It’s been nearly three years that the Mechling-Shakley Veterans Center near Cowansville has been trying to raise enough funds for an emergency generator. According to Veterans Center Executive Director Sean Taladay, they have approximately $55,000 raised toward the $60,000 price tag.
“We’re getting really excited. We’re working with some engineers and contractors to start moving this forward. So, we’re hoping the efforts of Mr. Heffner and his family will tilt that to where we need it to be and move on it,” Taladay said on the WTYM morning show “David & Friends”.
Taladay was referring to “Operation Bandage”… the brainchild of local mover-shaker Steve Heffner. Heffner started the event five years ago and has continued to make it an annual event to raise designated money.
This year, Operation Bandage will be held on November 10 at 10th Street Station in Ford City, with dinner at 5:30 and the show beginning at 6:30 PM.
“We’re going to have a band and a dinner/dance,” Heffner explained. But not just any band! Heffner’s sister and brother, Kat and Stan, are bringing back to Ford City a type of dance music they have been performing throughout the United States, and even internationally.
“We had our family band way back in the ’70s and she was our lead vocalist,” Heffner recalled. “She took it down to Pittsburgh and then she ended up down in Florida and she’s been all over. She’s internationally known as far as she’s been over in different countries performing as well. But, she really wants to do this. She wants to be a part of something that has a purpose and I’m really happy that she’s going to bring her band. And my brother, Stan, is also, who lives in Kittanning, he’s her musical director.”
Mechling-Shakley Veterans Center Executive Director Sean Taladay and Local Promoter Steve Heffner was on the WTYM morning show “David & Friends” to discuss plans for the next “Operation Bandage” event coming up November 10th.
Taladay is relying on Heffner’s fund-raiser as the final $5,000 needed to get the new generator installed. Taladay said the center is for any veteran who is homeless or in imminent danger of becoming homeless for one reason or another.
“To a veteran, who is experiencing certain issues, the electricity going out – lights going out – total darkness – is a very emotional experience. The generator will make sure the Center continues to function normally during power outages,” Taladay said.
“I’ve been there a little over nine years now and we’ve gone from a success rate of 17% from whenever I started… and we’re now at a 70% success rate. It’s a loving, altruistic, valued culture at the Center. They look out for each other. It’s more of a family feel than it is a rehabilitation feel - like we’re here to tell you what and how you should be doing it. It’s an attitude that we’re going to get through this together. We like to attack the problem, not the person, so we’re a team, a family.”
Taladay said his program has been a model for others across the nation.
“We have been asked by a number of organizations throughout the Country to come and help them replicate our programming. We have been to Washington, D.C. I have won some acknowledgement for our efforts. We are pretty much a one-of-a-kind that offers all of the services together that we do. There are other programs out there that do bits and pieces, but very few do everything that we do in one place.”
The cost for the November 10th dinner/dance is $35 per person. Tickets are available at Janny’s Hallmark in Ford City. For more information, call 724-902-2565.