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Newton American Legion Auxiliary to host clothing giveaway for county veterans

Newton Daily News - 3/18/2021

Mar. 18—With the veterans outreach plans on hold for nearly a year, the Jasper County Veterans Commission is looking at smaller ways to reach area veterans who may need assistance.

In light of that, the board agreed during its March 10 meeting to partner with the Newton American Legion Auxiliary for their planned clothing giveaway event at the end of the month.

Auxiliary president Laurie Nelson said this is the first time, to her knowledge, the nonprofit has organized an event of this scale. She just wanted to help fill a need after the strains the past year have put on some people.

"I just figure with the times being so tough the last year or so and with places like Goodwill and the normal place people go to get things when they need help have been hesitant on taking donations, I figured this would be something that would possibly be needed. This was a way I thought we could reach out," Nelson said.

The clothing giveaway will begin at 8 a.m. Saturday, March 27 at the Newton American Legion Post 111, 1101 W. Fourth Street N. The event is open to all veterans and their families in Jasper County. They have received donations with a range of sizes for men and women. They have received some kids clothing but are hoping to gather more ahead of the event.

For anyone wanting to donate, they can take items to Nelson's business, Relics, at 103 First Ave. W. She said the store has plenty of room to store the clothing, so it can be sorted and prepared for the event.

The auxiliary does request people show some proof that they have served in the armed forces. They plan to host a similar event for the general public in the future, but the March giveaway is centered around veteran families.

"Being as we are a veterans organization we decided to do veterans first," Nelson said.

Nelson's husband, Jerry, is the Newton American Legion Commander and also serves on the Jasper County VA Commission. He brought the event to the commission's attention, and they were more than happy to partner with the auxiliary. The VA will provide donuts, juice and coffee for breakfast and will have sandwiches and drinks from Subway for lunch.

The event also affords the commission the opportunity to hand out VA literature and information with points of contact for any veteran who may need assistance but didn't know where to turn.

"Regardless of what's going on in the world, there are folks out there that need some help," Jerry Nelson said. "This is an attempt to reach out and give those folks some assistance."

With large scale events on hold for now, the commissioners discussed several options beyond the clothing giveaway for potential outreach events.

"Until they open things up where we can start bringing together large groups, we are just going to have to have to put that plan on the back burner and come back to it again," Veterans Affairs Director Kurt Jackson said.

The board will meet March 25 for a workshop to discuss future outreach events. This allows them to have more details to bring to the April meeting, so decisions can be made by the board. These smaller scale events also present different ways for the VA to put their annual state allocated funding to use. If they don't use the funds by the end of the fiscal year, they lose any money they have leftover; and it may set them up for smaller funds in the next year's allocation.

A few other ideas that were discussed was to rent the Capitol II Movie Theatre and show the film "No Greater Love" at no cost providing free pop and popcorn for veterans and their families. Jackson said they've discussed involving area clergy or chaplains to attend the event as well.

Another potential idea was to host a coffee and camaraderie type of event at local coffee shops in the county to provide veterans with coffee and engage them in conversation. This could present an outlet for any veterans who have had questions in the past but didn't know how to start that dialogue.

These ideas are still in the early stages, so the commission will discuss them further at the workshop and at future meetings and will announce any firm details once these events are scheduled.

Another project Jackson is working on is creating a website that would be a virtual starting place for area veterans. He is still meeting with the website engineers to determine what the veterans affairs office can do with the site. He will have more information to report to the board at the April meeting.

Contact Pam Pratt at 641-792-3121 ext. 6530 or pampratt@newtondailynews.com

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