The Mid-Dakota Chapter of the American Red Cross held a toiletries for veterans give-away on March 8-9 at the Veterans Center in Minot. The Exchange Club and Veterans Center joined in the efforts to coordinate the event as well as collecting toiletries.
During the two-day give-away, 86 veterans attended the event and 75 toiletry bags were given away. Members of the community doing drives within their work organizations or schools, as well as Wal-Mart, CVS Pharmacy, Kmart, Rebel 1 Stop, White Drug, Dakota Dental and Thrifty Drug all made this event possible. Nearly $2,000 worth of items were donated.
"We did not anticipate such a great turn-out for this event. We only had 50 bags ready for the give-away and at the end of the day on Tuesday we had given out 44 of those bags," said Susan Ewert, Emergency Services coordinator at the Mid-Dakota Chapter. "We had great support from Wal-Mart, which donated toiletry items at the last minute on Tuesday evening, so that we were able to have 32 more bags filled and ready to be given out by Wednesday morning."
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Submitted Photo - - The positive response to the first day of the toiletries giveaway project for area veterans caught the Mid-Dakota American Red Cross a little short. Fortunately, they received an equally strong response from area businesses and put additional bags together by the second day, handing out some 75 altogether.
Red Cross volunteer services to U.S. veterans date back to World War I and are consistent with the mission of its congressional charter. Today, the Red Cross is proud to maintain its commitment to the men and women who have served in the U.S. Armed Forces.
For more information contact the American Red Cross in Minot at 852-2828 or toll-free at 1-800-323-3179.