It was an early start for a group of volunteers Jan. 1 determined to serve the first community breakfast of 2019. The Boothbay American Legion’s Ladies Auxiliary started a new tradition for the new year by serving breakfast from 8 a.m. to noon at the legion clubhouse. The breakfast is another of a series of community fundraisers sponsored by the auxiliary attempting to support legion and community projects.

“We had a yard sale and craft fair this summer, but this is our first real big effort,” said auxiliary member Sue Burge. “The men have put on successful breakfasts for years, and we thought we’d do it on New Year’s Day with the only differences having it go a little longer, and selling some baked goods.”

There was no Charles E. Sherman, Jr. American Legion Post Auxiliary for several years until it re-emerged last year. A handful of women, some veterans and wives of veterans expressed interest for an auxiliary unit to promote ex-soldiers and community causes. With revived interest, all Post Commander Dave Patch needed was someone to lead the group. He approached Mary Ellison of Wiscasset who previously was involved in several other veterans’groups. She worked for WAVUS for 12 years as a camp cook and volunteered for the Travis Mills Foundation.

Ellison became the group’s leader and recruited a couple friends to join the auxiliary last year. The auxiliary now has eight adult and three junior members. “There was already an auxiliary in Wiscasset so I was glad to help establish one here,” she said.

The auxiliary served traditional breakfast fare such bacon, eggs, sausage and waffles on New Year's Day at the clubhouse. The menu also included some different foods such as strata, a casserole dish made from eggs, mushrooms, bread, cheese and milk.

Several civilians also pitched in on the group’s inaugural effort. One volunteer was Nancy Van Dyk, a mother of a veteran who was an army ranger assigned to a special operations (special ops) assignment. Her son, Lt. Col. Joshua Stevens, was injured three times during his deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I’m not a member of auxiliary, but I wanted to help because I have so much love for the men and women who fight for this country.”

Among the projects auxiliary members are fundraising for is Girls’ State. The five-day summer program is a lesson in leadership and citizenship for high school juniors. Besides breakfast, community members also had a chance to win prizes. The $8 fee included a raffle ticket. Prizes were a $25 Hannaford or Coastal Maine Popcorn Co. gift certificate. An afghan was the prize in a separate raffle.