Duplicate Bridge

Seven teams played Duplicate Bridge March 12 at the Senior Center in Austin. Winners were Larry Crowe and Bill Momsen and Gail and Ray Schmidt, tied for first place; Edna Knobbe and Rick Stroup, third place; and Joyce Crowe and Millie Seiver, fourth place.

Four tables played Duplicate Bridge March 13 at the Senior Center in Austin. Winners were  Gail and Ray Schmidt, first place; Vandy Newman and Ron Peters and Larry Crowe and Rick Stroup, tied for second; and Joyce Crowe and Millie Seiver, fourth place.

Women Veterans of Freeborn County

The regularly scheduled meeting of the Women Veterans of Freeborn County met March 5 at the American Legion in Albert Lea.

Women veterans present included Pat Johannsen, Judi Olson, Barb Babb, Deanna Luedtke, Ruth Perry, Barb Peterson, Sandy Maiden and Julie Hamson.

The treasurer’s report was read.

Jessica Maiden was the group’s guest speaker. She brought a plaque with a picture of the Women Veterans with all the donations from the Kindness Counts movement. She also said the movement impacted a lot of the Mayo employees and they are going to do a sequel. Collections will be open campus-wide and will go until fall. The group is hoping to ship some overseas to guardsmen.

Luedtke read an article about the price of coffee. She said the Air Force is coming under heavy scrutiny for billing taxpayers $1,280 per item for mugs that are specially designed to reheat drinks during flight. Travis Air Force Base spent $56,000 to replace the mugs during the last three years. In 2016, each cup cost $693. Since this came to light, she said the Air Force plans to use 3-D technology to produce replacement cups for 50 cents each.

Peterson is the newest member of the group and came to her first meeting.

Maiden volunteered to take food donations to the food pantry.

The next scheduled meeting will be at 11:30 a.m. April 3 at American Legion Post 56 in Albert Lea.

For more information about the auxiliary, call Luedtke at 641-425-3482.

Freeborn American Legion Auxiliary

On Feb. 16, Freeborn American Legion Auxiliary No. 552 had its monthly meeting at the legion hall in Freeborn.

According to a press release, the Dec. 2 Christmas party was a great success. Santa started the event by coming and bringing activities for the children to do, such as making ornaments, decorating cookies and juice and cookies for the children. This event was sponsored by the Freeborn American Legion gambling fund. Coffee and homemade Christmas cookies were served to the adults. These events were followed by a hospice reading and recognition of the contributors to the hospice tree. The potluck started at 5 p.m. The evening finished with games of bingo with many prizes. Most people won many times. Bingo was sponsored by the Freeborn American Legion Auxiliary.

The group’s big project coming up is making/sewing comfort boxes, laundry bags, heart pillows, bed throws, tote bags, neck pillows and cloth bags for children’s activities. The group plans on making 12 items in each category and delivering them to the Veterans Administration hospital in Minneapolis. The group said they are looking forward to making these items and seeing the veterans receive them. Hopefully they will be finished and delivered by the end of May.

Due to the Minnesota department wanting to increase the amount that they take from the organization’s annual dues, it was motioned and carried to increase annual dues.