Veterans News: A new DAV van for Oneida County
By Tammy Walters
Oneida County Veterans Service Officer.
As many of you know, my office coordinates the Oneida County DAV van, which takes veterans who live in any county to and from the VA Medical Center in Iron Mountain, Michigan free of charge. The van is driven by all volunteer drivers and runs Monday through Thursday every week. It originates in Rhinelander and travels the “northern route” (via Lake Tomahawk, Woodruff, Arbor Vitae, St. Germain and Eagle River) on Monday and Tuesday and the “eastern route” (via Monico, Crandon, Laona, Cavour and Armstrong Creek) Wednesday and Thursday.
Reservations must be made by 4 p.m. the Thursday before the week you want to ride. After Thursday, no reservations will be made for the following week. We recommend, however, you make your reservation as soon as you have your appointment because finding a driver on short notice isn’t always possible.
For years now, we’ve been calling it a DAV van when it was actually an SUV. On Friday, September 25, that will change. Thanks to the hard work of Ray Von Bober, Commander of DAV Chapter 62 and Stan Panek, Adjutant of DAV Chapter 62, and numerous businesses and individuals for their generosity, over $28,000 was raised to purchase a new 10-passenger van that not only accommodates more veterans but will take them to their medical appointments much more comfortably. On September 25 at 11 a.m. at Northwoods Harley-Davidson in Arbor Vitae, the new van will be presented. The location is 1700 U.S. Highway 51 north, Arbor Vitae. Everyone is invited to attend this event.
I would be remiss if I didn’t thank our volunteer drivers. Most of them are retired but that doesn’t mean idle. They are so busy with other things but they’re also very dedicated to serving veterans. Thank you so much to the following drivers: Joe Conlin, Pat Crotty, Dave Daniels, Wayne Habeck, Phil Kriesel, Curt Kussatz, Gary Madden, Dennis McGill, Tom O’Rourke, Jim Pederson, Joe Pozarski, Ken Schuman, Todd Sorenson, Ron Wendorf and Ray Zastrow.
If you are interested in being a volunteer driver for the DAV van, please contact my office at the number below. You must go through a physical, be fingerprinted and have a background investigation done prior to being approved to drive. This is all done at the VA Medical Center in Iron Mountain at no cost to you. We will even provide the transportation. A normal volunteer day is 6-9 hours and a driver will drive approximately one day per month.
Tammy Walters is available at (715) 369-6127, or [email protected].
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