Post 376 Auxiliary, Legionnaire, and SAL members, Ernie Spicer, Patty Siefert, Jim Pollard, Linda McGrath, and Tim McGowan, working together on the Harvest dinner last year. This Friday they’ll all be back, Oct. 10, from 4-6 p.m., to raise money for the ALA’s Finch Education Fund. All are welcome. (Photos by Jeanie Petersen)

OXFORD - The Oxford American Legion Auxiliary (ALA) of Fort Hill Post #376 is getting things ready for this year’s benefit Harvest Dinner. The roast turkey feast- with loads of trimmings and dessert pies, will be on Friday, October 10, from 4 to 6 p.m., dine in or take-out.

Community members are invited to have a delicious hearty, “home cooked” meal and support this good cause, the Finch Book and Education Fund. 

Each year, members of Unit 376 bake and donate sweet, homemade apple and pumpkin pies to serve for dessert. The rest of the dinner will be cooked in the Post 376 kitchen by ALA volunteers along with the SAL and Legionnaires, aka the “Legion Family”, who pitch in with food preparation and serving at this event. 

The evening's menu is delicious roasted turkey breast, turkey gravy, stuffing, jellied cranberry sauce, real mashed potatoes, and your preference of squash or string beans. Dessert, if you have room, will be your choice of home-made apple or pumpkin pie, with whipped cream on top. The Harvest feast is $13. Take-outs are $14. New dinner price for kids aged 10 and under, $10.00. 

The proceeds from the ALA Harvest Dinner are for a memorial fund named after Sarah "Sally" Finch, who passed away in 2003. This once proud member of the ALA Unit 376 started the fund twenty-five years ago, to promote literacy in Oxford. Sally helped sponsor volunteer programs on the national and local levels of the ALA. Three generations of Finch women, members of Unit 376, carry on Sally’s legacy. 

The Finch Book and Education Fund provides revenue for books for the Oxford Academy Primary School students. To date, the Oxford Legion Auxiliary has donated well over $8,000.

In the fall of 2000, the Oxford Auxiliary, under the direction of Sally Finch, decided to start a book fund to promote literacy in the community with the proceeds from their annual Harvest Dinner. After Sally passed away in December of 2003, the Auxiliary changed the name to honor her.  Ever since its inception, the Book Fund has been donating to the Oxford Academy Primary School for the purpose of purchasing new books.

The historic Fort Hill Post #376 is located at 17 S. Washington Avenue. For inquiries, contact unit president Terrill Sutton, at 607-244-4880 / email:  terrillsavon@hotmail.com; or call the American Legion at (607) 843-8166. For more info on the ALA, visit: oxford-ala.chenango.org