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News | Nov. 3, 2015

Lending a hand to veterans

By Jeff Landenberger DLA Disposition Service

An early Veteran’s Day present was delivered to homeless vets in Battle Creek, Michigan, by DLA Disposition Services and the Department of Veterans Affairs in late October.

Each year, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Battle Creek holds a Veteran’s Stand Down to assist their veteran population. This year they got more than they expected.

Lisa Grenon, of the Battle Creek VA, said a stand down event will normally get 15 pallets of property from DLA Disposition Services. This year she received 44 pallets -- more than what her crew could handle in time for the event -- so Grenon turned to the community for help.

“We just put a call out to the community, and we just had an outpouring of people calling and coming wanting to assist us today,” Grenon said.

Some of those volunteers came from across the Defense Logistics Agency workforce at the Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center -- DLA Disposition Services, DLA Installation Support and Logistics Information Services.

“We like the idea of the Disposition Services community helping veterans no matter where they are,” said Cindy Foster of DLA Disposition Services at Battle Creek. Foster said she volunteered her time to support the warfighter and her local community.

In between sorting coats and boots, Judy Hawkins of DLA Installation Support said, “My father was a World War II veteran, and I thought I would come over to help out the veterans.”

Navy vet Russell Manuel said he came over to give back to his fellow veterans. He added that he had returned last month from a tour in Afghanistan as the deputy director for DLA Disposition Services over there, and this was a great opportunity to help make a difference at home.

As the contents of the 44 pallets were organized for the stand down event, Grenon said that it was, “… amazing to have everyone come together to help the homeless population.”12