American Legion Auxiliary Liberty Unit 289 President Sarah Wyckoff called to order the Nov. 14 Unit meeting.
The charter was draped in a ceremony in memory of Unit member Diane Paraiso, who passed away on Nov. 11. Diane’s grandmother, Lena Wilson, was the first Unit President of Liberty Unit 289.
Junior Member Oaklie Layton was present and spoke about her week at American Legion Auxiliary Illini Girls State in June. Oaklie was the first elected state official at ALA IGS from the Strasburg Unit. Oaklie was a Federalist in Honor City. She was elected the State Central Committeeman for the Federalist party. Oaklie described her week as exciting. She will return for the 2024 week of ALA IGS as the Federalist Party Leader.
Membership Chairman Becca Caldwell gave the membership report. There were 104 paid members.
It was announced the trees for the showcase of trees may start being decorated the week of Dec. 4.
In other announcements:
Bonnie Lawrence and Cinda Held worked the Candy Buy Back on Nov. 4.The Cookie Walk tables will be set up on Dec. 12 prior to the Unit meeting. There will be a $10 gift exchange at the meeting. Members are to bring party snacks.Bonnie, Linda and Charlene will work on Friday, Dec. 15, at the Christmas Store from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cinda, Sarah and Bonnie will work on Saturday, Dec. 16, from 9 to 11:30 a.m.Mark Sanders of WRAN/WTIM will be spotlighting the Strasburg American Legion Auxiliary on Nov. 24 at 9:30 a.m.The 19th District ALA has raffle tickets to purchase a new American flag and banner. They received 12 tickets and all were purchased by Unit members.
Mitzi Hartman gave an update on a $1,000/year (two $500) scholarships in memory of Robert Hybarger. They would like one of the scholarships to be for athletic and academic and the other scholarship to be for someone going into the military (to be received at the completion of basic training).
There will be no meeting in January.