Zach McKenzie, a resident of The Veterans’s Place, speaks of how the homeless veterans benefit from having a chance to live there as he addresses nearly 200 people at the Barre Legion Post last Sunday. The five American Legion posts of Washington County combined to sponsor a fund raiser that brought in nearly $5,000 for the Vine Street home. Photo by Bill Croney, the Northfield News A crowd of nearly 200 people gathered at Barres’ American Legion Post 10 on the afternoon Sunday January 16th to have a great meal, take part in a benefit auction, meet old friends and do a very good thing. They were there primarily to raise funds for Northfield’s home for homeless veterans, The Veterans’ Place Inc. (TVPI) . And, they did a very good job at that. The Benefit brought in over $5,000.

Washington County is home to five American Legion posts and they all participated to bring some help to TVPI. The benefit was the brainchild of the Legion’s Department (state) Commander, Ed Brown, of Hartland. He made it his “Commander’s Project” for the year.“ This is a need that I don’t see going away any time soon,” said Department Commander Brown. “ It costs about $500 per year to keep one room going at TVPI, maintenance and things like that. There are 22 rooms there. My plan is to have each of Vermont’s 71 Legion Posts sponsor a room. Of course some of the smaller posts wont be able to afford it by themselves but they can double up. I don’t see the VA (Veterans Administration) perdiem rising sufficiently to cover costs. I would like to see this as an annual effort to help out TVPI,” the Commander added.

There was a festive air in the large hall at Barres’ post 10 as auctioneer Fred Kidder, of Orange, chanted his calls to sell off merchandise and services donated by more than 80 area merchants and businesses. Auctioneer Kidder, who had donated his time and talents, was aided by “runners” from Sherri’s Jubilee. The “runners” moved the items and materials to the winning bidders. Sherri’s Jubilee also donated the group’s time and talents to provide entertainment for the event.

The Washington County Committee Chairperson, Beverly Cayia, was beaming when she said: “The turnout has been wonderful. To be honest I hope we have enough food to feed everybody. (They did.) We’ve had a lot of support from the community and The V.A. has helped tremendously,” she said.

The most moving part of the benefit came when some of the residents of The Veterans’ Place took to the stage and gave testimony about what it was like to be homeless and how TVPI has helped them.

Most think that the home is just for “older Vets” such as WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam vets. But two more recent veterans belied those thoughts. Middle aged Larry Ortoli and relative youngster

Zach McKenzie (mid-twenties) gave moving reports of the help they have received in just a short time at TVPI.

The statements of the organizers about the success of the benefit seemed to echo each other. “It’s a very gratifying, we just about filled the room,” Mel McKnight of the Legion’s Department of Vermont.

“The outpouring of support was wonderful, it was more than we hoped for,” said Stephen Weston, the president of the Board of Directors of The Veterans” place.