The 40&8 Voiture Post 754, with members from Nisswa, Pine River, Crosslake and Pequot Lakes, will host a fundraiser breakfast from 8-11:30 a.m. Sunday, May 16, at the Pequot Lakes American Legion Post 49.
Breakfast will include blueberry pancakes, sausage, scrambled eggs, juice and coffee. Cost is $8 for adults and $4 for children 12 and under.
This is the group's only fundraiser of the year. The local 40&8 sponsors two $500 nursing scholarships every year for students venturing into that field or taking advance training.
On April 22, the 40&8 Voiture Post 754 crew did a roadside pickup on Highway 371 north of Jenkins. This is a yearly cleanup out of the American Legion Post 49.
The 40&8 is a charitable honor society of American veterans. The 40 and 8 stands for "The Society of 40 Men and Eight Horses," and was formed in 1920 by members of the American Legion as a fun and honor society.
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Founders based the organization on their shared military experiences in World War I in France. The boxcar of the French railways, which carried either 40 men or eight horses to the front, is the organization's symbol.
Local units of the 40&8 are called voitures. The group's nurses training program was established in 1955 as a way to ensure adequate numbers of skilled nurses in time of war and peace. An average of more than 500 registered nurses graduate each year because of this program.
