Photo Provided: Courtesy of Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System

This original Heather Englehart painting was donated by the Newtons and their daughter, Kathy Newton Mott, to the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System Women’s Clinic.

American Legion Auxiliary member Cindy K. Newton of Louisiana, and her family, want female veterans to know the ALA is here to help them.

So, Newton, her husband Bryon, and their daughter Kathy Newton Mott jointly gave the Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System’s Women’s Clinic a unique gift – an original Heather Englehart painting which features five women servicemembers in their uniforms. The painting has a stars-and-stripes background, and a large poppy in the foreground.

“The painting is hanging up where the lady veterans have to sign in at the office. Right underneath the print is a plaque that has our ALA emblem on it. I want our lady veterans to see that and realize the ALA is here to help them no matter what,” Cindy Newton said.

Cindy and Kathy are U.S. Navy veterans, and both are dual members of The American Legion and the American Legion Auxiliary post home 47 in Ponchatoula, La. Bryon, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and Army National Guard veteran, is an American Legion member.

Cindy and Bryon Newton have been volunteering at Southeast Louisiana Veterans Health Care System since 2007.

About the Artist:  Heather Englehart is a major in the Army National Guard, where she has served for 18 years. In that time, she has held a variety of leadership positions such as platoon leader, company executive officer, and battalion plans officer.

Some of her artistic work remains part of the permanent collection at the Center of Military History. Englehart earned a degree in architecture and another in environmental design, both from North Dakota State University. Englehart, a South Dakota native, serves as director of the Louisiana National Guard Museums.