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VFW CREATES A HAVEN FOR VETERANS AND KIDS --
Instead of installing a traditional canteen
where food
and drink would be served in their meeting
hall, the
veterans of Ray-Pinner Post 4840 established a
youth
center that features computers with Internet
access.
For more on the VFW, use the VA Watchdog search
engine...click here...
http://www.yourvabenefits.org/ses
search.php?q=vfw&op=and
Story here...
http://www.commercialappeal.
com/mca/millington/article/0,2845,M
CA_21396_5646847,00.html
Story below:
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A haven for veterans, kids
By Kevin McKenzie
For more than three years, Peter Fisher and other members of the
Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Covington worked to make his father's
idea a reality.
Instead of installing a traditional canteen where food and drink would
be served in their meeting hall, the veterans of Ray-Pinner Post 4840
planned to establish a youth center that would feature computers with
Internet access.
Fisher's father, Ashley 'Bill' Fisher, a retired Marine Corps major and
World War II veteran who died last year, came up with the idea.
In April 2004 the city gave the veterans an old house next door to
Covington City Hall at Washington and College, saving it from
demolition, said Randy Martin, a Navy veteran and quartermaster for the
VFW post.
Peter Fisher, 47, then began scouring the landscape for donations and
grants. It was frustrating, punishing work.
But things changed on one mission to Millington, when his goal was
simply to win the donation of 30 gallons of white paint.
Fisher walked into Lowe's home improvement store and found not only
paint but other materials and the willing, helping hands he needed.
The spruced-up VFW post, complete with its youth center, will hold its
grand opening Aug. 11.
The veterans center will offer kids seven computers equipped with
Internet access and a place to go after school weekdays and Saturdays,
said Fisher, commander of the 77-member VFW group.
"Like Lowe's, we want to be able to give back to our community," Fisher
said.
The center includes a one-room Pearl Harbor Survivor's Library, stocked
with several shelves of military-oriented books and videos.
Visitors 11 and younger will need to be accompanied by a parent, Fisher
said.
The Ray-Pinner post, named in honor of two Tipton County men who fought
and died in World War II, adds "service to youth" to a list of goals
encouraged nationwide by the veterans organization.
Until now, the Covington VFW has been known for its pet project,
Operation Uplink, which provides funds for calling cards that allow
overseas troops and hospitalized veterans to phone home.
On Monday, Lowe's department managers Lodi Williams and Kent Harris,
team leader Todd Stringfellow and associates Terrell Morgan and Randy
McCoy helped with landscaping, computer desks, interior renovations and
exterior painting at the VFW post.
Fisher said the North Carolina-based company's donations included a
window air-conditioning unit, the post's only source of cooling.
Other volunteers, including soon-to-be sailors sent by a Navy recruiter
in Millington, helped in the push to finish the facility.
Williams, the management-trainee leading Lowe's crew at the post and a
self-described "Navy brat," echoed Fisher's reasons for pitching in.
"To give back to our community," she said.
VFW Youth center
What: Grand opening Veterans of Foreign Wars Ray-Pinner Post 4840
Veterans/Youth Center.
Where: 216 W. Washington, Covington.
When: Aug. 11, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
-------------------------
Larry Scott --
