The Community Center was the recent site of a holiday-themed craft sale. One of the offerings to patrons was a chance to have a quick-draw portrait done by local artist “Grandpa” David Hahn. Standing by their portrait are Melissa and her sweet baby Emmaline. Staff photos/Brian Larsen
The fiscal year has concluded, and the taxes have been filed for one of our county’s many nonprofits, the American Legion Auxiliary Unit 413. As their fiscal year came to an end, they reviewed their contributions to our veterans and their families in our community.
The largest single contribution, over $4,200, was made this year to Northland Honor Flight. Honor Flight pays for our Cook County veterans to fly to Washington, D.C. and view many of our nation’s memorials for those who have so valiantly served our country. It is an opportunity few of our veterans would ever experience if it weren’t for all of the generous donations.
Another major effort sponsored by our local auxiliary included college scholarships. This year $4,000 was distributed to two Cook County students who were attending college in Minnesota. These students competed by writing essays about service; a committee determined which were the winning essays. To be eligible, these students needed to have a parent or grandparent who was a veteran.
With Deonn Cicak looking on, Skip Lamb reads the name of the winner of the quilt raffled off by the Schroeder Historical Society at their recent holiday party held at the Cross River Heritage Center. If you want to know who won, look at the last picture and caption on this page.
In order to support some of our elderly veterans who have medical issues and live at the Minnesota Veterans Home, $2,000 was donated. Also receiving donations from our local auxiliary were the Violence Prevention Center, our local food shelf, the ISD 166 band and choir (they performed at the annual Veterans Day program), and our veterans and their spouses who received free meals on Memorial Day and Veterans Day.
Our local auxiliary does much to support our community; this year they donated more than $13,500. If you are interested in joining the auxiliary, contact Dee Brazell (president) or Brenda Schoepflin (membership chair). Our local auxiliary meets the first Monday of every month at 5:45 p.m. at the Cook County Whole Foods Co-op. Stop by to attend the monthly meeting.
Always creative, Hovland artist Mary Jo Flack had an array of fun-filled wacky wildwood gnomes for sale at the Cook County Community Center during the holiday sale. Some of the gnomes looked suspiciously like notable locals. Hmmm…
Mrs. Claus (Linda Lamb) poses next to the beautiful quilt that was won by Betty Bonin from Alaska. The Schroeder Area Historical Society raffled off the quilt with the funds going to the Cross River Heritage Center.
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