The Minnesota State Fraternal Order of Eagles Aerie and Auxiliary Awards Banquet was held in the banquet hall at the Crookston Eagles Club on Thursday night. The event was part of the 123rd annual State Eagles Convention hosted by Crookston Aerie and Auxiliary #873.
The banquet included recognition of national, regional, and state officers in attendance, in addition to several awards, including five new Hall of Fame members and Crookston’s Cindy Miller receiving the Auxiliary Sister of the Year Award. She was nominated by Ellie Fee for her dedication to the Eagles and for helping organize local events and fundraisers.
Multiple charities received donations collected over the past year by aeries and auxiliaries across the state. Crookston Eagles Aerie Secretary Jake Fee helped present a $5,000 check to representatives from the Crookston Youth Foundation for The Cove Youth Center. Donations were also given to the Crookston FFA and the Boy Scouts in recognition of their volunteer assistance during the banquet. During the convention, over $20,000 had been raised for local and state charities as of Thursday, with a total of over $200,000 for the last year, showing why the Eagles live through their motto, “People Helping People”.
“We had a lot of grant recipients that we’re very proud of, and one of them is right here in Crookston, to the Crookston Youth Foundation for $5,000. We’re very happy to provide them with that,” said Fee. “Then we had Camp Confidence and Confidence Learning Center down in the Brainerd Lake area that we’re very involved with. Over the year, we’ve raised over $200,000 for them, so we’re very proud of that as well that we’re able to provide all those donations here during the convention.”
The convention kicked off with the annual golf outing on Tuesday at Minakwa Golf Course, where 24 golfers raised over $400 for charity. Meetings continued throughout the week at the Eagles Club and the Crookston Inn, with nightly entertainment at the Eagles Club. The convention concludes on Saturday, with over 200 Eagles in attendance; it required months of preparation and many volunteers. “We have some great volunteers. We have 400 on the aerie side and a few hundred on the auxiliary side, and quite a few of those people stepped up to make sure this happens,” according to Fee. “It’s not easy to put these things on. It’s very stressful to put these things on, but at the end of the day, what we can do and provide Crookston, we’re very happy to do that.”
