The local community turned out Saturday evening to support a trip for veterans to Washington, D.C.
Serenity Winery hosted the MidMo Strawberry Festival, which benefits Central Missouri Honor Flight.
Doc Kritzer, with Honor Flight, said the program started to honor WWII veterans shortly after the WWII Memorial was erected in D.C. with a group in Dayton, Ohio. Now, there’s organizations all around the country that help organize and fund trips for veterans.
Nowadays, he said, the trip mostly includes veterans from the Vietnam War.
Central Missouri Honor Flight started in 2006.
“We expected to take two trips, one bus, which was 55 people and it was about half and half veterans and guardians,” Kritzer said. “We ended up taking seven. So you can see how veterans responded and the community because it raise those funds necessarily.”
Guardians that also go on the trip pay their own way. During the trip, guardians help keep the group together, assist veterans with potential mobility concerns and generally help make sure things run smoothly.
Most are assigned to two or three veterans, Kritzer said.
“I’ve never been around people that were as committed and dedicated to honoring those folks that came,” he said. “It’s so rewarding, that’s why we all are so excited (to do it).”
Kritzer said to sponsor one veteran for the trip is $300. Over the years, Central Missouri Honor Flights has raised over $3 million through donations and fundraising events like the strawberry festival.
Attendees visit the petting zoo at the MidMo Strawberry Festival, hosted at Serenity Winery on Saturday evening. (Michael Shine/FULTON SUN)
Along with food, wine samples and vendors, attendees were able to visit with goats at the MidMo Strawberry Festival, hosted at Serenity Winery on Saturday evening. (Michael Shine/FULTON SUN)