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A group of us enjoyed the beer and food and Barley John's on August 17th. It was fun to go through the brewery and see the process, taste the hops and get the story on how they make the beer. We also made it over to the 45th Parallel Distillery for a sampling of their cocktails. It was a fun time!

On November 10th we'll have another bake sale at the membership meeting. These sales have been pretty tasty over the years, and since we skipped last year you are all surely hungry! Please bring your specialty to help us raise money, and bring some cash to purchase an assortment of yummies!

On November 10th we'll have another bake sale at the membership meeting. These sales have been pretty tasty over the years, and since we skipped last year you are all surely hungry! Please bring your specialty to help us raise money, and bring some cash to purchase an assortment of yummies!

On August 17th we'll be visiting Barley John's Brewing Company in New Richmond, Wisconsin. This is the brewery for Barley John's Brewpub in New Brighton, where we've enjoyed many a fun time.

The brewery is located at 1280 Madison Avenue, New Richmond, WI 54017. Please join us at 4pm for some craft beer, good food and a tour. We'll wrap up in time to get to Lake Paulsen and the remaining weekend festivities.

Please let Mary know at if you can come, so the reservation will be accurate.

The 2018 CONvergence blood drive was our 32nd and it was the biggest one ever! We had an amazing 90 people come to donate blood, while the most we've had in the past has been 60. We were able to get 73 donors on the bloodmobile, yielding 55 pints of blood. We have touched up to THOUSANDS of lives with our blood drives over the years, and this is truly something to be proud of!

On July 24th, fourteen USS Nokomis members packed food at the Eagan location of Feed My Starving Children. It was a busy night and the crew packed 148 boxes of food - enough to feed 87 children for a year with 31,968 meals! After our good work was done, we enjoyed dinner at a new place: Cielito Lindo Mexican Restaurant. It was really good! We plan to do another pack in January, so watch your newsletter for information.

Our annual outdoor movie night moves to the Fall on September 15th. The fun starts at 7pm in the backyard of the Captain's Quarters.

The cost of the event is still $12 and includes your meal and entertainment. Please bring a beverage of your choice and something to sit on (most people bring chairs but blankets work, too). Please sign up online ASAP or let Mary know if you plan to attend so we can plan the amount of food. You can send a check to Mary or pay on PayPal for a nominal fee. We need to know who's coming by September 1st.

The only other thing you need to know is that there is Star Trek on the menu. Please join us for the fun, rain or shine!

Greetings, Crew!

I hope you are all having a great summer! I feel like the snow just melted a few weeks ago. It's been relatively slow compared to most years, without a CONvergence room and the accompanying truck and stuff. We had a great time and are looking forward to being back in the saddle next year. See the results of the 18th annual CONvergence Blood Drive in this newsletter and prepare to be amazed! We're also looking forward to the Lake Paulsen outing on the weekend of August 18th.

We're only a month or so from September - can you believe it? Soon it's time for the Fair and Vikings season!! We also have our yearly calendar planning coming up, so if you have a particular activity you'd like us to do, please bring it to a Board member. Keep in mind that any activity is fair game, as long as folks think it's a fun idea. It's a great plan to offer to chair the activity, so keep that in mind, but it's not necessary. In recent years we've added many fun events, such as theater visits, historical outings, new charity events, brewery tours and more. No idea is too crazy - bring it on! It's also time to start planning our annual December holiday get-together. This is usually a nice potluck event, but we've done fun alternatives like a visit to Kelly Farm or a holiday lights bus tour, so think outside the box. Please let the Board know your ideas by the September 7th board meeting, or better yet, come to the meeting yourself with your idea.

Also, don't miss our September meeting on the 8th. It's a fun day with bowling and dinner, and we'd like to see everyone there.

See you around the Galaxy!

Mary

A special thanks to Roxanne Hill, who took the lead for our picnic in June. Was the lovely banner or the cute picnicky accessories that made it so special? How about the yummmmmmy food? Either way, a good time was had by all, so thanks!

Greetings to all!

First, the good news: the 18^th Annual CONvergence Blood Drive is weeks away! We will be in the lobby greeting donors all day on Saturday, July 7^th and we hope you’ll join us. Due to popular demand the last few years, this will be our largest drive ever!

Please spread the word to friends and ask them to donate. They’ll get a special Red Cross t-shirt, plus the best (and hardest to get) badge ribbon at con!! Go to www.redcrossblood.org or contact First Officer Jane to sign up for your donation.

Now, on to the bad news:

I have some very disappointing news to share and I’m sorry about it. The Governing Board has been working behind the scenes for several weeks to avoid this situation, but we have been unable to come to a satisfactory solution.

We will not be having a hospitality room at CONvergence this year. There are a few reasons behind our decision, but the bottom line is that we don’t yet know the parameters of hosting a room. There are multiple factors in discussion that may change the prior rules, and these factors could significantly increase the cost to our group. The membership approved a budget at the September meeting and we are bound to honor it. The changes could have represented an increase of 100% over that budget.

The Board met at the anniversary picnic to discuss the issues and decided that we could wait until a particular drop-dead date, but no longer. That date has passed. We no longer have time to do the many tasks necessary to run the room. The truck has been cancelled and we will not be scheduling a work day to make repairs to the sets.

I want to stress that the CONvergence convention committee, and CONvergence itself, played no part in this outcome. I informed the convention of our decision this week and they are eager to have us back next year. We are excited, as always, to work with them.

We’ll talk at length about this at the September meeting, but that’s what you need to know right now to make your plans. We’ll still be at the convention and doing the blood drive, so we hope to see you there!

Mary