JHN_Salute to Veterans_111120

November 11, 2020

Salute to Veterans A Special Section Honoring America’s Military Veterans

The Herald-News / TheHerald-News.com • Wednesday, November 11, 2020

| SALUTE TO VETERANS

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Cantigny VFW Struggles During Covid-19

Cantigny Post 367 VFW was to celebrate 100 years in Joliet in March 2020, but due to Covid-19 the celebration was canceled and the post shut down for two months.

By Allison Selk

Shaw Media Correspondent As Cantigny Post 367 VFW neared its celebration of 100 years in Joliet, the world had other plans and in March 2020 instead of bands, food and a party, the post hoped it could survive a COVID-19 mandated closure and serve veterans in the future.

“Initially I thought we were out of business,” post commander Lou Smith said. “We had to sit down and think about what we were taking in, bills and changed capacities if we did open up. We still had 100% of our bills to pay.”

Jim Clausen, post quartermaster and financial manager said the post shut down for two

months, closed the bar, refunded all party deposits and were forced to furlough six of seven employees.

“The employee working was the janitor,” Clausen said.

Clausen said a bank turned the post down for a loan, so the next option was to apply for an Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) which turned out fruitful for the post. The low-interest loan covered the immediate bills which were due and left the remaining loan balance available to stretch well into the year to keep the post afloat.

“There was no guarantee on the loan. It was like Christmas,” Clausen said.

After the EIDL loan and a

couple smaller grants, Smith said he knew the post could survive for the time being, but loan payments come due and in order for the post to proceed, people needed to come back to the two biggest money makers – the Friday fish fry and Monday Bingo – and parties needed to book. The main hurdle was the capacities changed. The VFW has two floors, and what once could legally hold 300 guests, now dwindled to 66; the bar and restaurant area which was once allowed to seat 125, down to 56.

Smith said before COVID-19, parties were booked every weekend upstairs and downstairs, but all canceled and 90% refunded; only three remain until the end of 2020.

The financial strain not only

affects the public being able to come in and play Bingo on Mondays or have a Friday fish fry, but Smith said the shut downs and uncertainty of the future of the post weighs heavily on the veterans.

“The veterans need some place to go. Cantigny is a mainstay in Joliet. We have a lot of history in Joliet and we will do anything, within reason, to save it,” Smith said.

Don Kraus, post senior vice commander, said in addition, the shut downs and decreased capacity hinders funds raised which impacts the ability to finance programs.

See CANTIGNY VFW, page 3

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• CANTIGNY VFW Kraus said the post offers yearly “Voice of Democracy” scholarships between $300 and $1,500 to students, buys food for veteran families in need, sponsors a children’s home and visits Manteno Veterans’ Home where the volunteers pass out cash for Bingo prizes so the veterans can buy items at the home’s store.

Smith said about the future of the post, “I hope the world finds a vaccine and everyone can be immune and get on with life. I hear a vaccine is close which brightens my day a little bit, might get a cure here soon.”

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“Can’t get people to join, the younger guys and women, nobody wants to join and it hurts financially. Back in the 1990s we had 100 people at meetings, now we have five to 10,” Kraus said.

He went on to say a different generation could generate new ideas. “With younger members, we could have other activities geared toward what they want, different bands, more people to enjoy the facility,” Kraus said.

For more information on Cantigny Post 367 VFW, visit vfw367.org or call 815-7225398.

Bonnie Fox of Joliet buys early bird raffle tickets at Bingo from Cantigny Post 367 VFW Senior Vice Commander Don Kraus.

• Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Kraus said in order to secure the history and success of the post, the younger generation needs to step up to join the post and volunteer.

He said most members currently are aged 60 and above, which takes a toll.

SALUTE TO VETERANS | The Herald-News / TheHerald-News.com

Continued from page 2

The Herald-News / TheHerald-News.com • Wednesday, November 11, 2020

| SALUTE TO VETERANS

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Veterans Assistance Commission of Will County Continues Veteran Care During Covid-19 Joe Martin, Substance Abuse Recovery Coach at Veterans Assistance Commission of Will County.

By Allison Selk

Shaw Media Correspondent A pandemic like COVID-19 does not stop the needs of veterans in Will County. The Veterans Assistance Commission (VAC) of Will County took heed, and with adaptations and collaborations, continued its veteran care despite obstacles.

Kristi McNichol, VAC Superintendent, said when Joliet Mayor Bob O’Dekirk sent out the initial press release about COVID-19 and how businesses closed, the care of veterans and homeless veterans went through her mind.

McNichol said Continuum of Care began an emergency plan in March to provide shelter for the homeless, which included veterans. Due to closure of Daybreak shelter and restrictions on shelters which stayed open such as MorningStar Mission,

agencies pulled together to house veterans and the homeless in hotel rooms around the Joliet area. McNichol said the homeless housed included 126 individuals, 20 were veterans.

Through Will County Cares funds, the VAC has partnered with Peggy Schronski, Homeless Program Manager Trinity Services; Jill Skole, Executive Director AGAPE Mission; Dr. Kathleen Burke, Director Will County Substance Use Initiatives and Shawn West, Director Will-Grundy Medical Clinic to offer services to local vets during COVID-19 instead of awaiting appointments at the Veterans Affairs (VA). The VAC also has a new recovery coach, Joe Martin, who works under the Will County Substance Abuse Initiative.

COVID-19 also meant that the VAC office on Glenwood

Avenue would be closed for clients and McNichol had staff to work in the office one day per week to log into computers, pick up paperwork, and complete tasks which could not be accomplished from home.

“It wasn’t hard, it was just different,” McNichol said.

The quiet time in the office proved to increase production due to less drop in conversations. However face-to-face conversations proved beneficial since, according to McNichol, to put all the information into an email took longer. Once again, not hard, but concessions had to be made to have conversations such as Zoom meetings, scheduled phone calls, etc. instead of a visit to the person just feet away in another office.

Due to older software, not all services could be accessed from

home, so McNichol applied for a grant through the Will County CARES and purchased new RedMane software to aid in the VAC financial assistance programs.

McNichol said the software “will allow VAC to manage financial assistance program from home. At the beginning of COVID-19, VAC staff was unable to work remotely because our software program was serverbased. The new software program is cloud-based. We are currently working with RedMane at customizing a new program.”

She said the software also helps pinpoint exact places of service, which McNichol said helps to confirm where the VAC has helped. More importantly, she wants to see where the organization lacks in assistance. The

See WILL COUNTY, page 5

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Continued from page 5

old software works with townships, where the new software uses zip codes, which breaks down the areas into smaller parts.

“This benefits us because we can see where we need to focus outreach and then we can ask ourselves, do we know the mayor, a local veterans’ club, post, auxiliary or any county board members,” McNichol said of efforts for veteran outreach.

The software also tracks marital status, racial information, education, family background data and what part of the federal level of poverty clients fall under. Some may be greater or less than the set poverty level standards, which helps the VAC to decide on any needed adjustments.

McNichol said the VAC office in Joliet remains closed to clients, but the staff rotates two days in the office and three days at home. They are able to assist veterans with the VA benefits 100 percent remotely. For veterans who do not have access to email or a fax machine, forms are mailed to the veteran for signatures and can be returned to the front office or mailed back to the VAC. “My staff has surpassed my expectations on reacting to every change COVID-19 has brought us to. We will continue to serve every Will County veteran to the best of our ability.

And, if we can’t help, we will find someone who can,” McNichol said.

Katherine Roberts, HINES VA healthcare for Homeless veterans case manager meeting with a homeless vet in Veterans Assistance Commission of Will County hotel.

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CANTIGNY POST 367 Thank You to all our servicemen and women who protect us, and in loving memory of the fallen who gave their lives for our freedom.

(815) 722-5398

www.vfw367.org

SERVING OUR VETERANS THROUGH THE PANDEMIC!

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• Wednesday, November 11, 2020

826 Horseshoe Drive, Joliet, IL

SALUTE TO VETERANS | The Herald-News / TheHerald-News.com

• WILL COUNTY

The Herald-News / TheHerald-News.com • Wednesday, November 11, 2020

| SALUTE TO VETERANS

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Caring Patriots Holiday Assistance Food Program

By Allison Selk Mike Cozzi refuses to let the COVID-19 pandemic shut down his efforts to feed local veterans during the holidays – a feat he took on 12 years ago with his father with 10 veterans. Now around 1,000 veterans receive assistance through his non-profit each year.

“To me these heroes already served us. They are willing to go out, leave the comforts of home to defend our nation and freedom of the greatest nation on earth,” Cozzi of Joliet said. “Now in need, the government is not picking up the slack, so we citizens need to help those who have served others.”

Twelve years ago, Cozzi witnessed veterans who struggled to find work and

See CARING PATRIOTS, page 7

Caring Patriots volunteers used to stand in line to gather food and fill grocery bags during the volunteer bag nights. The following day, veterans would pick up to 12 bags for the holidays. In 2020, veterans will shop for their own food with a Caring Patriots volunteer.

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Continued from page 6

ultimately put food on their tables, which tugged at his heartstrings. He said these veterans tried to better themselves, but ends were not met so he talked to his father, Charles Pronger, who passed in 2019, and both decided to adopt 10 to 15 veterans and purchase groceries for Thanksgiving.

As friends and the community heard what the duo had done, others vowed to help and the first year of an organized event, 109 veterans were served.

The non-profit Caring Patriots was created out of this push and in 2016 a board of directors was named as well as a partnership with Jewel-Osco. Cozzi works with corporate to organize food drives in September where customers can purchase non-perishable food items or gift cards in the store to be taken to a pack location off-site. Jewel-Osco donates empty building space to Cozzi in various locations in order to house the food, and volunteers to

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• Wednesday, November 11, 2020

See CARING PATRIOTS, page 8

In years past, Caring Patriots volunteers would pack thousands of bags of donated groceries headed to veterans during the holidays. Due to Covid-19, veterans will shop for their own food with a Caring Patriots volunteer.

SALUTE TO VETERANS | The Herald-News / TheHerald-News.com

• CARING PATRIOTS

The Herald-News / TheHerald-News.com • Wednesday, November 11, 2020

| SALUTE TO VETERANS

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• CARING PATRIOTS Continued from page 7

organize, pack and distribute.

Gift cards and cash donations pay for frozen turkeys as well as fresh dairy and produce. In all, veterans walk away with 12 stuffed grocery bags.

In the past couple of years, 1,000 veterans from the Chicagoland and Northwest Indiana area have received food at Thanksgiving through Caring Patriots.

However, 2020 flipped Cozzi’s event and made the board reconfigure each step to ensure the veterans received their food. The large food drives at 38 Jewel-Osco stores, Parkview Christian Church and over 30 schools were void. He also had over 1,000 volunteers and veterans he needed to protect and with a large population of veterans in the Korean and Vietnam War era, many were high risk.

A new plan was born. JewelOsco stores presented a donation option at checkout the first 11 days of November for Caring Patriots. Money raised and donations made directly to the non-profit will allow veterans to shop with a Caring Patriots volunteer as part of the Caring Patriots’ Holiday Food Assistance Program from Dec. 2-8 at three Jewel-Osco stores.

“The week of Thanksgiving is a madhouse and with us having people of frail health, putting them in a store during that time; we decided to make it a holiday shop instead of Thanksgiving due to crowds,” Cozzi said of the date changes from Thanksgiving to December.

Caring Patriots also helped 80 veterans with food at JewelOsco with grant funds at the start of the COVID-19 shut down. Cozzi said this was the first time the non-profit worked outside of the holiday time frame.

Cozzi said finances are down this year when the veterans need it the most. In years past, monetary donations were allocated to buy the fresh foods and the non-perishables were donated through the food drives.

Without those drives, Cozzi needs to purchase everything, which could be a higher cost.

He hopes to have a substantial amount per veteran to match a typical year.

Caring Patriots volunteer Keith Augina of Crest Hill, Army 1977-80, said, “Mike is a monster when it comes to fundraising and getting things done.”

Caring Patriots received a grant to assist veterans with food during the Covid-19 pandemic, the first time the non-profit has helped outside of it’s holiday food assistance program. by Mike Cozzi

John Skop of Worth who served in the Army, Navy, Army Reserves and now the Navy Reserves, accepted food after Cozzi suggested he reach out. Skop said his family lived with his in-laws who were also in the midst of a financial hardship, so things were tight.

“The first time I broke down and cried, so did my wife. We couldn’t get over it, all of the bags. We were trying to figure out how to have Thanksgiving,” Skop said.

Augina said it’s important to support our nation’s veterans because, “A lot of times we are forgotten. After 9-11 flags came out and veterans were honored, but after the dust settled, we were forgotten. Hey, we are out here and we need help, too.”

Cozzi said, “God willing 2021 will not be like 2020 and we can get back to normalcy.”

For more information on donations or how to volunteer with Caring Patriots or the Holiday Food Assistance Program, visit Caringpatriots.org.

Michael Cozzi, Jr., 5, of Joliet helps put treats in bags of food for veterans with Caring Patriots.

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• Wednesday, November 11, 2020

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SALUTE TO VETERANS | The Herald-News / TheHerald-News.com

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The Herald-News / TheHerald-News.com • Wednesday, November 11, 2020

| SALUTE TO VETERANS

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Grundy County Veterans Legacy Center and Museum Top trunk is the footlocker brought in by Mark Stevens of Morris that belonged to his great grandfather, William Zschau of Dwight.

By Allison Selk

Shaw Media Correspondent Carter Corsello had a vision to capture the legacy of veterans from Grundy County through photos, stories and artifacts, and that vision came to fruition in the Grundy County Veterans Legacy Center and Museum.

Four years ago, after visiting a war museum in Pontiac, Corsello, a retired Army officer,

decided to make the empty space on the second floor of the Morris American Legion Post 294 more usable and to build a place to honor veterans from Grundy County.

He wanted the center to not only feature veterans from the American Legion, but from all over the county with legacy as one of the key words – his goal was to tell the story of the veterans, honor veterans by learning

about history and educate about those who served.

“Coinciding with this, I decided to become the historian at the Legion. I filled a table with the basics, the very beginning.

I talked to professors and museum guys and they said most museums start with one table and they get better exhibits and grow,” Corsello said.

Corsello cleaned up the

stairwell, added a chair lift and made the space a place to gather stories for generations to explore. He has received donations from people who currently live in the area, and some from those who wish to honor a loved one who served in the military. He has archived, copied and made books out of a myriad of pieces of history as well as created displays with the donations. The

See VETERANS LEGACY, page 11

Joliet Catholic Academy A Tradition of Service

The JCA family is proud to salute our veterans and the fine young men and women who are serving our country by protecting and fighting for the freedoms we enjoy every day.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE! 1200 N. Larkin Ave., Joliet, IL 60435 SM-CL1829418

815.741.0500 www.jca-online.org

we are all in it together so make the best out of it.”

in the area,” Stevens said of the donation.

walls and rooms have come alive with military history from war and peace time, and time spans of centuries.

Mark Stevens of Morris brought in one of the newest pieces, a footlocker owned by his great grandfather, William Zschau of Dwight, who was stationed at Ft. Bliss from 1916 to 1918.

Corsello even archived his personal Hamm radio tapes from two phone calls to his mother when he served in Somalia. His mother asked how he was doing and if he wanted her to send flowers to his girlfriend because it was Valentine’s Day.

Continued from page 10

He shared the notes of a postcard from Frank Perucca of Morris at Great Lakes U.S. Naval Training Center to Tom Feehan of Morris in 1945. The post card writes: “Tom, Boy I can’t wait ‘till you get here. Got here to late for chow, have yet to eat, nothing to sleep on but springs, no equipment of any kind and it doesn’t seem as if we’re getting anywhere. You’ll love it, Frank.”

The public can visit the Grundy County Veterans Legacy Center and Museum located at the Morris American Legion Post 294, 212 W. Washington, from 8 to 10 a.m. on Wednesdays.

Corsello has hopes to

“I told her no as a joke, then said yes, go ahead. She didn’t

We take this opportunity to remember our Veterans who have died, thank the Veterans who have served and continue to pray for all women and men currently serving our country.

“This has been in my basement for 30 years. I thought this was appropriate to donate, I’m a resident of Grundy County and my great grandfather lived

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• Wednesday, November 11, 2020

Corsello said of the postcard, “Why do veterans talk about the most miserable training events like boot camp with the fondest language. It’s the commonality of service to one’s nation. Common misery of those that serve…

Stevens, who spent 23 years in the Air Force, told the story that after Pancho Villa killed 17 people in Mexico, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson contacted Army General John J. Pershing to take a unit into Mexico to find Villa and bring him to justice.

His great grandfather was part of that unit as an ambulance driver. Villa was not found on that mission and after his time at Ft. Bliss, Zschau returned to Dwight and ran the greenhouse.

hear it. Mom called two weeks later and said she cancelled the flowers for my girlfriend because I said no,” Corsello said.

SALUTE TO VETERANS | The Herald-News / TheHerald-News.com

• VETERANS LEGACY

The Herald-News / TheHerald-News.com • Wednesday, November 11, 2020

| SALUTE TO VETERANS

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