Mahoning County Veterans Organization Seeks Building
AUSTINTOWN, Ohio – Members of the Mahoning County Disabled American Veterans Chapter 2 served the country, now they need help to continue serving others.
The Mahoning County chapter is based in Austintown, but it doesn’t have a building. The organization uses the Austintown Senior Center for meetings, but that’s limited to the hours it’s not being used for other programs.
The space the members are looking for needs to be large enough to store the wheelchairs and scooters that they give to people in need.
“In the last three years, we’ve given out almost 400 electric wheelchairs and scooters,” said Bob Cooper, who is the DAV’s finance officer, adjutant and fundraising chairman.
The organization is renting two storage units to house those devices, running close to $600 per month. And only one of those units has electricity, which is needed to charge the equipment when it’s returned.
“We definitely need some place for storage,” said Terry Mackey, chapter commander. “We need a building.”
One storage unit is full, and Cooper is storing some of the chairs and scooters in his garage and shed. Adding to the organization’s costs is the batteries to power the chairs and scooters.
“We figure in the last three years, with storage and buying batteries and everything else, we’ve got between $25,000 and $30,000 out of our pocket,” Cooper said.
They’re looking for a building, ideally in Austintown, that can provide the storage and meeting space they seek. Austintown is where many members live, and the community and township trustees have been supportive of the group.
“Austintown and Cornersburg have been good for us,” said Dale Baringer, the DAV representative on the Mahoning County Veterans Service Commission.
The office of U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is pursuing grant funding for the project, but it may not earn approval. And even if the grant comes through, it may be too late to secure a building, Baringer said.
They’ve also spoken to the office of U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli, R-6th, and to state Rep. Lauren McNally, D-59th, who offered suggestions.
The organization doesn’t receive external funding. It relies on donations.
“Everything we do, we raise the money through fundraisers ourselves,” Baringer said.
The organization’s roster lists more than 700 members, but only about 20 regularly attend meetings. Some of those people, because of physical limitations, aren’t able to help.
The members are all older; the youngest is 69. Younger people aren’t joining the DAV or other veterans organizations, Baringer said.
“If worst comes to worst, we’re going to have to get out of this because we just physically can’t afford it,” Baringer said of providing the wheelchairs and scooters.
That’s something they don’t want to do.
All of the wheelchairs and scooters have been donated, and if one of them breaks down, students at the Mahoning County Career & Technical Center repair it. When someone who received a chair dies, the family returns it to the DAV.
Cooper said they’re looking for about a 1,500- to 2,000-square-foot building.
The DAV’s lack of accommodations sets it apart from other veterans organizations.
“Every town has a VFW and [an American] Legion,” Cooper said. “They have their own buildings. We’re the only DAV in the county. We don’t have a building.”
The organization can be reached at 330 774 8479 or by mail at Disabled American Veterans Chapter 2, 4496 Mahoning Ave. #268, Austintown, OH 44515.
Pictured at top: Members of the Mahoning County Disabled American Veterans Chapter 2, Dale Baringer, DAV representative on the Mahoning County Veterans Service Commission; Commander Terry Mackey; and Bob Cooper, adjutant and finance and fundraising chairman, stand in Veterans Park in Austintown.
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