American Legion Auxiliary Unit 172 in Osseo, Minn., has been recognizing American Education Week almost as long as the week as been in existence.
In 1919, members of the fledgling American Legion met with representatives from the National Education Association (NEA) to seek ways to generate public support for education at a time when 25 percent of the nation’s World War I draftees were illiterate.
Both organizations drafted resolutions calling for a national effort to raise such support, and in 1921, the first American Education Week took place Dec. 4-10, 1921, with the NEA and American Legion as the cosponsors.
Now moved to the week prior to the week of Thanksgiving, American Education Week is an opportunity for American Legion Family members to recognize those who work in public schools – teachers, administrative staff, cafeteria workers, bus drivers, substitute teachers and others – for providing quality education and support to today's youth.
And for decades, Osseo-Maple Grove American Legion Auxiliary Unit 172 in Osseo, Minn., has been doing just that. A program that originally delivered apples to teachers in area schools has now turned into a cookie-delivery effort during American Education Week. This year, cookies were delivered to teachers and staff at 11 schools in the Osseo Area Schools Independent School District.
“I didn’t know until a few years ago what the Legion’s role was in establishing (American Education Week),” Unit 172 President Cathy Thornhill said. “To find out that after the war there were so many people who were not educated and the need for it … that made it even more interesting.”
Thornhill said Unit 172’s recognition of American Education Week has existed almost as long as the week itself. “I talked to one of our longtime members (Erma Redden). She’s actually been a member for 54 years,” Thornhill said. “She said they’ve been doing it as long as she’s been a member. She thinks they’ve been doing it pretty much as long as we’ve had our charter. And we got our charter in 1922.”
When the unit was giving apples to teachers, they would go into the schools after hours and place the apples in the teachers’ mailboxes, where they would be found the next morning.
Thornhill said that around eight years ago Unit 172 decided to switch from the apples to providing cookies for the entire staff at each school. The staff at three high schools, four middle schools and four elementary schools were the recipients this year. The cookies were purchased from Sam’s Club by tray; 28 trays were delivered this year.
Members of Post 172’s American Legion Family made the deliveries. “It’s fun to just see the look on the faces of the people in the office when we deliver them,” Thornhill said. “They’re going, ‘Oh, wow. Somebody noticed. Somebody recognized what this week is.’ That they’re appreciated and that they are noticed. We get a lot of fun out of it, seeing those faces.
“I think it’s just one of our principles: just recognizing what they do for the children, the students in our community. I think it’s important.”
- Community