WC Legion Auxiliary completes successful “Socks for Vets” drive

West Concord residents stepped up again this year to donate a record number of socks and air fresheners for the veterans at the Minnesota Veterans Home in Hastings.
Each year the West Concord American Legion Auxiliary collects the socks and air fresheners for the veterans. Staff at the home say that new socks are always one of the most needed items and the air fresheners are also always welcome.
This year, said the Auxiliary’s Donna Fitzgerald, 523 pairs of socks and 81 air fresheners were collected. This exceeds the 2018 total of 318 pairs of socks and 59 air fresheners.
New socks for both men and women as well as solid cone air fresheners and spray fresheners were collected.
Local locations for dropping off items included Boe Auto Center, Casey’s General Store, City Hall, Colleen’s Salon and Gift Shop, Ellingson Companies, Heritage Bank and the Legion Hall. The items will be collected until Memorial Day and then were to be delivered to the Veterans Home in Hastings. Fitzgerald announced the totals at the Memorial Day program.
The Hastings facility is one of five veterans homes in Minnesota. They provide a combination of skilled nursing care, special care units for dementia and Alzheimer’s, domiciliary care, rehabilitation services, recreational therapy and work therapy programs.