This week around one hundred veterans will get a turkey and a new winter coat thanks to the generosity of the new chapter of a national non-profit.
The Northern Kentucky chapter of the Veterans Association of Real Estate Professionals plan to host the turkey drive-thru at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center.
“A veteran should never go without,” said Michael Smith.
He started the Northern Kentucky chapter over the summer and has been growing members and community outreach. He said there are two needs his team is hoping to focus on Friday.
“One is food and one is warmth. We want to fill those needs where needed,” he said.
He added their motto is "one veteran at a time." Through that motto they’re hoping to help feed and clothe around 100 veterans in working with the mobile food pantry operated by the Freestore Foodbank.
“The idea that someone could potentially go without a coat is devastating to anyone so our opportunity to give these coats to these veterans is just unbelievable,” said Allison Coffman, head of community outreach for VAREP of Northern Kentucky.
She says the turkey and coat donations are a direct result of their membership and reaching out to those who believe in the mission of helping veterans who need it.
“A lot of the members are also donors just because we believe in our own cause,” she said.
In addition to the members themselves, there have been contributors from the community and from businesses.
“We’ve had a lot of great support from the local community. I want to thank Fresh Thyme in Newport for being gracious and donating over 38 fresh turkeys, everything they had which is a great help in this promotion,” Smith said.
The Northern Kentucky chapter of VAREP has grown since they werefirst featured on Homefront. The membership is open to both realtors and non-realtors. Both Michael and Allison said the growth has been very positive and are looking forward to the next chapter.
“Being a new chapter our goal is to be as impactful as possible and I think we’ve gone above and beyond what our expectations were for the year already,” Coffman said. “So, we’re super excited for what next year brings and how many lives we’re going to be able to touch in the veteran community who may have gone without up to this point.”
The turkey drive is still accepting coat, turkey and monetary donations. You can donate through theirwebsite.
If you have a veteran story to tell in your community, email homefront@wcpo.com. You also can join the Homefront Facebook group, follow Craig McKee on Facebook and find more Homefront stories here.
