Pat Caldwell chuckles at the state of things.
“I’m the treasurer, but we don’t have any money,” she pointed out.
Caldwell is an officer with the newly formed nonprofit Family and …
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![Randal Caldwell, a Vietnam veteran, examines a quilt presented to him by Donna Yeager and Ida Stephens before the first meeting of a startup group known as Family and Friends Veterans Support Organization. [Dave Faries]](https://beta.creativecirclecdn.com/mexicoledger/original/20210723-134707-Veterans%20group%202%281%29.JPG)
Pat Caldwell chuckles at the state of things.
“I’m the treasurer, but we don’t have any money,” she pointed out.
Caldwell is an officer with the newly formed nonprofit Family and Friends Veterans Support Organization. The group held their first meeting last Tuesday, a gathering of six or seven board members and a dozen veterans.
They used the occasion to present quilts to a pair of Vietnam veterans, former Air Force sergeant William Hill and Randal Caldwell, who served in the Navy.
As a startup nonprofit, Family and Friends can only provide rudimentary support. For now their focus is to provide veterans with information that connects them to organizations that can help with their situation.
Once they begin to fill their coffers, they plan to model service organizations by providing financial support to causes such as Honor Flight and groups aiding homeless veterans.
The group just received their tax identification number, allowing them to set up a bank account.
“We had some legal paperwork hoops to jump through, but we had a great desire to do it,” said Family and Friends president Donna Yeager. “We have a true passion for helping vets.”
Most of the group’s 15 members have experience as volunteers with the VFW Auxiliary. All are closely related to someone who served.
Caldwell’s husband was one of the recipients of a quilt last week. He served in the Mekong Delta, transporting troops and supplies.
The name Friends and Family stems from this close connection. But board members point out that the group is open to anyone.
Fundraising dominates the group’s concerns at the moment. So far they have paperwork filed with the state, a bank account and a cause.
“We have several ideas,” Caldwell said.
The first meeting focused in part on how to bring in money. Based on the success of other organizations, Friends and Family anticipate holding craft sales, quilt raffles, other raffles and bake sales.
Yeager explained that starting a nonprofit organization from scratch is both daunting and exciting.
“It has taken a lot of cooperation,” she added. “But I anticipate in the next few months we’ll have money to start helping out.”
The group meets the third Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. in Mexico’s Friendship Baptist Church. For more information, call Gail May, 573-473-6342, or Donna Yeager, 573-253-0849.
