SHERBURN — Happy Valentines Day. Hope your loved one remembered you with a greeting or gift or card. Did you remember your loved one? Today is also Ash Wednesday which is the first day of the Lenten season and area churches have special services planned. St. Luke’s Catholic Church in Sherburn has a special 8:30 a.m. service this morning. St. John’s Lutheran Church in Sherburn has a service at 6 p.m. while their dual congregation in Wilbert has a 6:30 p.m. service with communion. Circle of Faith parishes will meet for a 7 p.m. service at Waverly Lutheran north of Welcome.

Midweek Lenten services in area churches will be at the same times for St. John’s and Wilbert and the Circle of Faith parishes will meet at 7 p.m. at Trinity Lutheran in Welcome, with the youth group serving a meal at 6 p.m. each Wednesday evening for all the Wednesday Lenten services. Area residents are welcome to join these congregations.

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Sherburn Theatre will not have a movie this weekend, Feb. 16-18. Watch for the movie ‘Ordinary Angels’ which will be shown from Feb. 23-25.

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The Ceylon Fire Department Relief Association will have a pancake brunch from 9 a.m. to noon Sunday, Feb. 18, in the back room of the Lake Belt Bar and Grill in Ceylon. Pancakes, French toast,sausage, ham and scrambled eggs are on the menu for a free will donation.

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There will be a Ruby’s Pantry grocery distribution from 5:30-7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 19, in the parking lot at the Regional Worship Center in Sherburn just south of I-90. The cost is $25 and there is no income or residential guidelines. They will fill your empty trunk with plenty of groceries.

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February 19 is President’s Day so there will be NO SCHOOL at Martin County West schools and no mail or banks open. On Feb. 22, there are parent teacher conferences scheduled for students in grades K-12 and a meeting of senior parents regarding the senior trip. The school district’s website and newsletter are filled with information. Check the website at www.martin.k12.mn.us

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Sherburn City Council will meet 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 20, at Sherburn City Hall, which is one day later than usual since Monday is a holiday. All members are urged to attend. There is always a time for public comments and questions at the beginning of each meeting. To be on the regular agenda, please contact the city hall prior to the meeting date by calling (507) 764-4491.

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There will be a CREST-sponsored Lunch & Learn program beginning 11 a.m. on Feb. 21, at First Lutheran Church in Trimont. This is a free educational program for anyone in Martin County. There will be a light lunch following the program. A free will donation is appreciated for the lunch.

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The next ‘Hamburger Night’ from 6-8 on Feb. 21, at the Sherburn Legion. They serve hamburger, salad and baked beans for only $10. Sounds yummy.

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The Boy and Girl Scouts had a 114th Anniversary February 8th. The Packs in Sherburn, Pack 69 for boys and Pack 1069 for girls are very active and have done some community helping projects over the years. Thank You and Happy Anniversary.

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Martin County West School has events coming up:

Congratulations to the AAA and EXCEL award winners from MCW, Katie Hartke and Gabriel Striemer, and the EXCEL award went to Emily Anderson.

It is National School Board month in February and MCW would like to thank their hard working school board of Laura Borchardt, Sarah Rohman, Jeff Scholl, Darren Thate, Nathan Vrieze, Mark Wohlhuter and Danelle Williams.

Feb. 17 to 24 is National FFA week and MCW has a very active FFA group garnering lots of awards and certificates. They will have Ag Olympics on Feb. 20 and their annual pancake breakfast thanks to members, families, and businesses that support the group on Feb. 22.

The elementary library will be open longer hours on Feb. 22 since there are conferences that day and they will also have a Book Fair from Feb. 20-23 at the Sherburn Elementary celebrating I Love to READ month.

The wrestling team will participate in the section tournament beginning noon on Feb. 17, at the New London Spicer High School. Although there is no school on Monday, Feb. 19, the girls basketball team will play 7:15 p.m. at St. James and the boys basketball will play 7:15 p.m. at New Ulm Cathedral. On Tuesday, Feb. 20, there will be a Knowledge Bowl at 8 p.m. in Mankato.CER will have early childhood screening available which is necessary before a student is in kindergarten on March 1. Parents should contact the school at (507) 764-2336 to sign up for a screening. There is a robotics team opportunity for students in 3rd and 4th grade through the CER also.

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It is early, but if there are any Tuesday coffee hours planned at area churches for April/May through September/Oct. Please let me know and I will start a list in my folders. And thank you to those who faithfully give me news items for the town’s columns I write. I really appreciate you. My email is cs2152946@gmail.com and my telephone with an answering machine is (507) 728-8346.