There’s a dire need for volunteers to help out at several Department of Veterans Affairs facilities in western Iowa and eastern Nebraska. Will Ackerman, spokesman for the V-A’s Nebraska-Western Iowa Health Care System, says the vital corps of hundreds of volunteers absolutely help to keep the system running.  “We’re seeing a lot of our volunteers aging and certainly some of them are retiring or even passing away,” Ackerman says. “We’re really trying to encourage people of all ages, but especially some of our younger population, to get involved.” He says volunteers are needed for a number of services throughout the V-A health care system.

“We have about 800 volunteers throughout our Nebraska/Western Iowa Health Care System,” he says. “They do so many things that we just don’t have staff to do, such as doing coffee rounds in the lobby or around the floors, we have a transportation network and just greeters at our front door.” Ackerman says it isn’t just the V-A Hospital in Omaha that needs volunteers, but there are veterans’ clinics, community living centers and other facilities in many cities around the region, including Shenandoah.

“Volunteers do a lot of very important things and certainly there’s an opportunity for them to volunteer at a location that’s even closer to where they might live,” he says. Volunteer orientation classes are being held frequently in various facilities, often twice a month. An orientation class for teens, between 13 and 18, is planned at the Omaha V-A Medical Center for June 1st. Contact your nearest V-A facility for details on volunteering opportunities.

(Matt Kelley/Radio Iowa)

A group that was formed by military wives in 2006 to help wounded soldiers is reaching out to Iowa veterans. Robin Kelleher is the president of the “Hope for Warriors” organization. She says “We have 10 different programs that begin at bedside, and so we are at the hospitals when our servicemembers come in from Iraq or Afghanistan. We work with the families on the onset of injury to sort of help alleviate some of the financial pitfalls that they may see on that path to recovery. And then later into the recovery process we offer other programs.” Kelleher talks in more detail about the organization’s programs. “Spouses scholarships, financial needs assistance grants, we have warrior’s wish program that grants wishes to severely wounded, we have a team that supports and trains our servicemembers to do athletic endeavors despite their different injuries. At the end of that cycle you would see a program called Above and Beyond,and that’s where we really work in that transition piece for them,” Kelleher says.

The group has joined in a partnership with the Casey’s Convenience store chain to help raise awareness about their programs. “We have a website that’s very comprehensive on our different programs, and that’s hope-for-the-warriors-dot-org (hopeforthewarriors.org). If you go to Casey’s this month and buy one of their large specialty pizzas, there’s a sticker on the outside of the box that gives you all of our contact information. And for every large specialty pizza they sell, they are donating one dollar to Hope for the Warriors,” Kelleher says. She says anyone who wants to help the effort can make a donation. “We have people who do beneficiary events for us allt he time from lemonade stands to putting on runs in their own community. You can certainly make a donation on-line,” Kelleher explains. “As of this weekend, if you text ‘Warriors’ to 20222, you can make a 10-dollar donation.” The organization is headquartered in North Carolina, but Kelleher says they are expand their presence across the country in states like Iowa that have soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

(Dar Danielson/Radio Iowa)

Here is the latest Iowa news from The Associated Press

The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Department is asking for the public’s help in their investigation into the theft of a motorcycle from a storage unit in Red Oak.  Deputies were called to investigate the incident Sunday, at Hawkeye Storage (2505 N. Broadway), in Red Oak.

Sondra Stogdill, of Red Oak, reported entry to the storage unit she rents, and the theft of a red, 1981 Yamaha Enduro motorcycle. The cycle was valued at $1,000. Anyone with information about the theft is asked to contact the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office at 712-623-5107, or Montgomery County Crimestoppers at 1-800-432-1001.