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Douglas Co. Veterans Will Sponsor Cookout to Celebrate the 4th of July

The Douglas County Veterans Memorial Association is sponsoring a free cookout to celebrate veterans service personnel. The public is invited to come have lunch with a veteran or service personnel. Lunch will consist of hot dogs, hamburgers and bratwursts, drinks and dessert. Lunch will be served on Saturday, July 1 at the Douglas County Veterans facility, 402 W. Washington, across from the post office. Without leaving anyone out, all service personnel such as military veterans, fire department personnel, City Hall personnel, city police, Douglas County Sheriff’s Department and EMTs are also invited to participate in this celebration. It is triple celebration which consists of the national July 4th celebration, the veterans service appreciation celebration and the 4th anniversary of the Douglas County Veterans which was established July 4, 2013. The food and all the trimmings are free and the veterans are asking parents to bring their children down to have a lunch with a veteran. The event will be outside in the pavilion but the building will be open for anyone who wants to get in out of the weather or sit in the air conditioned facility. The veterans will begin serving lunch at 10:30 a.m. and will continue until approximately 1 p.m. The Douglas County Veterans have a three-fold purpose. It is supporting veterans and their families, supporting senior citizens, and assisting underprivileged children. In the past year the Douglas County Veterans have donated several thousand dollars to the community, including Ava R-1 Schools, sponsoring dinner at the senior center, providing complete Thanksgiving and Christmas food baskets to several families in the area, providing flags to several organizations and providing bicycle safety helmets to area school kids. Our service officers are well qualified in assisting other veterans in obtaining VA medical benefits, disability compensation, housing assistance, and transportation to VA medical facilities. Jerry Garrison stated, “While we don’t publish a lot of our activities and community involvement in the paper, we want the people to know the Douglas County Veterans are constantly working in the community to help make Ava and Douglas County a good place for our veterans, senior citizens and area youth can reside, grow and retire.” Commander Irv Reynolds says, “We now have approximately 150 members and are growing weekly. If anyone is interested in serving our community’s veterans; senior citizens, and underprivileged children, we invite you to come talk to us about the benefits of becoming a member of the Douglas County Veterans Memorial Association. We offer both an individual and business membership. I invite all the children to come have lunch with a veteran on Saturday, July 1, beginning at 10:30.”