The numbers are in; last month, St. John’s Lutheran Church in Kasson collected 784 shoe boxes in an effort to make a difference this Christmas. 
Each year St. John’s along with various other locations throughout the county and the nation collect shoe boxes and fill them with gifts, school supplies and personal items that are distributed to children worldwide through Operation Christmas Child, a project of Samaritan’s Purse. 

t has been a mild fall so far but snow will be arriving any day now so it is a good time to review the winter parking and snow removal ordinances in Kenyon.
The winter parking rules are that it is unlawful for any person to park a vehicle on any city street after a continuous or intermittent snowfall where there has been an accumulation of two or more inches of snow. 

The old Wasioja Baptist Church will come alive again this Saturday as the Dodge County Historical Society sponsors its annual Christmas service at 6 p.m. on Dec. 12.
The service will feature Pastor Barb Streed from Faith Lutheran Church in Dodge Center giving the message and Barb Hanson from Concord providing the musical accompaniment for the singing of Christmas carols.

For several months, residents in the neighborhood of Chestnut and Ninth Street in Mantorville have been plagued by acts of vandalism, city council member Don Hofstad reported to fellow city council members at their regular meeting on Nov. 23.
The most recent incidents included damage to siding on homes apparently caused by pellet guns, the cutting of Christmas light wires and houses being egged.

Two favorite Christmas characters will be making appearances in West Concord this year at the city’s annual community Christmas celebration.
Santa Claus will be at the Farmers State Bank again this year from 9 a.m. to noon to hear the wishes of area youngsters. There will also be a coloring contest and Sharing Tree at the bank. But this year there will also be an opportunity to have a picture taken with Frosty the Snowman.

Dodge Center will likely be approving a 9.46% increase in the budget levy for 2016 later this month.
City Administrator Lee Mattson told council members last week that the staff had the 2016 budget down to a 9.46% increase from the 10.57% increase that the council had certified earlier. The council had indicated when the figure was certified that they would like to see it reduced further if possible.