Holley groups donate nearly $2,500 to help buy van for vets’ medical appointments

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 8 June 2016 at 12:00 am

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – The Orleans County Joint Veterans Council is about $2,500 closer to getting a low-mileage van. The Council runs an all-volunteer van service that takes veterans to medical appointments. The van service has five vans and the council is trying to raise funds to replace a van that currently has about 133,000 miles on it.

Three Holley organizations combined to donate toward the cause. The VFW raised $1,208 during a Jamboree on May 29. The Marine Corps Attachment 1271, which meets out of the VFW in Holley, donated $1,000 and the Holley Rotary Club also gave $200 towards a low-mileage van.

Pictured include, from left: Phyllis Schrader, coordinator of the van service; Urb Bennett, president of the VFW in Holley; Ray Madigan, senior vice president of VFW in Holley; James Andre, president of the Joint Veterans Council; and Earl Schmidt, chairman of the Joint Veterans Council and the director of the Veterans Service Agency in Orleans County.

Andre said the Council will continue to raise funds to replace one of the vans. He said it will take at least $15,000 to get a low-mileage vehicle.