The annual Believe It, Achieve It “Seeds of Faith” fundraiser for the School of St. Philip is coming up this Saturday at the Litchfield Eagles Club. There will be a buffet meal and entertainment by Song Blast Dueling Guitars.
Monica Schreiber says social hour begins at 5 p.m., with dinner at 6 p.m. and the show at 7:30 and Glen Everhart and Pat Balder will do 80s music and comedy. She say the cost is $50 and you should get tickets as soon as possible at the School of St. Philip or St. Philip’s Church; and you can get tickets for just the show at the door for $25.
Schreiber says between the dinner and show, there will be live and silent auctions and you can find more details about the auction items on the School of St. Philip website in the Seeds of Faith tab. She says Ashley Huhn from Steffes Auctioneers will auction off several trips during the live auction, and there are numerous items on the silent auction.
Schreiber says they work on coordinating this event all year long and there are a lot of people to thank who help make it possible. She says it’s a great way to cap off Catholic Schools Week – with proceeds going to curriculum updates and the scholarship fund at St. Philip’s School. Money will also be raised for “A Fund in Need” – as the School of St. Philip is raising money at the event which will go toward a new math curriculum.
The annual American Legion High School Oratorical Contest was held last Thursday at the Litchfield American Legion. First place honors, and a $500 scholarship, went to Ayden Hilker – son of Jeremy Hilker and Krystal Chapin of Litchfield.
Ayden is a junior attending Litchfield High School. No other contestants from Litchfield applied to compete for these scholarship funds.
The Oratorical Contest ask students to prepare an 8-to-10-minute oration which must be on some aspect of the United States Constitution with emphasis on citizen’s duties and obligations to our government. The champions of each contest advance to the next level.
The American Legion provides scholarship funds at every level of the contest. The national contest provides $25,000 to the 1st place champion. Winning contestants will have the opportunity to advance from the local post competition to district, state and the national contests. Each contest provides scholarship funds. The national contest will be held May 15-to-17 in Hillsdale, Michigan.
Ayden Hilker will advance to the Seventh District American Legion contest which will be held at the Willmar American Legion on February 1st at 1 P.M. where the 1st place scholarship is $800. Additional scholarship prizes for 2nd and 3rd will be available. The 1st Place winner of the 7th District contest will advance to the State contest to be held on February 28th where the 1st place Scholarship is $1,500. The winner will advance to the National American Legion High School Oratorical Contest. All expenses are provided by the American Legion and their various contests.
Americanism Chair Reuben Nathe says the Nelsan-Horton Post #104 would like to thank the Litchfield High School staff for their assistance and Post #104 volunteers including Auxiliary member Brenda Rick, LHS Principal Jason Michels and Counselor Laura Nelson.
The 54th annual Peanut Butter & Milk Festival will begin this Saturday with the arrival of 10 residents of Hartford, Alabama – Litchfield’s Sister City – and will continue through February 7th. One of the first activities for the Southern guests will be touring local dairy farms during “Dairy Day” on Monday, February 2nd.
Karen Becker has been coordinating the “Dairy Day” activities for the past 10 years and says they will start that day with breakfast at Swan’s Café – sponsored by and Manannah Valley Farm and Swan’s Cafe. She says they will travel up to Kimball for a tour of the breeding and calving facilities at Schiefelbein Farms, then over to Darwin for a tour of Ahlgren’s robotic dairy, followed by lunch and a tour at Jomas Hill Vineyard – sponsored by First District Assn.
Becker says Monday afternoon will include a tour at First District Association in Litchfield and then a tour of Ru-Be Dairy – south of Grove City. She says the Alabama guests will have some time at the end of the day for shopping and a tour at the Fieldgate Cheese Store in Litchfield.
The public is welcome to join the guests from Hartford for snowmobiling at the Roger & Janet Huhn Farm on Lake Manuella on Sunday at 2 p.m. and for a Chili & Soup Supper at the Forest City Threshers Building on Sunday evening from 6-to-8 p.m. The public is also welcome to attend the Potluck Banquet on Thursday, February 5th at the Church of St. Philip in Litchfield with social time at 6:30 and dinner at 7. Bring a dish to share. There’s also a silent auction during the dinner and the Alabama visitors will speak after dinner.
Becker says she and her husband, Joe, got involved in the Peanut Butter & Milk Festival about 25 years ago and have traveled to Alabama twice during that time and their 4 daughters were also able to travel to Alabama – both as FFA delegates and as Meeker County Dairy princesses.
The Litchfield School Board meeting room was filled to capacity last night with representatives of the Hispanic community and many non-Hispanic supporters. They expressed concerns – not only due to the presence of ICE in Minnesota, but the on-going bullying that has been felt by Hispanic students.
They wanted to know what school leaders are going to do to assure that students feel safe. Later in the meeting, the Board members shared their thoughts about the issues that were raised. Board Chair Alex Carlson read a memo that was issued to staff members on January 20th about procedures to follow in the event that ICE would show up at any of the school buildings. The bullying issue will continue to be discussed at future meetings.
The Litchfield School Board discussed the school calendars that have been put together for the next two years and they will be approved at the next meeting. The Board approved of a motion accepting the pay equity report.
In the consent agenda, the Board accepted the resignations of two long-time employees for the purpose of retirement as of June 2nd – Jane Meyer and Brenda Schumann. Superintendent Susan Burris says Meyer has been with the District for 39-years and Schumann has been there 36-years.
The Litchfield School Board approved of a resolution last night accepting the following donations: $2,000 from the Litchfield Eagles Club for Litchfield Girls Basketball for help with coach salary; $2,000 from the Eagles for Litchfield Girls Gymnastics for a landing mat; $2,000 from the LDC Hockey Boosters for Litchfield Boys Hockey for hotel rooms for the Marshall tournament; and $150 from the Litchfield Methodist Women for Lake Ripley Elementary for classroom supplies.