Veterans Day is a day to celebrate our American heroes, acknowledging their sacrifice and thanking them for their service. The McLean Legion Auxiliary does this through their annual Veterans’ Day dinner. This year the dinner was held on Thursday, November 11th and took place at the Mount Hope Community Hall. At this dinner they served turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, rolls, choice of apple or cranberry sauce, desserts, and drinks. Any veteran who attended this dinner ate this meal for free. Otherwise, the dinner was $12 for adults and $5 for children 12 and under.

Every year the Auxiliary has an outreach mission for the dinner, this year’s mission being for the Veterans’ Outpatient Clinic in Peoria. This VA clinic offers a variety of services such as mental health care, primary care, and specialty care for veterans and is run by Bob Michel. 

For this outreach mission the Auxiliary asked for donations that they could contribute to the clinic. Some of these items included individually wrapped items such as cookies, beef jerky sticks, breakfast bars, and so on. They also asked for Christmas stocking stuffers such as jar openers, small games, puzzle books, stocking hats, and a few other small items. At the dinner they had a receptacle for the donations to be put in. 

While the dinner has already passed, this is an annual event the McLean Legion Auxiliary hosts, so if you would like to contribute to their outreach mission next year you can do so by attending the dinner and donating. This dinner is a great way to get involved in our local community and directly thank and contribute to our local veterans.