The Henry G. Fix Post 23 meeting opened on Thursday, June 1st at 8:00 pm. The meeting was opened by Commander Beth Welch with a salute to the Colors, POW/MIA observance, the Pledge of Allegiance, and Preamble to the American Legion Constitution. Service Officer Nancy Grandy offered an opening prayer. 18 members were present.
The minutes of the previous meeting were presented and approved. The finance and social reports were approved. Bills were approved for payment. Gary Lyngen talked on the status of our roof damage claim. Repairs are in progress. Service Officer Nancy Grandy reported that get well cards were sent to Ethel Kurtz and Doris Nedved.
The membership report was given by Beth Welch. She reported that our 2023 goal number is 209 members. We currently have 26 Paid Up For Life members, 171 renewals, and 5 new members. That takes us to 202 total which is 96.65% of our goal. The May goal is 100%. Two additional memberships were received during the meeting which takes us to 204 total and 97.60%. Nancy Grandy will update the Go-Getter list prior to July. The 2024 membership cards will be picked up at the Department Convention in June.
Bob Bennett gave the Americanism report. Flags have been put up twice now in Split Rock Park. They look great when up! Money has been transferred to our Legion Scholarship Fund.
Paul Evenson reported that Congress has been working on the budget process. The National Legion is fully engaged, but has not released a statement yet. Paul attended the National Spring Conference. There were 28 resolutions. One declared the 1st day of each month as “Be the One” day. A second resolution encouraged Posts to post suicide awareness and do buddy checks each month. A third supports collaboration with the Department of Veterans Affairs on the buddy check program.
Brian Siemonsma gave the baseball report. 14U results were in the papers. Teams are doing really well. The initial game for 16U was rained out. They are scheduled to play Volga at home on June 5th.
Commander Welch thanked everyone for the help on the Memorial Day program. Ms. Erin Brown spoke from the South Dakota State Cemetery. Her speaking gift was returned to the Post. A motion passed to give those funds to the State Cemetery. The wall committee is continuing work on bids for building updates. Those will be presented to the Post. Commander Welch is working on shirt design and printing.
Our Post will have four seats at the 1st Annual Kingsbury County American Legion Purple Heart Appreciation Dinner on August 7th.
Our next Post meeting will be Thursday, July 6th. The meeting will be at 8 pm with the meal starting at 7 pm. The next Post Breakfast will be on June 4th with scrambled eggs and ham. With Tara’s passing we are looking for a Post Chaplain and a helper for the October meal team.
Commander Welch discussed option of a private Facebook chat group for Post members. It could be used to request for volunteers and put out information. There was discussion on the need to update email addresses and phone numbers. It was decided to continue to look for options for communication to Post members.
The Post 23 Color Guard will participate in the Jesse James Day parade on June 17th. The Post will have the Department Legion float for the event. A vendor fair will be held on June 17th at the Legion. The American Legion fireworks event will take place on July 3rd at dusk. It was decided to continue passing the hat for donations at the gates. An additional thank you note was received by the Post with a large donation as per Harlowe’s trust.
The monthly raffle drawing for June took place. The 5 winners were: Mark Zweep, Erin Petersen, Sam Williamson, Paul Kramer, and Missy Kuehn. Each will receive $150. Commander Beth Welch closed the meeting with the usual ceremony at 9:16 pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Mark Wiesner, Post 23 Historian
