STONE HARBOR – Disabled American Veterans (DAV) Chapter 44 in Del Haven provides transportation to medical appointments for any veteran in Cape May County.
Frank Trasatti, the transportation coordinator for the DAV and nine other volunteers, use three vans to take veterans to U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs facilities in Wilmington, Del. and Philadelphia, as well as to local clinics and approved local doctors.
The corporate sponsor that helped Chapter 44 meet its annual insurance bill for the van service could not continue that aid in 2018. That left the DAV with a hole in its finances and endangered the chapter’s ability to sustain the free service.
The Herald published an article on the DAV’s need for new support. The article appeared Aug. 1, and by Aug. 13, American Legion Post 331 in Stone Harbor donated $1,000 toward the $5,800 needed to cover the insurance.
A GoFundMe page was also established by Middle Township Committee Member Timothy Donohue to help raise funds for the insurance.
Post 331 Commander Tom McCullough said that his members saw the article and “immediately wanted to help.”
Over 2,000 veterans have been transported in the past few years, with a number of them depending on the service to get to Veterans Affairs facilities that are located long distances from the county.
DAV Chapter 44, the county’s only DAV chapter in the county, spends about $10,000 a year on insurance, maintenance and fuel for the vans, according to its Commander Robert McGeehan.
“The last few years have been difficult,” McGeehan said. “There are more organizations out there doing things for veterans,” he said, making it harder for each organization to get sufficient donations.
The chapter has a canteen. The proceeds from that operation fund many of the chapter’s programs for veterans. Even the canteen faces new competition.
The proliferation of breweries and other establishments where liquor can be sold has cut into the canteen’s revenues.
The van service is only one of the programs the DAV runs to help county veterans. The organization provides electric wheelchairs and walkers when it can. Further, it helps veterans build ramps into homes, and contributes toward utility bills when a veteran is in tough times.
Each Thanksgiving, a group of Coast Guard recruits from the Cape May Training Center are taken to the DAV’s building in Del Haven and treated to a holiday meal.
The van service is busiest Monday through Thursday.
Trasatti said he tries to schedule his volunteers each Friday for the coming week. While being interviewed, his cell phone rang with another call from a veteran in need of transportation.
McCullough said his members very much wanted to support the DAV service. “That’s what we are here for,” he said.
To contact Vince Conti, email vconti@cmcherald.com.
Cape May – Governor Murphy says he doesn't know anything about the drones and doesn't know what they are doing but he does know that they are not dangerous. Does anyone feel better now?
