Greetings,
A new year begins with the hope that all of you had a very Happy Holiday Season. In my mind, his season begins with Thanksgiving, goes through Christmas and ends with New Years. I was very, very proud of members of the Legion Family this year and especially the Legion Riders in particular for planning and hosting our 2nd annual Thanksgiving day dinner. To say it was a success, would be a grave understatement. It was magnificent. 131 people were served between the hours of 1 and 5. This event has become much more than a meal. It provides family-like companionship for many members and friends who would otherwise be alone at this time of year. I personally witnessed families inviting total strangers to sit with them and including them in their celebration. What a great and wonderful thing to do. I applaud all those who made this possible. It is the true way to bring together all organizations within the Legion Family, for as all of you know, to be a Legion Rider, you must first be a member of the Legion, SAL, or Auxiliary. I would also like to give a special thanks to Barb and Dan Jayson for ram-rodding this event. I know that this event will continue for many years to come. Again Thanks.
By the time of the publishing of this letter, I would hope that we have a new Club manager in place. A committee was formed to seek out applicants and hire a new manager to be in place by early January. Earl and Michelle have done a great job stabilizing the management of the Restaurant and Lounge, but now is the time to move on. Thanks to them we are solvent and the doors will stay open at least in the near future. Kudos to both of them for a job well done.
I would also like to let you know that Dick Kolb, Earl Buchan, and I attended a meeting of the Osseo City Council Meeting on Monday, November 28th. The City of Osseo is looking at ways of increasing funding to pay for services. One of these ways is a city tax on charitable gaming. We wanted to let the Council and Mayor to know that this would be a great hardship on the Osseo Maple Grove American Legion, as all profits from this activity are used for Veterans, Veteran Services and local Charitable donations. The council tabled the discussion for one month to gain further information on this matter.
I would like to take this opportunity to note the passing of two of our more Senior Legion Members and comrades, Don Aeshliman and Tauno Kumma. Tauno was a past Commander of this post and held many other important positions. Don had been a member here for over half century and was instrumental in the original construction of this building. Our heartfelt condolences to their families and our acknowledgement of lives well lived.
I would also like to let all of you know that our Past Commander Roger Biermaier suffered a very serious stroke during the first week of December. He is in very guarded condition and still is in intensive care as of this writing. Please remember him in your thoughts and prayers.
Proud to be your Commander,
Harland Anderson
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