CASSADAGA — Tuesday, July 13 the Cassadaga Legion Auxiliary Unit 1280 held their “dish-to-share” picnic and regular monthly meeting at the Legion Post, with 11 senior members at the meeting, 5 officers were present. Again, guidelines were followed according to the governor’s protocol; masks were worn, social distancing was observed, and sanitizer was available for those that wanted to use it.

In the absence of Chaplain Paula Pattison, Lauren gave the opening prayer, and we all enjoyed a great potluck dinner & conversation.

President Lauren Sharp then opened the meeting in regular fashion with the Pledge of Allegiance, the Preamble, & a moment of silence for our fallen soldiers, and prayer from Pat Hayward. Secretary Carol Baker read our June meeting minutes; a motion was made & seconded to accept them as read. Treasurer Sue DeGolier gave the financial report; referred to the audit committee.

Reports by the committee chairs were as follows:

Americanism: Chairperson Pat Hayward gave a great report, there are 224 American flags flying in the village this year from the Post 1280 “Flag Program”, of which, 74 sponsors are from Unit 1280.

In her absence, Chaplain Paula Pattison had sent in a report, she has sent out ‘Sympathy’ & ‘Get Well’ cards as needed to Unit members and their families.

For Children & Youth it was decided, depending on COVID protocol, the children’s Halloween party will be held Oct. 24.

Our Finance chairperson has scheduled an audit of our books for the end of July with the committee.

Historian Ranee Kaus is keeping track of the Unit’s activities and documenting them with pictures and articles for the history book.

Membership for Unit 1280 has 188 Unit members paid that puts us at 95% for the year. 2021 dues are coming out soon, to keep your continuous years you can still pay your 2020 dues; mail them to: Cassadaga Auxiliary Unit 1280/ PO Box 497 / Cassadaga, 14718.

On National Security Pat Hayward reported that she and Paula Pattison continue to cut & categorize “Troopons”.

There was discussion on Poppies, we may do our “Poppy Days” on Labor Day weekend, depending on other community activities that are going on.

VR&R from items the Unit 1280 members have collected, Pat Hayward sent books, CD’s, tapes, games, toiletries, etc. to the Erie VA. Items are left in the lobby, cleaned by their employees and then distributed to the Veterans.

Old Business:

As the Rummage/Bake Sale is set for Saturday, Sept. 12, Chairperson Linnea Nichols noted, “Remember to save all your ‘rummage’ for our sale. Posters will be going up in August.”

New Business:

It was voted on that until the COVID-19 pandemic recedes, Unit 1280 will not be able to hold their funeral luncheons as they are buffet style and they are not allowed at this time.

Our annual Vendors Showcase is scheduled for Saturday Oct. 24. More news to follow.

The Unit members voted to donated money to the Cassadaga “National Night-Out” & to the “Golden Caring Hearts” to benefit the children’s cancer research.

With no further business at hand, Pat Hayward gave a closing prayer, & the President closed the meeting at 7:40 p.m.

After the closing of the meeting, we held our “shower of gifts” for our Unit. We received new towels, pot holders, hot pads, etc. for us to use at our funeral luncheons and Legion functions. Balloons for the occasion were provided by Linnea Nichols.

As stated in our By-Laws, we will not be holding an August meeting. The next meeting was set for Tuesday, Sept. 8, at 6:30 p.m., at the Post. We encourage all Unit members, and any interested persons to come to our meeting to learn about what we do for the Legion, Veterans, and our Community. New Ideas are always welcome!

Unit 1280 has nice corn brooms for sale @ $12 each; and they continue to collect, stamps, “Pennies for Hospice”; and “can tabs for Troop support”. “Troopons” (coupons) now need to be ONLY manufacturer coupons — cut, and put into categories:

Unexpired, or Expired (not more than 2 months)

Sub-categories: *Food items, *Non-food items, *baby food/items, *pet items; all labeled & put in separate baggies.