Submitted by Disabled American Veterans Chapter #63 on Nov. 23, 2020.
For the second consecutive year, Disabled American Veterans Chapter #63 will be providing Thanksgiving dinners to distressed veteran families in the southwestern Ohio area.
“We are working with Ms. Laquita Potter, the Director of the Veterans Homeless Center, to ensure that distressed veteran families receive a traditional Thanksgiving Dinner,” Chapter Senior Vice-Commander Steve Smith said.
The Veteran Homeless Center is a Division of the Voluntary Services at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center Cincinnati. Last year the DAV Chapter provided $400 to the VAMC Cincinnati for Thanksgiving Dinners for veterans and their families.
The VAMC provided the meals at their site last Thanksgiving and the veterans and their families went to the VAMC to enjoy the meals.
However, with the COVID-19 pandemic restricting direct access to the VAMC, another way was needed to provide the Thanksgiving dinners.
“This is when Ms. Potter and I decided on how we can provide Thanksgiving meals to our veterans to continue our Chapter’s tradition,” Vice-Commander Smith, who also serves as the Program Chairman of the Chapter, said.
Smith indicated that the Chapter wanted to serve the same number of veterans and their family members as last year, which was 55 individuals.
“This year the Chapter voted $400 to be dedicated for this vital project,” Smith said. “In order to expedite the process, the Chapter acquired 10 $40.00 gift cards from the Kroger Store for distribution to distressed veteran families. I was proud to deliver the Kroger gift cards to Ms. Potter this week, just in time for Thanksgiving!”
The Veteran Homeless Center will contact needy veteran families and offer them the Kroger gift cards for their Thanksgiving Dinners.
“This will mean a lot to the veteran families and by directly involving the Veteran Homeless Center in the distribution of the gift cards, this ensures that only documented veterans will benefit from the DAV Chapter #63 donation.”
“When our DAV members discussed this project at our DAV November meeting,” Chapter #63 Commander Gary Lytle said. “We knew that we should continue to participate to make Thanksgiving dinners a reality for our veterans and their families. Even though we haven’t had a fund raiser for over a year, this was something that we had to do at this time of the year.”
In previous years, the DAV Chapter #63 had relied on obtaining donations to support their programs and projects during the Forget-Me-Not Flower Campaign Drives on Memorial Day and Veterans Day at the local Kroger Marketplace Store. However, both of these events were cancelled because of the pandemic. Also, the Annual Paddling for a Cause event, which also donated vital funds to Chapter #63, was also canceled.
“The DAV Chapter #63 never forgets our members and their families, especially at Thanksgiving time,” Chapter #63 Adjutant John Plahovinsak said. “We are fortunate that individual doners have provided the Chapter with sufficient funds so that we can continue the projects and programs that we have supported in the past.”
Every year the Chapter prepares an Annual Report indicating the activities that the Chapter participated in and how much funds were received in terms of donations. More importantly, the Annual Report lists which programs and projects the donations supported.
“Transparency and accountability of all donations received builds trust in our Chapter,” Adjutant Plahovinsak added. “That all donations received go directly to benefit military veterans.”
Past copies of the Annual Reports for DAV Chapter #63 can be obtained from Adjutant John Plahovinsak, at plahovinsak@msn.com.