The Henry G. Fix Post 23 meeting was held on October 3rd with 29 members present. The meeting was opened by Commander Brian Siemonsma. Special guests this evening were Mr. Dewey Hessaa from Canton and our own Post 23 15-16 year old baseball team. The minutes of the previous meeting were presented and approved. The members of the baseball team spoke about their season and thanked the Post for the opportunity to play baseball. This team placed 1st at regional tournament, and 3rd at the state tournament. Routine financial reports from the Finance Officer and from the Social Chairman were presented and approved. Bills were approved for payment.
The Service Officer had no recent activities to report. Get well cards were requested for three legion members. Tony Grady reported that the membership goal is the same as last year at 220. We now have 155 paid memberships putting us at 70% of our goal and well on track! New members joining our post are: Ronald Lyngen (Post-Vietnam Era) - Army and Trevor Fales (Present Era) - Army.
Americanism Officer Bob Bennett reported that Boys State students will start registering on January 1, 2020. Material has been received and distributed to the school for the oratory contest. We are looking for students to compete as in the past! Bob has developed a "Flags For Sale" flyer to promote legion flag sales. The annual Veterans Day program will be held at the school. The week of November 11-15th the school will invite Veterans to eat lunch with the students. More details to come at next meeting.
Andy Lyngen is leading up a team of legion members to fix the south side sidewalk. They will be working the project within the Post and will incorporate the needed drain tile for proper drainage. The Post flag retirement ceremony is now scheduled for December 14th. The local Boy Scout’s first meeting will be at the legion on Tuesday, October 8th with legion members demonstrating the separation of flags to the Scouts. We still have 100th Anniversary books available for sale at the Treasure Chest or by contacting Owen Wiese or Marty Luebke.
Mr. Dewey Hessaa, who serves as State Adjutant for the Son's of the American Legion presented on his organization. He provided an overview of the Son's of American Legion program and its origin, history, and purpose. The group is growing and would like a presence in Garretson. Post members asked several questions and discussed this as a future possibility.
The Veterans Day program is all set! We will meet at the Post on Monday, November 11th, with a social beginning at 5 pm and dinner at 6 pm. Featured speaker will be Captain Ross Rollinger from the South Dakota Air Guard 114th MXG.
Paul Evenson and Jim Kurtz provided information on the South Dakota American Legion Foundation. This program is an endowment fund designed to help Veterans and children. The endowment is currently funded at $189,000 with a goal of 1 million in the next five years. Members had a significant discussion on how our post could participate. Members approved a donation of $5000 in 2019 and an additional $5000 in 2020. This shows Post 23's continued commitment to local and state Legion causes.
The next Legion breakfast will be October 6th, serving omelettes, scrambled eggs, and ham from 9 am to 1 pm. Our next post meeting is Thursday, November 7th with the meal at 7 pm and meeting at 8 pm. Next county meeting is October 29th in Garretson with meal at 7:30 pm and meeting at 8 pm. The state Mid-Winter Conference will be held February 21-23, 2020 in Chamberlain.
The raffle drawing was held. Winners this month are: Sara Hegge, Brad Ferrell, Sam Williamson, Colleen Pesicka, and Ward Denning. The meeting was closed by the usual closing ceremony at 9:28 pm.
