Submitted by DAV Chapter #63.
The Disabled American Veterans Chapter #63 is working in conjunction with the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center Cincinnati to develop a “Veterans Boot Brigade” program for homeless and distressed veterans. Chapter #63 Senior Vice Commander Steve Smith created the “Veterans Boot Brigade” Program with Ms. Nicole Comer, the VAMC Cincinnati Voluntary Services Coordinator in October of 2020.
“One of the needs that Ms. Comer noted was that many of the homeless and distressed veterans lack winter boots. The summer shoes that they wore were not water-proof or cold resistant for our harsh Cincinnati winters,” Senior Vice Commander Smith said.
DAV Chapter #63 have been collecting gently used and new winter boots for the last two months and donating them to the VAMC for the “Veterans Boot Brigade” program.
“However, the boots have to be “right-sized” for each of the veterans to fit correctly,” Smith explained. “We have collected several small sizes and several large sizes boots, but we needed winter boots that were also compatible to the veterans’ feet.”
In order to fill the void for specific sized boots for the veterans, Chapter #63 donated $300 to the “Boot Brigade” program administered by the VAMC Coordinator. This donation will be used by Ms. Comer to purchase winter boots, for distressed and homeless veterans, that are not previously collected by DAV Chapter #63.
“We are still collecting gently used and new winter boots for our veterans,” the Chapter Senior Vice Commander noted. Since winter has just started and all ‘Veterans Boot Brigade’ donations will be forwarded to the VAMC for their distribution. We are fortunate that we have someone like Ms. Comer to assist us with the logistics of this Program.”
“The “Veterans Boot Brigade’ program was discussed by Programs and Projects Committee Chairman during our November Chapter meeting,” Chapter #63 Commander Gary Lytle said. “And many of our members who served in the Republic of Korea during the winter time knew how the cold adversely affected their feet. Even though we haven’t had a fund raiser for over a year, the ‘Veterans Boot Brigade’ program 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 many vital 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 cancelled.
“Our Chapter is blessed because several people have donated funds to help us with renewing our many veteran-related projects and programs,” Commander Lytle commented. “Each of our programs and projects are created, voted upon by our members and implemented. Our Committee, chaired by Steve Smith, does a great job in working with veteran-related agencies to ensure that every donated penny goes to benefit our veterans.”
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 veterans-related programs and projects the donations supported.
“Transparency and accountability of all donations received builds trust in our Chapter,” Adjutant Plahovinsak said. “That all donations received go directly to benefit military veterans.”
Past copies of the Annual Reports for 2015-2019 for DAV Chapter 63 (Clermont County) can be obtained from Adjutant John Plahovinsak, at [email protected].
“Anyone that would like to support the ‘Veterans Boot Brigade’ program by donations of gently used or new winter boots should contact the Chapter #63 Adjutant at [email protected],” Senior Vice-Commander Smith said. “Any monetary donations should be mailed directly to: DAV Chapter #63 (Clermont County), Post Office Box 748, Batavia, Ohio 45103.”