Pahrump’s Linda Wright selected as new state VFW Auxiliary president

Odds are when attending one of the many, many fundraisers and events in held in the Pahrump Valley each year, residents have encountered community activist Linda Wright.

She is a bright, friendly woman with a smile for everyone and community service in her heart and soul. Wright is constantly giving her time to one cause or another, volunteering her skills, experience and energy to help others.

One of the groups most dear to Wright is the Veterans of Foreign Wars Auxiliary, an organization dedicated to serving veterans and she has steadily ascended the ranks of the state auxiliary over the years.

Now she has been honored with a new title, that of Department of Nevada VFW Auxiliary president. As president, Wright said she is focusing on the VFW Auxiliary’s core mission and spreading the word about all this amazing organization does for veterans and communities across the state.

“I was voted in in June and officially took over the first of July. It has been great ever since,” Wright said in an interview. “I have started doing my visitations to my auxiliaries in the state and am getting warm receptions. They are enthusiastic about getting back to our foundation, the fundamentals, and learning the basics of what our organization is all about.”

Wright said one of her first duties as the newly elected state president was to design her personalized pin, with a theme matching her mission for the year.

“My theme is ‘Joining together for our veterans, past, present and future.’ It’s in the shape of a heart made out of clasping hands, because that is what we are here for,” Wright stated. “We join together to help our veterans and we have to do that together. For the past, we do memorial services to honor our veterans. For the present, that is us working with them now and working with the youth and ROTC, that is our future. We have to join that all together.”

Wright detailed that providing help and support to veterans is the key factor and there are many programs that the auxiliary sponsors to benefit communities.

“We do a scholarship program for middle school and high school students, as well as a scholarship for adults. We also have a Teacher of the Year award that we host and we help with many different things in the community, like the Veterans’ Stand Down. And at our post here in Pahrump, we have the veterans’ food pantry. We are a service organization to help our veterans and our military,” Wright explained. “Our motto is, ‘No one does more for veterans.’”

Wright recently had the chance to gather with a host of other auxiliary members for the VFW Auxiliary Homecoming, which took place on Sept. 29 at the VFW Post #10054 in Pahrump. Wright was very enthusiastic about the turnout.

“It’s an event to kind of just cheer everyone on for the year and show them everyone is behind them for the coming year. It went wonderfully. We had our national senior vice commander, William Doc Schmitz there to speak to us and it was just great. He gave us words of encouragement to just keep doing what we are doing,” Wright said.

A major goal for Wright over the next year is increasing membership for the organization, she said.

“I am working on membership, trying to get that to 100 percent for us. We are looking to get many new members into the organization,” Wright said.

In order to be a VFW auxiliary member, one must have an immediate family member, such as a father, mother, sister, brother or grandparent, who served in a foreign conflict or war overseas.

“Anyone interested in joining can call me or the VFW post and we have applications for them,” Wright said. “I am looking forward to a wonderful year representing this great state and being out there, working with all my auxiliaries and getting as many new members as we can.”

For more information contact Wright at 775-419-7857 or the VFW Post #10054 at 775-727-6072. The post is at 4651 Homestead Road in Pahrump.

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com