American Legion Auxiliaries give 'the gift of time'

On Saturday, members of American Legion Auxiliary units in the western part of South Carolina converged in North Augusta for a combined meeting of the Auxiliary's Districts 4, 5, 6 and 7.

The local Unit 71 hosted the event at the Jesse C. Lynch Memorial American Legion Post 71's new post home on Spring Grove Avenue.

Each group represented at the district meeting reported on membership and events taking place in keeping with the Department of South Carolina's theme, "Taking Our Gifts Everywhere To Help Everyone Remember Our Veterans" or TOGETHER.

Sandy Nalley, president of District 4, which includes Unit 71 and Unit 232 in North Augusta, reported on membership, mentioning that Unit 71 is the largest in the district with 90 members.

She noted that throughout District 4, various units sent a total of 117 girls to Girls State, participated in 17 activities with military children, spent 2,852 hours in service to vets with a total of 2,957 veterans served. They also spent $10,300 toward the military and collected $11,315 from the poppies program.

North Augusta Unit 71 took poinsettias to 70 veterans in nursing homes and assisted living locations.

And Nalley concluded with a story sent in by one of the District 4 units. The writer explained she has a friend who likes to crochet, so she crocheted lap blankets for every veteran in a nursing home in that unit's service area. The writer detailed that as she and her friend went around delivering the blankets and talking to the veterans, the vets were so grateful and were particularly happy to have a chance to talk to someone for a little while. Nalley concluded, "The greatest gift we can give is the gift of time."