Finch sisters Sharon (Carpenter), Donna (Clark) and Connie (McGowan) carry on their mother’s legacy. The ALA's Harvest dinner is Friday, Oct. 9, pick ups from 4-6 p.m. A benefit for the Finch Book and Education Fund to promote literacy. (Submitted photo)

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 9, from 4 to 6 p.m., take-outs only. Community members are invited to have a delicious hearty, “home cooked” meal and support this good cause, the Finch Book and Education Fund. All social distancing guidelines will be enforced. Please wear a face mask.

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.

The evening's menu is delicious roasted turkey breast, turkey gravy, stuffing, jellied cranberry sauce, real mashed potatoes, squash, and 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 still just $10. (Due to Covid, it's only a take-out meal.)

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 years ago, to promote literacy in Oxford. Sally helped sponsor volunteer programs on the national and local levels of the ALA. Her daughters, Sharon Carpenter, Donna Clark and Connie McGowan, members of Unit 376, carry on their mother’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 $6,000.

Becky Mersereau, who lives in NV, is a Finch relative (Connie, Donna, and Sharon's niece) wrote, "Thank you so much for continuing the Harvest Dinner. It makes me SO HAPPY that my Grandmother's passion lives on in the American Legion and in the community of Oxford through literacy. As a fifth grade teacher, I know the impact a single book can make on the life of a child. I appreciate ALL you do for this organization."

The historic Fort Hill Post #376 is located at 17 S. Washington Avenue. For inquiries, contact Jan Pollard, at (607) 218-1803 / email: jankpollard.jp@gmail.com; or call the American Legion at (607) 843-8166. For more info on the ALA, visit: oxford-ala.chenango.org.