The Crookston Masonic Lodge #141 and the Order of the Eastern Star #137 presented a $57,938 donation check to Honor Flight of North Dakota and Minnesota during a ceremony at the Masonic Lodge on Thursday.
The donation will help cover the costs for the next round of Honor Flights for 2026, with two flights scheduled for September out of Fargo and one in November out of Grand Forks. Each flight costs around $300,000.
Masonic Lodge treasurer Lester Wilkens appreciates the Crookston community for continuing to show their support of the lodge’s annual pancake breakfast, which helped raise over $100,000 for groups like Honor Flight and Fin and Fit, who received a $6,000 donation on Wednesday toward kids’ safety programs at the Crookston Community Swimming Pool. “It shows that we’re doing it correctly,” Wilkens said. “We’re helping the vets. We’re repaying a debt, and it’s just something that we should be doing to honor them, because some of them didn’t get to come home. So these are the men that got to come home, and now we’re able to take and just return a favor, and it’s been great.”
The lodge has been able to increase its donations to Honor Flight over the past four years from $27,000 to $57,938, and Wilkins knows the funds will help those who served make the trip to Washington, DC to view the memorials made to honor their service and the sacrifice of those who never made it home. “We started out at about $27,000, and now this year, we’re just short of $58,000,” said Wilkens. “So it’s just been a constant growth, which is great. We never dreamed we’d ever get this far, but with the help of the vets, they come down and help us serve the food and promote it. Plus, everybody’s got a soft spot for the vets. I mean, to try to repay something we can’t repay.”
Wilkens hopes to continue donating to Honor Flight and see the number grow each year, so they can help get as many veterans on Honor Flights as possible while also committing funds to kids’ organizations. “It’s just one of those things we’re not going to stop,” said Wilkens. “We return other stuff to the community, too. We’re going to crack over $100,000 this year. The rest of the money will go to the kids and the different programs. But that’s what we do. We’re geared toward kids and helping them, and these gentlemen, they paid the price, so we’re here to help them and repay the debt.”
