WELCOME — The American Red Cross blood drives will be today, Feb. 20 at the American Legion Hall in Fairmont, Feb. 23 at the St. Paul’s Community Church in Welcome and on Feb. 24 at Grace Lutheran Church in Fairmont. Call 800-733-2767 (800-RED-CROSS), go online to www.redcrossblood.org or text BLOODAPP to 90999 to make an appointment or find blood drives in your area. There is a severe shortage of blood donations and it is really needed. Give if you are eligible. Thank you.

The Cribbage Tournament will begin with registration at 1:15 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 21 in at the Legion Hall in Welcome. All the registration dues are paid back in prizes. Any area cribbage lover is welcome to play. Join them for an afternoon of fun.

Condolences to the family of LaVonne Bittner from Trimont, who passed away recently. She will be missed by family and friends.

The Lenten midweek services will be held at area churches. Area residents are welcome to join them. In the Circle of Faith Parishes, the Wednesday services will be held at 7 p.m. at Waverly Lutheran Church, north of Welcome. Before each Wednesday service, each parish will take turns serving supper at 6 p.m. The partner churches of St. John’s Lutheran in Sherburn and St. Paul’s Lutheran in Wilbert will have a joint Lenten service at at 6 p.m. on Feb. 25 at St. Paul’s in Wilbert, followed by a cooperative lunch. The service on March 4 will be in Sherburn. St. Luke’s Catholic Church in Sherburn has Wednesday services at 8:30 a.m.

Easy Automation Inc. (EAI) in Welcome is offering a $1,000 scholarship to students attending a two-year or four-year university or technical college in the program the EAI former employee Bruce Larson excelled in (electrical). Mr. Larson spent over 20 years at EAI before his death from Cancer in 2015. Applications are available at EAI in Welcome, by calling 507-728-8214 or by sending an email to jmathiason@easy-automation.com. The deadline to apply is April 1, 2026. Thank you to EAI for this fitting memorial.