb buzzing with activity as all of us strive to “BEE SPECTACULAR”!!!

I would like to thank everyone attending today – especially those from my family, unit, post, county and district. 

        I would like to thank my sponsor and Installation Officer Vi Brosart, Campaign Committee Chairman Kathie Renner and the committee for their support and hard work, Chaplain Dolores Masterson, who traveled from Arizona.   Also many thanks to all who were in the installing team:  Pinners; Past Departments Betty Jane Light, Anna Ballard, Linda Raymond and Joan Caccamo; Corsages; Past Department President Irene Tanner and Past District President Carol Puckett; Sergeant-at-Arms: Past Department President Mary Lou Platt and Assistant Sergeant at Arms; Joan Harrington.

        And now to introduce you to my family – my husband Joe, my sister Kandy and her husband Harry – our daughter Tracy and her husband Glenn and our granddaughter Rebecca, our daughter Holly and her husband Dave along with our grandchildren Jared and Jenna.  I’d like to tell you a little story – talk about a Legion family – Rebecca who is 9 was born when I was District President during the 8^th District Department Visitation in February and Jared who is 7 was born when Joe was District Commander during the District visitations – actually the week in between the 7^th and 8^th District visits and Jenna 3, was born when we were at National Convention in Hawaii and we got the call during the National Commanders banquet, and being the middle of the night in Buffalo, we wound up being the first to know because they knew we would be up.

        Some very special people are not with us today who have always been very supportive and I know they will be angels on my shoulder throughout the year.  My mother and father, Lorraine and Albert Kramer, good friends Jim Diebold and Jean Griffin and of course Vi Babin.  Hello Richmond County. They will be truly missed.

Thank you for your kind attention – have a safe trip home and always keep the Auxiliary on your mind and May God Bless each of you and God Bless America.        

  If anyone can send me photos of the Installation by email, I would appreciate it.