The Fargo
Fargo Legionnaire
Fargo, North Dakota
September - October  2007

Commander Message
Ron Matthews

As the summer comes to a close and fall is right around the corner, there will be a lot of things happening at the post in September and October.

The beer bust will be returning on Friday nights. On September 28th Post #2 will be hosting the First District meeting. I hope everyone will decide to participate. The Annual Military Appreciation Ball will be held on October 6th. Please plan on attending this special event. October 20th will be a busy day as the annual rummage sale and the Octoberfest are scheduled on the same day. Come early, stay late. So as you can see you can fill up your calendar very easily the next two months.

A few other items to consider as fall returns; Membership drives will soon start, so if you don’t want to receive any phone calls or any nasty letters please renew your membership as soon as possible.

The last item I would like for you to consider; we need a new roof on our building. Without a roof over our heads there wouldn’t be a post or a club, which means no gaming and no charitable funds to go out to the community. I am asking everyone to consider donating to the capital campaign.

Thank you for your support.

Ron Matthews, Commander, Fargo American Legion

Auxiliary President's Message
Mavis Goodroad

Hello:

This is my first big requirement as the new President of the Unit 2 of the Gilbert C. Grafton American Legion Auxiliary. I hope I can do as well in this position as the previous president did. She was excellent.

I hope everyone had a great summer and is ready to come to the auxiliary meetings. We need all your input as to what we need to do to help the post and volunteers to meet the needs of our requirements.

Over the summer we had soldiers return from Iraq and we are so grateful for their safe homecoming. It is important to let our military, recent and past, know how much we appreciate what they did and are doing so that we can be free and safe in our homeland.

Our convention in June was a success. Lots of hard work by our committee chairwoman, Lavonne and all the volunteers that helped to put it together. I had a lot of positive feedback from a number of people. Also, we will be hosting the Sept. 28 District Meeting.

On Sept 11, we will be having our regular meeting of the Auxiliary and I do hope there will be a large number of you attending. We will hear from our Girls State attendees who will probably have some fun and interesting things to share with us. And we may have Commander Ron Matthews to tell us about his goals. At the Oct. meeting we will have our Music Camp attendee inform us of the week spent at camp.

Mavis Goodroad, Auxiliary President, Unit #2

Chef de Gare Notes
Dave Rice

Fellow Voyageurs:

I´ll start with an apology.  In the last newsletter I thanked Larry Lein for serving as our Chef de Gare last year.  I should have thanked Bob Lechner, who was our Chef de Gare in 2006-2007.  Bob has been of great help getting me started and offering his sage advice as I assume these duties.  Thanks Bob, and sorry about that slip…

Please try to attend our Voyager 240 meetings the fourth Tuesday of each month at 7:30pm at the Fargo American Legion.  We would like to have you help with our spaghetti and bingo, let us know if you can spare a few hours once a month or so.  It would be nice to get more volunteers so we could either have more work teams or more members on each team to spread the work around.  See the changes we are making in our spaghetti program—announced in this newsletter.

The dues notice will be out soon, please get them sent in as soon as possible.  Be on the look out for new members.  There are only eleven 40 & 8 Voitures in North Dakota so we can cover a large geographic area, including the Minnesota side. 

I hope you had a great summer and are looking forward to helping our veterans and youth again this year.  We are getting geared up for our 40 & 8 Flags for First Graders program and the Nursing Scholarships we award each year.  Your help would be appreciated.

Chef de Gare Dave Rice
40 et 8 Voiture 240 Fargo

Adjutants Additions
Bob Jacobson

Fall is here, membership renewals are coming in, and we are getting ready for a busy year ahead. Commander Ron is promoting American Legion and Post 2. District Commander Keith is planning a lot of visits promoting the Legion’s Youth activities. Regional Vice Commander Dave has been to Indianapolis for meetings. Dave and Keith are two of our members who are partaking in national activities. Mona’s head must be swirling with all the Post and Club events upcoming to attract customers to our facility. Rentals are booking fast, if you need space talk to Mona.

This years Third Thursday Events were great. Many came as groups or met friends here for a fun evening out.
We are continuing with Friday night Beer Busts, kicking it off with Motongator Joe on our new outside stage September 14. We have a couple of 2nd Annuals coming up – the Post 2 Patriots’ Day Golf Tournament on September 11 and our Military Appreciation Ball on October 6. Mona is accepting registrations from golf teams.

The Ball was a “Grand” time last year and looks to be bigger and better this year. We don’t do dinner, but with the spread of hot and cold hors d’oeuvres, who needs it. Past Due is returning for what should be another great performance. It is billed as semi-formal or military dress uniforms to ensure appropriate attire.

You will notice changes in Monday Spaghetti so we will be able to accommodate vegetarian requests. The Club will start charging for water, whether by the bottle or the glass. This was felt to be the only solution since water requesters complained about bartenders taking care of paying customers first and paying customers complained about waiting so water could be served. Now everyone will be a paying customer. You might also take notice of our nice tile floor in the bar and into the lounge when you are downstairs.

Our building maintenance continues. We have galvanized water and drain piping needing replacement as well as some steam system piping. The roof is showing its age and needs replacing. Commander Ron has said his goals are to get the roof replaced and our beautiful museum area paid for. The roof has been the Executive Committee’s number one priority for the Capital Campaign for about four years.

Robert (Bob) Jacobson, Adjutant
Gilbert C. Grafton Post 2

Sons of the American Legion (SAL)

The SAL membership renewals have started coming in.  We are looking at another SAL Breakfast this fall.  We would still like to get officers in our Squadron.  Volunteers are readily accepted for both officers and help with projects.

Chad Rice, Department SAL Sergeant at Arms
and Post #2 SAL Squadron Member

Quilt Raffle—Thank you Denae Swalstad!!!!

The Fargo American Legion and the Honor Flight Committee would like to thank Denae Swalstad for the beautiful quilt she made and donated to Honor Flight. The raffle brought in over $750 for our World War II Veterans.   Also thank you to Mill End Textiles for donating the fabric and Duane Kaehler for the machine quilting. Denae also made a wall hanging that brought in nearly $150. Thanks Denae

1st District

As District 1 Commander I am currently visiting with the 29 Posts in my District. My goal is to visit all of them this fall and provide any assistance they require over the year.

I am also visiting with the high school principals in the district. I am attempting to set up high school assemblies on the same day as the Post meeting. At each assembly I will explain about the Legion and the programs of Boys State, Oratorical Contest and Junior Shooting Sports with a goal of increasing participation in each one. I will also provide information on Girls State.

The Fall District meeting will be at Post #2 on September 28th. Dinner will be served at 6:00 with the meeting starting at 7:30.

Keith Kerbaugh, 1st District Commander

Band Schedule

The Red River Valley Veterans Concert Band will be starting up again on September 4th at the Post Meeting.  We will also play September 28th at the District One Fall Meeting.  At press time October’s schedule has not been confirmed. 

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. 

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