Welcome to a New Year and Happy 4^th of July!  

For everyone who attended our DEC Saturday June 27^th via Zoom, thank you for joining in and getting business taken care of for the New Year. As you all know, COVID-19 has changed everything we had planned for the year and then some. Convention was cancelled when Seven Feathers said they could not host us. We then had a plan to have our convention on Zoom and make it as close as possible to the real thing. All was planned and moving forward when at the last minute, we found out we could not have ANY kind of convention unless The Legion did (a lesson in – we all make mistakes). That made us go in another direction. Our Department then had to retain all officers and chairmen (like National) and that is where resignations came in. Some had already made plans based on personal lives, not knowing what COVID-19 was or the affects it would have. We do not need to explain our individual reasons but all of you deserve transparency from Department as to what took place and why. Department abides by the same Constitution & By-Laws as units so be aware of what you are doing and yes, we all have rules to follow.

President Gea Clausier started our DEC and when it came time for her President’s report, she read her letter of  resignation. As the Vice President, I moved to fill her vacancy, per our constitution. We will be coming out with a new Department Roster soon that will have all the officers and chairmen. Thank you so much President Gea for your hard work last year! Welcome Debra Godwin as our new Department Vice President / Membership Chairman, units will be hearing from her a lot this year. We are here to help units and members in any way we can.

We accomplished passing the new budget for next year as well as the updated policy for Treasurer. It was stated again that units will get their roster and membership cards sent to them when they have turned in their list of officers for the coming year. You can pick up in person, we may deliver and some will be mailed. Even if you keep the same officers, we still need it or at least, call Cindy at Department and tell her they are the same. Units will not get any blank membership cards for new members so when you transmit them to Department, Cindy will fill out their card and send them to the membership chairman, to include with whatever packet or welcome letter they send out. We are giving this a one-year trial to see how it works, as members were given cards & access to posts, not being processed through Department.

New officers and chairmen were ratified by the DEC, so we are already working on this coming year. Always feel free to call, text or email myself or any officer, chairman or Department who can help you get the job done. We are all working for the same reason, our Veteran’s.

Sincerely and with respect,

 Kathi Karnowski , Department of Oregon President 2020-2021