By DON FLETCHER
News Staff Writer
For the past 12 years, Jenny Hutto has worked tirelessly on behalf of local veterans as a member of Atmore’s Memorial VFW Auxiliary 7016. Her work hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Jenny, who started as a volunteer with the local veterans service organization and slowly worked her way up the VFW Auxiliary ladder, was installed Sunday (June 15) as president of VFW Auxiliary Department of Alabama.
The new position makes her responsible for administration of all facets of the organization’s activities in Alabama. The installation came during the group’s State Convention, held at Embassy Suites in Montgomery over the past weekend.
The state’s new VFW Auxiliary president said her elevation to the top post in the state was an honor she never expected.
“I consider it a very high honor,” she said. “When I joined the Auxiliary, never would I have dreamed I would be the Department President. I started out volunteering by sitting up in the room and handing out papers. I’m excited to take a step and venture out into the Department and let them know that I truly do love our veterans. I hope to be the kind of leader that our members can come to, and we can work things out without any issues.”
The VFW Auxiliary, one of the nation’s oldest veterans’ service organizations, is made up of relatives of men and women who served in a “location of foreign conflict,” according to the federation’s website. It boasts nearly 470,000 members in more than 3,500 auxiliaries nationwide and three foreign-based auxiliaries.
Through numerous national programs, these organizations assist the VFW in passing or blocking legislation that impacts veterans and their families. Members provide nearly a million volunteer hours in the VA medical system, conduct patriotic programs for thousands of students and offer hundreds of thousands of dollars in scholarships for high school graduates.
Jenny has served as chaplain, trustee and secretary / treasurer of the Atmore chapter and has also held the District presidency for one-and-a-half terms (she took over when the sitting president had to give up the seat due to illness). She was also the District’s Senior Vice President for three terms, Junior Vice President for two terms, trustee for several terms and chaplain.
She served for the past year as the Alabama Department’s vice president.
Although she and her late sister, Gayle Johnson, each won national awards for various programs they spearheaded, Jenny is the first local VFW auxiliary member to ever hold such a lofty position.
“Gayle and I both had programs on the Department level that we both won national awards for, but I am the only one to move through the chairs and the first one to be the state department president,” she said.
Jenny said her motto is and will continue to be “Remember Our Veterans.” She pointed out that her installation as president was especially rewarding since it came on Father’s Day.
“I joined the Auxiliary under my dad, Pvt. James B. Odom, a World War II veteran,” she explained. “(On Sunday) I was escorted in by my brother (and Post 7016 Auxiliary President) Jackey Odom. We walked down (to the stage for her installation) to the song ‘Amazing Grace,’ my dad’s favorite song.”