To be a member of the VFW itself, one must be a veteran of a foreign war and served overseas. To be a member of the auxiliary, one must be the wife, sister or daughter of such an individual.
The auxiliary performs an array of charitable work, ranging from selling poppies each May at the Beckett Ridge Kroger to raising money for a relief fund that helps veterans and their families offset bills, much of them medical-related.
Grothjan said that made a difference in her life when she had ovarian cancer.
“It was kind of nice,” she said. “It helped pay for a wig.”
This month, the auxiliary will be taking donated robes to the Cincinnati VA Medical Center to give to veterans there, Grothjan said.
Recently they’ve collected lenses to be donated to an eye doctor, who then ships them overseas to help those who cannot afford them.
The auxiliary has managed to find a plethora of ways to help over the years, including working with the VFW to make free lunches for veterans and staffers at Dayton VA Medical Center.
While its efforts grow, membership in the auxiliary remains about the same, even while adding members whose veterans served in more recent overseas conflicts, such as Operation Desert Storm.
“We’ve never been very big and we don’t do as many things as we’d like to do because there are so few of us,” said Marilynn Knollman, 81, of West Chester Twp. whose late husband Charles served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War.
The women of the auxiliary also appreciate time they get to spend on charitable efforts.
“There’s a lot of things I can’t do because of my age,” said Knollman, who serves as the auxiliary’s secretary. “That’s why I like to work with them.”
Grothjan said auxiliary members have been meeting at the West Chester Activity Center on Cox Road and look forward to the VFW post moving into its recently purchased home on Cincinnati-Dayton Road in Olde West Chester.
“We hope that we can get it up and running so we can have our meetings there,” she said.
Members of the auxiliary say they enjoy the camaraderie the group engenders and the friendships it has forged, both among themselves and the VFW members.
“Over the years, we’ve had the opportunity to meet at the same place, at the same time,” Grothjan said. “I just think being part of patriotic-like thinking people has just been great.”
Besides fundraising for fellow veterans, the VFW and its auxiliary also has been known to stop by a member’s home to watch a person’s ill spouse for an hour or two so the other may run errands or just get out of the house for a while.
Besides Knollman and Grothjan, those honored last Tuesday for being members for 25 years were: Marilyn Greenwood, Diane Dodds, Karen Kiley, Erma Estes, Phyllis Golter, Colleen Burton, Wilma Willis, Virginia Nichols, Patricia Simowitz and Edna Montanye.
Grothjan said it is “very exciting” that the group has made it to the quarter-century mark.
“Looking back over that … it’s good memories, that’s for sure,” she said.
For information about how to join the auxiliary, call 513-777-6627.
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