The Shelby County Veteran Services along with many other veteran organizations throughout Shelby County such as, Russia Catholic War Veterans Post 661, Fort Loramie American Legion Post 335, Sidney VFW Post 4239 and Auxiliary, Sidney American Legion Ladies Auxiliary, Anna/Botkins American Legion Post 446 put on an amazing Veterans and Family Appreciation get-together on Aug. 17, 2019, at Vandemark Farms in Sidney. I believe that the veterans of Shelby County and its residents who did not get to attend should know all about it.
This event was sponsored by so many gracious donors throughout Shelby County to include: Buckeye Electrical Products, Davis Meat, AG Boogher & Sons, Sidney American Legion Post 217, Adams Funeral Home, Sollmann Electric, Wells Brothers, Ferguson Construction, Schnippel Construction, Jewelry Barn, Freshway Foods, Wendy’s of Sidney, Meyer’s Tavern, Beem Construction, Jackie and Gearry Gates, Slagle Mechanical, Fultz Flooring, O’Reilly Precision Products, Koenig Equipment, Sidney Hardware, Tri-County Veterinary Services, North Loramie Drive–Thru, Fogt Water Conditioning Services, Tisha Wannemacher and Clancy’s of Sidney. Without these gracious donations from $50-$500 or goods donated, we wouldn’t have been able to put this event on for our veterans of Shelby County.
Our event started at noon and went until 5 p.m. Veterans and their families were provided a free dinner that included: pulled pork, coleslaw, potato salad and baked beans. Veterans were offered free water, or other beverages for a small fee. We also had hot dogs and hamburgers available to those who did not want to partake in the main course. Ninety percent of this food we provided was donated. An assortment of free entertainment was included for all ages. Veterans and families could play putter golf, pet animals, play Cornhole, fish, play games of chance, tons of kid games to play and listen to music that was playing in the background.
Because of our gracious sponsors, we were able to provide some very nice door prizes that included a 50-inch VIZIO TV, two Coleman 50-quart coolers, two backyard fire pits, four Kings Island tickets, eight $50 Walmart gift cards, a jewelry bag, two wine baskets, $100 cash and a tool bag. As you can tell, we had some really nice door prizes to give away.
This day allowed us to give back to veterans and their families for giving so much to us. It also allowed veterans and their families to meet new people, reunite with those they have not seen for so long and just spend time with each other. What a day of enjoyment it was. Tons of laughs and smiles going around from all. We had veterans from WWII through to the current overseas deployments at this event.
A big THANK YOU to the boy scouts and two young ladies from Lehman who were there to help with parking, take out trash, bus tables and any other things that we needed them to do.
After the event was over, we realized that we had a large amount of food left over that we were able to send home with veterans that were still at the event. To our delight, we were also able to donate several items to the Holy Angel’s Soup Kitchen. So not only were we able to give back to our veterans and their families, we also gave back to our community.
We wanted to take the opportunity to provide your newspaper with the underlying community support and outreach that our event gave to local veterans. We are committed to continuing this annual event and hope that those veterans and their families not able to attend will plan to join us next year.
