|
|
|
|
 Commander
Message
Ron Matthews
Changes and progress continue at your legion post.
Our finance officer, Virgil Estensen recently passed away. My deepest
sympathy goes out to his wife and family.
Dave Rice is serving as interim Finance Officer
and has agreed to fill out Virgil’s term as well as run on the ballot to
continue in the position.
For some of the new members who have joined our
organization this year I would like to encourage you to get involved in an
activity and visit the club. Your involvement and support is critical if
Post #2 is going to be around to support our returning veterans.
The month of February I had a chance to go to a
few elementary schools. I had a chance to see kids receive flags from Don
Schwinden in the program called Flags for First Graders. If anyone who has
never had a chance to see this program I would highly recommend going to
watch, or volunteer to help with this program.
In the month of March the Post will be looking for
a few good women and men to step forward to fill in a few empty spots for
the executive committee and vice commanders. Please consider volunteering as
your new ideas will help the post out a lot.
The Spring District meeting will be held in
Hillsboro on March 28, 2008. Please consider making a good showing for Post
2 and District 1.
Ron Matthews,
Commander, Fargo American Legion
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 Auxiliary President's Message
Mavis Goodroad
Greetings: Half of the year is almost
over for my term and we have a few things to accomplish. The most
important one is our membership. We need all your help in acquiring new
and especially, younger members to our unit. It takes all of us to put
our efforts together to accomplish this.
Those of you who are members of the auxiliary but do not come to the
meetings, please call me or write to me and let me know why and what you
want to see us do to have your attendance. I am open for suggestions.
March is Community Service month and we will have a
speaker who has helped out in the community and other areas. Also, April
will be a time to have a representative for giving some information
about children and youth. I would like to see a few new faces at our
meetings. Thank you to all of you who do come and for your services in
helping us provide for our veterans and our youth.
I read an article about a former National Auxiliary
President and her theme was “Preserve the Past-Develop the Future.” I
like that for my own theme. We need to develop the future of the Legion
Auxiliary. Come and help. Mavis
Goodroad
Pres. American Legion Auxiliary Unit 2
701-232-9356
3030 22nd St S
Fargo, ND 58103
Mavis Goodroad,
Auxiliary President, Unit #2
|
|
|
|
|
| |
 Chef de Gare Notes
Dave Rice
Thanks to everyone for attending and
helping out with the 40 & 8 Sweetheart Banquet on February 16th. We had
a great time and the KC meals were once again outstanding, thanks to our
Club Manager Mona Arnold and her staff for helping with the arrangements
and our Post Secretary Sarah Kim for taking reservations. Marlyn and
Judy Wegge once again organized the event and arranged for door prizes.
Denae Swalstad was again very generous by donating a beautiful quilt
that was given away as our grand prize of the sweetheart drawing.
The Flags for First Graders
presentations went well again this year. It is fun watching and
listening to the kids, they know a lot about the flag and have some good
questions. A big thank you to Bob Long who made all the contacts and
developed the schedule, Don Schwinden and Dave Lee for making the
presentations and Ron Gebeke, Jim Schlenker, Bob Lechner, Mike Borgan
and Ron Matthews for distributing the flags. About 1,550 flags were
given to first graders in the 27 schools we visited, an additional 300
flags were provided to ten schools in our region.
Promenades are scheduled for March
25th and April 22nd starting at 7:30pm, Cheminot meets at 7:00pm. Hope
to see you there!
Chef de Gare Dave Rice
40 et 8 Voiture 240 Fargo |
|
|
|
|
| |
 Adjutants
Additions
Bob Jacobson
Is
it just me or do the months always seem to roll by too quickly? Saint
Patrick’s Day, Easter, spring – all upon us too quickly. Check the
calendar for events coming up. The Mid-Winter Meeting is now history;
the Department Convention is coming up in June at Minot.
We are close to meeting our membership goal. While we
started accepting 2008 dues in July, some still have not renewed.
Non-renewals became delinquent on January 1. We would really like to
meet our membership goal for 2008. If you have not renewed or you know
of someone who has not, I ask that this be taken care of soon.
I received a message with a renewal asking when we
would be explaining why the dues went up on January 1, 2007. The
National Executive Committee saw a need to raise their portion of the
annual dues we pay. The North Dakota portion remained unchanged. The
Post portion went up 50 cents to keep an even dollar amount for the dues
we pay. This was the increase we saw in 2006 for membership year 2007.
We lost our Finance Officer, Virgil Estenson to
cancer. He provided a lot of insight and expertise into our financial
record keeping after we upgraded our computer to the current program. He
will be missed. Dave Rice has accepted the
position of Interim Finance Officer and has agreed to continue if
elected to the position. He retired from NDSU AG Communications on
February 29 with 30 years. He was Web Master for the Extension Service
and taught Economics and farm record keeping. He plans to drill with the
Navy Reserve through 2009 then retire with 40 years.
Our maintenance problems keep surfacing. The company
that built our commercial ice maker in the kitchen upstairs went out of
business years ago. The parts kit we need is no longer available and we
are shopping for a replacement icemaker.
Warmer weather will soon be upon us, making leak repair on the roof
imperative. We will try to do some patching to postpone the big expense.
Robert (Bob) Jacobson,
Adjutant
Gilbert C. Grafton Post 2 |
|
| |
|
|
| |
Pictured Left: Fargo Madison Elementary School
First Graders receiving flags from the 40 et 8 Flags for First
Graders Program. |
Pictured Right: Don Schwinden giving Flag
Presentation to First Graders at Nativity Elementary |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Post
2 lost another good friend and active member February 4th when Virgil
Estenson passed away. He was a 29 year member of our Post and a voyageur
of 40 et 8 Voiture 240. He served in the US Army in Korea. He was an
accountant and an entrepreneur where he developed skills put to use as
our Finance Officer. He was doing wonders with the financial records,
giving us much more pointed and accurate records allowing us better
control of our operating costs. As a restaurateur, he plied his trade
over the years in our kitchen, most recently cooking spaghetti with the
assistance of his wife Betty. He was an active member of the local
business community. He had seven children, 12 grandchildren and 7 great
grandchildren. |
 The
Honor Flight Committee is hard at work wrapping up fundraisers to ensure
we have sufficient funds for the fourth and last trip out of Fargo on
May 2-3. The Front Fenders Band will be hosting a Honor Flight dance
and fundraiser at the West Fargo VFW on Friday evening, March 7th. We
will have a silent and live auction of donated prizes at the dance and
will be selling raffle tickets for a trip for two to accompany us to
Washington, D.C. in May. (See Dave Rice if you would like to buy a
ticket, they are $10 each.) The drawing will be at the West Fargo VFW
on March 13th. WDAY held a telethon at West Acres on Presidents Day
which was very successful.Dave Rice, Honor
Flight Treasurer |
|
|
|
|
|
 Membership Chairman
I want
to thank all the recruiters for a great job in making contact with
your members to help us head to the goal of 1475. We still need 98
members to reach our goal and it would be great to exceed our goal
by April 2008.
We will
give it another try the first part of March (for some reason some
members say they do not pay until March—any idea why??). There are
only a few members who have some left on their list and you know
whom you are, so let’s try and get them all paid. There are a number
of members not assigned to a recruiter and we will address that
again at our membership drive in March.
We need
to concentrate on bringing in new members in the coming years. I
know it is a challenge for all veteran clubs and perhaps we need to
address this with the Patriotic Bodies—maybe they have some ideas on
how we can all continue to be strong advocates for our veterans.
Thanks
for all your work---ask a veteran to join Post 2.
Dave Johnston, First Vice Commander |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2008 Mid-Winter Conference Pictured Left to Right: Candidate for
National Commander David Rehbein and National Vice Commander Don
Hayden
|
Pictured Left: ND Department Commander Harvey Peterson and ND
Department Auxiliary President Charlotte Lassonde at the2008
Mid-Winter Conference.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Bronze
Star with Valor
Sgt. Anthony Batesole, USMC, received the
Bronze Star with Valor in a ceremony held at the Patriot Hall at the
Fargo American Legion on December 23, 2007. His Commanding officer,
Major Ryan Crais, (left) presented this Bronze Star. Sgt. Batesole
spent two tours in Iraq, most recently from Oct. 2006 through June
2007. He is from Jamestown but currently is living in Harwood, ND
and is a student at MSUM, Moorhead. Sgt. Batesole was stationed out
of Camp Lejeune, NC.
|
 1st
District Oratorical Contest
Pictured above is Daniel Baldwin being
presented his First Place Certificate from the 1st District
Oratorical Contest Chairman, David Rice |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Fargo
Legion Baseball
Steve Parmer, Post 2 baseball General
Manager
701-232-6916 |
Past Commanders
Association The Past Commanders
Association decided to meet in the evening instead of at noon the
last couple months. We hoped to get better attendance at our
meetings but instead only got about half of what usually attended
during the day. But, it was worth a try. We will resume our noon
meeting schedule in March, we meet at 11:30am on the second Tuesday
of the month upstairs in the Fargo American Legion. Please RSVP
with our office (293-3930) if you plan to have lunch with us. Thank
you.
Dave Rice, President |
 New
Year's Day
Catering is available through the Fargo KC’s. They can be reached at
232-6386. |
 Son's
of the American Legion
Chad Rice, Dept.
Sgt-At-Arms, Squadron # 2 |
|
 The
Knights of Columbus hold a dinner every Tuesday night from 5:30 to 7:00 pm
for $8 per plate. The meal varies and comes with salad bar. The second
Tuesday of the month is always spaghetti.
Every Saturday from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm the KC’s serve
burgers upstairs. |
 40
et 8 Sweetheart Banquet(left to
right)- Correspondant Marlyn Wegge and his Sweetheart Judy,
Chef de Gare Dave Rice and his Sweetheart
Donna. |
|
President’s Day Honor Flight Booth at
West Acres Mall
|
LaVonne Matthews wins the quilt which was a door
prize at the 40 et 8 Sweetheart Banquet. The quilt was made by Denae
Swalstad.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
| A
Legionnaire is considered to be "in uniform" if wearing
an official American Legion cap. Shirts and other
clothing should be in good taste to reflect credit upon
the American Legion. The Legion cap and uniform should
be worn by its members only when in attendance at
official Legion meetings or ceremonies or as official
guests at patriotic or other civil functions or by
individuals when officially representing The American
Legion on public occasions. Source: 2008 Officer's Guide
|
The
American Legion, Department of North Dakota, held it's
Annual Winter Conference February 8-10 in Dickinson.
National Auxiliary President Jan Pulvermacher-Ryan,
National Legion Vice Commander Don Hayden and Leading
Candidate Dave Rehbeim were in attendance and spoke at
the opening session. The Department's 2008 Annual
Convention will be held in Minot on June 20-22 this
summer, please plan to attend. |
|
Nominating committee--is Orlyen Stensgard, Chair, Dave
Johnston, Alex MacDonald, Bob Long and Wally Lueck. We
have met and are working on the list of nominees and if
any one has someone they want the Nominating Committee
to talk to they should contact us. |
The 1st
District will hold it's spring meeting at 7:30pm on
Friday, March 28th at the Hillsboro Vets Club across
from the Courthouse. Please contact the office if you
would like to car pool, we would like a good showing of
Post 2 members. |
| The
Legion currently has many recruiters close to reaching
their Go-Getter status as a recruiter and we have 9
members that are already a Go-Getter. Congratulations to
the following Go-Getters *
Bob Lechner * Vern Useldinger * Keith Kerbaugh * Ed
Yeager * Don Schwinden * Bob Jacobson * Dave Rice *
Orlyen Stensgard * Wayne Wermager * |
The
American Legion birthday is March 15th - 17th. The
American Legion will be 89 years old. Cake will be
served at the club on March 15th in honor of the
Legion’s 89th Birthday. |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
Charity
Donations
January/February 2008
|
|
Color Guard/Funerals |
$510.13 |
|
VAVS |
$440.00 |
|
Bike Shop |
$608.14 |
|
Baseball |
$2,000.00 |
|
RRVVCB |
$400.00 |
|
ROTC |
$107.91 |
|
Greetings |
$105.00 |
|
State Band |
$200.00 |
|
Honor Flight |
$400.00 |
|
Total |
$4,771.18 |
|
|
Band Schedule
The Red River Valley Veterans Concert Band will be in
concert at Riverview Place on March 6th at 7 p.m. and the West Fargo
High Rise on March 27th at 7 p.m., and of course, Post meeting nights.
Concerts are being scheduled for Fergus Falls, Detroit
Lakes, Hawley, Pelican Rapids, Peham, Wahpeton, the Veterans Home in
Lisbon, and a couple other locations if we have time, in April and May.
The schedule will be posted at www.rrvvcb.org when the arrangements have
been confirmed.
The band would like to thank the Post #2 family for
their support. We appreciate calling the Fargo Legion "home".
See the RRVVCB Web page at:
http://www.rrvvcb.org/ |
|
|
|
|
|
Have Your Wedding, Anniversary,
Christmas or Any Party Here
The American Legion has rental space available for a wide variety of events at a very reasonable price.
To Schedule an Event please Contact our Office at 701-293-3930. Click
here for additional information.
Rental Space is Booking Up
Fast
The Legion has
rental space available for any size party or occasion up to 250
people. Please see Mona at 505 3rd Ave N, Fargo, ND or call her at
237-4013 for booking details. Catering is also available through the
KC’s. Please give Jon a call at 232-6386 regarding catering. The
space is booking fast so give Mona a call to book your space and
don’t forget, Legion, Auxiliary, Social and SAL members get a
discount off the hall rental.
Reunions,
Office Parties,
Private Parties,
Any other special occasion you may be celebrating,
Birthday Parties,
Anniversary Parties,
Weddings,
Retirement Parties,
Christmas Parties |
|
|
|
|
|
In Memoriam
George B. Arnold
Harold Honl
Virgil Estenson
Gordon L. Anderson
Mark B. Foss
Audber Hansen
Alvin F. Bittner
Oscar Ostrem
Raymond Peschel
|
|
Upcoming Veteran's Events
See the TriStateVeterans Calendar
of Events for veteran and military events in the near
future. |
|
|
Fargo American
Legion Website http://www.tristateveterans.com/fargolegion
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Fargo Legionnaire
Official bi-monthly publication of the Gilbert C. Grafton Post No. 2 The American Legion, 505 3rd Ave N., Fargo, ND 58102.
Commander: Ron Matthews
Editor: Bob Jacobson
Club Manager: Mona Arnold
Legionnaire Staff: Boots Anderson, Sarah Kim, Vetta Loveland, Barbara Useldinger
Attention: In accordance with North Dakota Charitable Gaming Regulations, American Legion Club notifies its membership that the organization's cash profit; cash long or short; net proceeds expenses, if any; reimbursement of excess expenses, if applicable; and a list of eligible use contributions is available for review. The information is available at the American Legion Club, 505 3rd Ave N,. Fargo, 8am - 4:30pm, Mon.-Fri. (701)237-4013
|
|
|
Fargo American Legion Home Page
E-mail:
legionoffice@ideaone.net
|
|
|
|
|
|
Go to www.tristateveterans.com Home Page |
|
|
|
|
