St. Croix County Legions raise over $5,000 for children

By Kelsie Hoitomt

HAMMOND – The St. Croix County Legions’ Annual Golf Tournament was held on Wednesday, June 19 at the Hammond Golf Course where close to 40 golfers participated and over $5,000 was raised.

This money goes strictly to the children of St. Croix County through various organizations like the Boy and Girl Scouts, the Special Olympics, the Family Resource Center and to the county’s drug abuse program to name a few.

This year the reigning champion for the amount of hole sponsors collected was the Glenwood City American Legion Post 168, which through several local businesses and individuals raised $1,825 that will go to the children.

Also contributing to the $5,000 was the Hammond Post 432 with $800 collected, the New Richmond Post 80 with $600, the Woodville Post 301 with $550, the Hudson Post 50 and Wilson Post 330 with $500 each, the Somerset Post 111 with $200 and the Baldwin Post 240 with $100.

There were also several door prizes donated for the golf tournament from local businesses.

The golf tournament came to be back in the early 1980’s through the help of the American Legion and Charlie Grant. Grant approached the Legion about sponsoring the tournament as a means of raising money for children.

Grant was the St. Croix County Sheriff for 16 years and he originated the idea back in the 1960’s of taking children on various trips, which included the Shrine Circus, Major League baseball games, tours of the jail and all day tours of Duluth via the Amtrak.

Grant said he had a terrible childhood as his father was wheelchair bound due to the disease MS and the family was on welfare so he was sent away to farm at the age of 12, which meant he never got to enjoy the fun of being a kid.

It was when he reached adulthood that the mind set of wanting to make a difference started so he enlisted in the Air Force during the Korean War and afterwards joined the American Legion and the police force. This is where he began to help children have the childhood he never could.

Ever since those days Grant has been making a point to give back to the children by writing checks of $100 to $500 or more that go to the various organizations.