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I hope you had a great New Years Eve and New Years day. We set out to celebrate a day earlier on Saturday with some friends in Wisconsin.  Little did we know, we would be back home in three minutes. From our road to the roundabout by Hazelden (Center City) there were three vehicles in the ditch.  The roads were a sheet of ice.  We promptly turned around (after sliding into the middle of the roundabout) and headed home.  We ended up having a wonderful meal at Jakes by the Lakes which wasn’t crowded at all because of the roads.  So our big party weekend consisted of one meal out, and a whole lot of staying home and safe.  Probably for the best.

I love to use this space as a vehicle for donations.  You have donated semi loads of clothing over the years that we have taken directly to the homeless shelters and other incredible organizations that are worthy of your donations.  I can’t begin to thank you enough for all of your support in this cause over the years.  It started with just a small bin at our then church,  Elim Lutheran in Scandia. 

Since then, you our readers have faithfully brought in your gently used clothing and I can’t begin to count the trip to the shelters we have made.  And a sidenote, if you think your clothing maybe isn’t making its way to the homeless, a few years back I was watching the news and there was a story on the homeless in St. Paul,  and low and behold one of the homeless men being interviewed was wearing one of my favorite jackets.  It seems my wife didn’t feel the same as I did about the jacket and she put it in the pile to be donated, but there was the jacket on CBS news… so yes garments are making their way to the homeless.

I do have another ask of you.  Our good friends at Let’s Go Fishing are in need of your help.  Let’s Go Fishing is a non-profit organization that specializes in taking groups fishing on their pontoons for a fun day in the sun.  They take many many groups of elderly from retirement homes as well as children that may never have a chance to ride on a boat or go fishing.  Trust me folks, they are an amazing group of people.  Anyway, they are in need of children’s life vests. They have plenty of adult vests, but not child sizes.  If you have any laying around that you no longer use, could you possibly bring them here to the Press and we will get them to Let’s Go Fishing?  Any children sizes will be most appreciated.

What better way to kick off 2024 than with a subscription to the Chisago County Press.  You can subscribe online at chisagocountypress.com or give us a call here at 651-257-5115.  We can get you up and running that same day.

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