The collection of warm clothing for veterans on Saturday, October 5th at the Fox Point Farmers Market was a great success. We literally stuffed many coats, jackets, scarves and boots into the van!
For those of you who are newer to the club, Veterans Services, the group who we were collecting for, was started by Dennis Johnson about ten years ago.
Buzz met him at Repairers of the Breach and started working with him. Dennis worked out of his garage collecting food for veterans, especially those under the
bridge. As time went on, he ran into St. John's Lutheran church on 55th and Greenfield in West Milwaukee. They worked with veterans and agreed to let him
use the lower level of the church. The congregation is small, about 90 to 100 people. On any Thursday, church members arrive at the church at 5 AM to peel potatoes, prepare eggs, donuts, coffee, juice and all the sides for a good breakfast. From 8 AM -10 AM they usually feed over 250 veterans who come from all over.
On Tuesdays, those veterans who cannot come to the food pantry at St. John's have delivered to their residence 60 boxes of food to be delivered to shut ins. Dennis Johnson was our Unsung Hero about 6 years ago and honored by our club. We collect kitchen supplies in July at the market and warm clothing the first weekend in October each year. Dennis is able to obtain volunteers from the cadre of men and women he has helped out!