November 14, 2014 at 3:06 p.m.
Community pulls together in purchase of new DAV van
Community pulls together in purchase of new DAV van
Such has been the case in the effort to raise funds for a new Disabled American Veterans (DAV) van.
For years, the DAV Chapter 62 out of Rhinelander has been transporting area veterans to Iron Mountain, Mich., for regular visits to the veterans hospital there.
"In Rhinelander, we have 17 drivers who volunteer their services; the van runs four days per-week from Rhinelander to Iron Mountain, Mich.," Stan Panek of the local DAV said this week.
The van now being utilized is too small, too old and has too many miles on it.
But that won't be the case for long.
That's because over the course of the past several months the effort to raise the $28,000 needed to purchase a new 10-passenger van has been so successful that the new van will be put on order and delivered to the Rhinelander chapter early next spring.
It's expected that the van will begin service by late spring or early summer 2015.
But to get to this point, it's taken a lot of selling and cooperation between the DAV and area businesses.
The folks at Northwoods Harley-Davidson in Arbor Vitae and the Minocqua Brewing Company in Minocqua took up the cause early last spring and helped the chapter pull together an effort to raffle a Harley-Davidson motorcycle with all proceeds being put into the pool of money to purchase the new van.
Al and Darby Ison of the Arbor Vitae Harley-Davidson store, along with Dan White of the Minocqua Brewery, headed up the efforts to help sell raffle tickets.
The $28,000 raised will cover the entire cost of the new vehicle, which will continue to serve veterans from Vilas, Oneida, Forest, and Langlade counties,
"Right now it's very difficult," Panek said. "We're running a Ford Explorer and we can haul three passengers comfortably - five or six very uncomfortably - there's about six inches of legroom in the third seat and most of the people being hauled are 'mature' individuals with 'mature figures' and it can be very difficult to crawl into that back seat.
"We've had four passengers, plus the driver and we've had people refuse to get in the vehicle and have ended up driving themselves in their own cars to Iron Mountain. We're doing a disservice to our veterans right now, so that's why we've been fighting for this 10-passenger van for a couple of years now."
The current van, which is based out of Rhinelander, has been in service for about five years.
There are at least 100,000 miles on the van now in service.
"We're very excited to be at this point and we want to thank Northwoods Harley-Davidson and Minocqua Brewing Company for their help," Panek said.
Without their help, it may have been much more difficult for the DAV chapter to accomplish its goal over the course of such a short timeframe.
"I approached Jim Wolter at Northwoods Harley-Davidson and asked about having some kind of fundraiser and things took off from there," Dan White said.
"It [fundraising for a new van] had already been started and we had been doing some things and then Dan had this idea [for the raffle]," Darby Ison said.
"Most of the donations have come from the Lakeland area," Panek said.
"The Minocqua Brewery sold a lot of raffle tickets and Harley-Davidson put up the motorcycle for the raffle; we also got money from St. Matthias Thrift Shop - $3,000 - we also had a couple of anonymous donations from individuals; Rotary had a fundraiser at the Wounded Warrior [softball game] and we received the proceeds from that - that was $1,000; We got money from Pukall Lumber, they sent us a check."
"We sold [tickets] to a lot of people who would come in and see it was for the vets and they were willing to buy tickets for it," White said.
"We had a surprising number of people who said we don't want a raffle ticket, but here's some cash, so they just donated on the spot," Panek said.
"There were quite a few anonymous donors who wanted no recognition for it, but they wanted to help the cause," Ison said.
In fact, one gentleman, Panek said, had donated $1,000 before coming back and asking how the fundraising was going and whether the chapter had gotten enough money.
"When we told him we were a little short, he wrote out another check for another $2,000," Panek said.
Though the complete numbers are not yet available from the raffle, more than 3,700 tickets were sold, so it has been estimated that when it is all said and done, the total amount will be somewhere around $10,000.
The old van, being operated with high miles on it, is driven four times per week to Michigan and back.
On Mondays and Tuesdays, the van runs its northern route, which includes stops in Lake Tomahawk, Minocqua, Arbor Vitae and Eagle River.
The southern route, which is available to veterans on Wednesdays and Thursdays, picks up those who need to go to the hospital for checkups and appointments from Rhinelander, Monico, Crandon, Conover and Laona.
"Right now ... they have to call far enough in advance, but with this [new] vehicle, it should satisfy all the needs of anybody who wants to ride," Panek said.
The chapter is still accepting donations to be put toward the new van.
To donate, you may call the Oneida County Veterans Service Office at (715) 369-6127.
A special presentation of the $28,000 to purchase the van was held Saturday, Nov. 8, at Northwoods Harley-Davidson in Arbor Vitae.
Raymond T. Rivard may be reached at [email protected]
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