Letters to the Editor

Editor:

I would like to compliment Phyllis Poper on her well-written poem, “Armed Forces Day” (May 27). It was a wonderful tribute to our veterans, a beautiful story of the poppies and a tribute to the American Legion Auxiliary, which assists veterans by making the poppies. This story goes back 100 years, when the poppies made by veterans were distributed during the month of May to remind our nation of the sacrifices made by our men and women who fought the wars for our freedom. It became evident that the veterans could not make all the poppies needed for distribution so the Auxiliary began helping them. Our Leisure World Unit 327 make the poppies weekly and have made many thousands. We are proud to be a part of this.

As the poem implies, the donations received for a poppy must be spent only on veterans and their families. Due to COVID-19, we were not able to continue providing the hot meals we took to the VA Hospital, so we are now assisting veteran families with food gift cards. With children being home from school, their parents’ food budgets did not cover the cost of the young children’s and teenagers’ appetites.

This has been very rewarding, and we can only thank our community for its generosity in supporting this project.

The Auxiliary is grateful to Phyllis for her touching and wellwritten poem.

Jean Sudbeck Mutual 14 American Legion Auxiliary Editor:

After 32 years in Mutual 9, my mother, Geraldine “Geri” Stone, is leaving Leisure World, which she loves dearly and where she made many friends. She is moving to an assisted living facility near my home in La Mesa, near San Diego.

My mom was active in Theater Club and the Chorale, and was a featured soloist or performer for many years. She kept Theater Club records as secretary and had a great time with all her colleagues, pre-pandemic.

Her move was necessitated by a series of hospitalizations and other medical issues. Since she won’t return to her unit, she won’t have access to her voice mail. But you can text or call me at (619) 277-5610 if you want to share your thoughts, which I can pass on to her. I also can give you her new mailing address, if you’d like to send a card or letter. I’m sure she’d be delighted.

Thanks for all your love and support for Geri over the years. They were the best years of her life.

Ken Stone La Mesa, California Editor:

Thank you to Ogan Construction, Jill and the crew for your trustworthy, organized and affordable service, and the great clean-up.

Bea Zorrilla Mutual 5 Editor:

Mutual 9 just held a fair election that represented its shareholders for the first time. In the past, every unit had seven votes, which they could use for multiple candidates or give them all to one candidate. So, with 384 units, a candidate could persuade 54 units to give them their seven votes, which equals 384 votes. In past elections, candidates have received over 800 votes. This did not represent the 384 units fairly. The election became a popularity contest.

The new bylaws for Mutual 9, which has always had parcel voting, now have restated the parcel voting. Each unit has one vote for its Parcel Director. So, depending on the size of the parcel, the most a candidate could receive would be 36 votes in the smallest parcel, and 72 votes in the largest parcel. The shareholders in their parcel elect their representative (director) like they do with state and federal elections.

That Parcel Director representing their parcel will now answer to those shareholders. Each parcel will now be able to make the decision of whether to keep its director on the board in future elections based on the director’s interaction with his or her parcel, the Mutual and the board in general. If there are other items on the ballot that affect the whole Mutual, each unit will have only one vote for those issues.

I thank the past boards for their efforts on the bylaws and voter restatement, and I wish the newly elected board goodwill for their future year.

Debra Schnaufer Mutual 9