As of October 11, there are 75 shopping days until Christmas. Local fall craft shows are a great place to begin your holiday shopping.

The American Legion Post 396 Women’s Auxiliary will be hosting its annual Fall Craft and Vendor Show at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Garden City on Saturday, October 13, 2018. The show will run from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Admission will be $1. The event will feature more than three dozen craft vendors, a 50/50 raffle, food, and a bake sale, which will benefit the Ladies’ Auxiliary. Other proceeds from the event will be used to help veterans’ organizations as determined by the American Legion Post. Organizer Lisa Todd adds, “Christmas is coming and it’s a great time to shop!”

Todd says the event brings the community together each year with the goal of helping veterans through local organizations or directly through the American Legion Post itself. Todd says the destination of all proceeds from the event are discussed by the ladies of the auxiliary and voted on.

Also at the event will be information tables set up by local businesses and organizations. Food will be prepared in the church’s kitchen and will include lunch items such as hot dogs, pizza, and French fries.

The event is organized each year by Todd and one assistant. Ladies of the auxiliary and the Junior Auxiliary pitch in to help set up, organize the raffle, take admission and clean up when the event is over. Todd says she finds it extremely satisfying to see how the legionnaires come together to make the event happen all for the purpose of serving veterans.

“This year, I’m actually going to be a crafter also,” says Todd. “I do a little photography, so everybody has been bugging me to do a calendar with all my Detroit pictures, so I have put together a collage of Detroit pictures for the calendar, and we’ll see how it goes.”

Todd adds that St. Linus in Dearborn Heights is holding a craft show the same day. She and the organizers of the St. Linus craft show decided work together to bring the shoppers in. Attendees of the St. Linus Craft Show can bring a flyer from that event and receive free admission to the American Legion Auxiliary’s Craft Show, and vice versa. Todd says additional flyers will be available at the event for that purpose.

The Auxiliary group of American Legion Post 396 is a busy one. Todd says that in addition to regular committee work and monthly meetings, the ladies volunteer their time at the John Dingell Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Detroit, develop programs for local schools in which youth are educated in the proper handling and care of the flag, and perform outreach work with numerous veterans’ organizations in the region.

For more information on the American Legion Auxiliary Craft Show, call 734-756-6109. St. Thomas the Apostle Church is located at 31530 Beechwood Street, west of Merriman Road, in Garden City. St. Linus Church is located at 6466 Evangeline, north of Hass Street and east of Beech Daly Road.