from the Auxiliary President, Gorda Olsen

Transcription

1 President Gorda Olsen st Vice President Open 2nd Vice President Maryalyce McCabe Treasurer Joan Guse Secretary Heather Bopp Executive Committee Mary Lyman Heike Cybart Membership Jan Lauby Chaplain Janet Thompson Veteran Affairs Gorda Olsen Community Service Shirley See Sergeant at Arms Bernice Spindler Past President Janet Thompson Newsletter Torrey Lenertz, American Legion Auxiliary Apple Valley Unit 1776 DECEMBER/JANUARY Granada Drive Apple Valley, MN from the Auxiliary President, Gorda Olsen Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Our Legion Family Christmas Party is Thursday, December 14 6:00 PM; if you are a Post, SAL or Auxiliary member, please come and enjoy a fun night with our Legion Family, your spouse or significant other are invited too. Reservations are required by December 9th. (Some of us were thinking how great it would be to fill the back room!) A big thanks to all of our members who donated baked goods for the Veterans Day Luncheon and also those who volunteered for the day. It was a great turn-out and we always receive compliments on the desserts. The Auxiliary contributed four $50.00 Target gift cards for the veteran s drawing. I d like to give a big thanks to Jan Lauby for the great job she does as our Membership Chairman (I m not sure how long, but I know it has to be 10+ years). So let s all help her by getting our dues in before December 31 st. We will have an Initiation of new members at our February 20 th meeting and all new members and members who have never received their Auxiliary pin are encouraged to mark your calendars now and plan to attend. We ve had a great year, thanks to everyone who has volunteered their time and talents. These past couple of years I feel we have really come together as a family, it doesn t matter whose event it is, everyone comes to help. THAT S AWESOME. Looking forward to 2018 to see what we can accomplish, never forgetting - In the Spirit of God and Country WE SERVE Veterans, the Military and their families. Gorda Chaplain Janet Thompson As chaplain I send out get well, thinking of you and sympathy cards to our members or their families. If you know someone who is ill, having surgery or there is a death, etc. please contact me via jthom55542@aol.com or telephone

2 2 nd Vice President Maryalyce McCabe Currently no activity to report. Looking forward to the Valentine s Day Omelet Breakfast. Membership Jan Lauby Thanks to all who have paid your dues for 2018 we are over 70% turn in, which is really good means over 70% of you will have 2 entries in our membership drawing! By the time you get this newsletter, it will be too late to get 2 entries in, but you can still get in on it with 1 entry if you pay your dues before New Year s Day. Don t wait till the last minute! Then come down to the Member s Only in January to find out who the lucky ones are. If you are a winner, you will be notified (you do not need to be present, but you ll miss out on the fun), and I will list the winners of the gift cards in our next newsletter. Hope you all had a wonderful time with family and friends during the Thanksgiving holiday and wishing you the best ever Christmas and New Year!! Keep those who are not able to be with their families in your thoughts and prayers. Past President Janet Thompson I, along with Gorda and Jan, attended the 2017 ALA Fall Conference in Willmar at the end of October. The classes and talks were great and very informative. It was one of the best run conferences I have been to. In the past year the national members of the A L Auxiliary reported services and donations worth $1.7 billion. That takes a lot of effort and time by women, one hour at a time. One big item at the conference was the 2018 A L A Convention that is coming to Minneapolis August 24-30, The Department will need a lot of volunteers. If you re interested in helping I have a sign up form for you to fill out. The Department s cookbook was on sale at the Conference. Around 400 were sold for $25. I have one for people to review. We will be able to get some if you want to purchase for yourself or a gift. Girls State will be June 10-16, 2018 at Bethel University. Be sure to talk to the high school junior girls that are in your family or among your friends. It is a great opportunity. There is $10,000 Samsung scholarship offered each year. A girl from Minnesota won it this year. The Unit will be awarding two scholarships for high school seniors again this spring. These are awarded to daughters, sons, and grandchildren of Auxiliary, Legion and SAL members. Information and applications will be available in January. I have been taking paperbacks, magazines, hygiene items, neck pillows and lap robes into the VA Hospital. I was invited to the 76 th Annual Pheasant Dinner sponsored by the American Legion and VFW. All in-patients were also served a delicious pheasant meal. Since the beginning over 21,000 patients have received this service. Marlene and I helped the Post deliver 4,400 apples on Thursday, November 16 th. We went to 37 schools in District 196. All the employees we came in contact with thanked us and said they always enjoy receiving the apples and recognition.

3 Fundraisers Marlene Heinzen & Mary Lyman The Fall Craft & Bake Sale was on October 28 th from 9 am 4 pm. I want to thank all of you who put in such long hours to prep for another successful craft sale. Even with a cool weather day we still had a steady flow of customers. This year we booked 36 vendors and received so many compliments on the variety of items being sold. Some vendors said they will be back again next year. Linda Kuntz made her delicious sloppy joes and we also served hot dogs. We sold out of both of them. Thank you to everyone who baked, volunteered, and sent in donations for the sale. What would our Auxiliary do without all of you? If you would ever like to help on any project just get a hold of me, Mary Lyman or our great President Gorda Olsen. We d love having you!! Wishing you a Healthy Holiday Season to you and your families! God Bless you all and I ll see you next spring! Marlene Heinzen, Please join us for the Legion Christmas Party on Thursday, December 14th beginning at 6:00 p.m. We will be serving a buffet of a traditional holiday dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, carrots, salad, roll and dessert. If that doesn t make your mouth water you can choose the prime rib dinner with roasted red potatoes, au jus, asparagus, salad, roll and dessert. Turkey Dinner - $ or Prime Rib Dinner - $ Dinner request forms are attached or available at the pull-tab booth. There will be door prizes and, yes, maybe a game or two! Most of all a lot of getting to know you, laughs and just a great time. Remember everyone is welcome! Our next Meat Raffle and Horse Racing will be Saturday, January 13, Just a reminder..the Toys for Veterans Children box is now set up to receive unwrapped gifts for children of all ages. Merry Christmas! Mary Lyman, Veteran Affairs Gorda Olsen We have adopted five Veterans at the Hastings Veterans Home and we will be shopping for Christmas gifts for them. If anyone would like to participate in our Veterans program we could use $10.00 gift cards from Walmart, Target, Dollar Store, Cub, Perkins Subway, Menards and Great Clips. The home also uses gift cards for motivation and rewards for weight loss, stopping smoking and exercise programs. Send to the Legion, Granada Drive, Apple Valley, MN Attn: Ladies Auxiliary or drop off at the Pull-tab Booth.

4 Community Service, Children & Youth Shirley See Our Unit supplied food to the food shelf again this year. We plan it around the summer months as food is needed for children while school is out. Cleaning the park on County Road 42 and Hayes is still on our schedule. Next time will be in the spring. Our Unit will once again sponsor the winter activity for Kids n Kinship. They are going back to the skating rink this February where children are mentored by families and the families are able to enjoy the activity. Unit members will help with this event. Besides roller skating the attendees will take part in activities such as making cards, playing games and picking out a book to take home. Dinner is also served. Kids n Kinship is a mentoring program for children that have special needs, or a one parent family or needs guidance. If you d like to learn more about this program go to wwwkidsnkinship.org or call Mentoring a child is only a one year commitment. I met my child when she was just 9 years old. I have kept in touch with her. She is now 22 and a wonderful young lady. On another note...i would like to thank so many of our Unit who are constantly helping. We would love to see more participate. You are welcome to all events. Some feel at times that only a few can volunteer. That is not true. Join us going to the Veterans Home. Join us at fundraisers! Get active. You do not have to help at all events...pick and choose. That s what volunteers do! Or just come to the meetings and find out what we do. Afterwards most will socialize for a while. It s a great way to meet the members. I m naming a few but I m sure I ll forget some...sorry! Thank you Gorda, Torrey, Janet, Maryalyce, Mary, Bernice, Joan, Jan. Many have taken offices throughout the years. Thank you to ALL members as keeping the membership is important, too. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and the best in 2018!

5 Apple Valley American Legion Auxiliary Unit Granada Drive Apple Valley, MN Auxiliary General Membership Meeting 3rd Tuesday of each month 7pm (no meeting in July or Dec) At the Post in the back room ALL MEMBERS ARE WELCOME TO ATTEND Come join in the fun! Highlighted Events for December & January Go to the Post web site for the full schedule of Legion events December 10 th Post Children s Christmas Party 11am-1pm. RSVP required. 14 th Legion Family Christmas Get Together at Post 1776 at 6 pm. RSVP required. January 7 th Post, Auxiliary & SAL Tom & Jerry Members Only Party 11am 2pm 13 th Auxiliary Meat Raffles & Horse Racing starting at noon 16 th Auxiliary General Membership 7 pm in the back room Newsletter Newsletters are sent out every other month and are also available online at The 2017 newsletters will be mailed or ed for Feb/Mar, April/May, June/July, Aug/Sept, Oct/Nov, and Dec/Jan. Articles are due the 20th of the month prior to the month of distribution. Please send inputs via to tlenertz@comcast.net or by mailing them to Torrey Lenertz, 601 Todd Avenue, Eagan, MN