Silver Valley Seniors receives VFW donation

OSBURN –– The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1675 donated $1,000 to the Silver Valley Seniors organization to assist with their Meals on Wheels and congregate meals programs. 

Silver Valley Seniors (SVS) is a not-for-profit organization, that provides for approximately 100 area seniors who are either homebound or must be brought to a congregation center to eat. The organization survives off donations as well as State and Federal funding to provide the meals.  

Each year, the local VFW donates $500 to the group, but after the cancellation of their annual Honor Flight, they had an additional $500 available and decided to match donations that had been made by other small organizations.  

The local VFW raises money through their monthly breakfasts and their popular bingo nights. They use these funds for outreach events, including their Veteran Stand Down events. Any money that is left over, they try to put back into the community.  

Chris Marker, the commander of the Silver Valley VFW Post, said that the decision to donate the money to SVS was a no-brainer and that he’d like to see other groups step up to help as well.  

“We knew that the Fuller Center and P-K Lions had donated $1,000 each and we figured that if the little nonprofits are ponying up the money, why can’t we?” Marker said. “I know there are businesses and groups who do support Meals on Wheels, but I’d like to see some of these bigger groups step up as well.”  

SVS is no stranger to hard times, but director Darrell Lemieux has seemingly always managed to find a creative solution when they’ve been presented with a problem.  

Preparing multiple meals for delivery and then cutting back on delivery days, strategic shopping for ingredients, and seeking out grant funding are just a few of the solutions he’s relied upon over the years, but there’s no substitute for good, old-fashioned donations.  

Earlier this year, they received donations from the Dave Smith Motors and the Kellogg Elks, which covered most of their costs for 2024, but with cost increases to food and fuel, dollars haven’t spread as far as they used to, but that is stopping Lemieux or SVS. 

That determination is part of why the larger donation was an easy call for the VFW, many of whom are seniors themselves.   

“Most of the officers in our Post are in their 70s,” Marker said. “The hard issue is that we can do better for our seniors. It’s just the right thing to do.”  

Silver Valley Seniors is based out of the Osburn Senior Center, located at 726 E. Mullan Ave., in Osburn. For more information, call them at (208) 752-1194.  

The VFW Post 1675 is located at 318 E Mullan Ave., in Osburn. They can be reached at (208) 752-4811, or by visiting their Facebook page.