Financial Plus in Ottawa supports Veterans Honor Flight – Shaw Local

The Lee County Committee of the Quad Cities Honor Flight has a thankless task to perform and is grateful for any help they can get.

On Friday, that help came from Financial Plus Credit Union.

The Ottawa-based financial institution donated $5,500 to the Quad Cities committee to fund the three Honor Flights it has planned this year for veterans in La Salle, Bureau, Lee, Ogle and Whiteside counties.

According to QC Committee member Jim Travi, this donation alone will enable ten elderly and disabled veterans from these areas to travel to Washington, DC, free of charge to personally view the memorials honoring their service in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.

“Because we are a community-based organization, we are happy to do this,” said Joe Navarro, chairman of the board of Financial Plus and La Salle County District Attorney, who himself completed an honor flight as a decorated member of the U.S. Marine Corps. “The board did not hesitate for a second in doing this. We are happy to honor our veterans.”

The Honor Flight Network, a nonprofit organization founded in 2004, is financially supported by 134 hubs across the country, including the one in the Quad Cities.

These hubs serve two purposes: to identify and register veterans who wish to participate in the flights and to raise the funds needed to finance these flights.

Since its inception in 2010, this hub in the Quad Cities alone has sent more than 6,000 veterans on such flights.

Each flight from start to finish – including flight crew, medical staff, pre-, during- and post-flight meals – costs an estimated $125,000, with the $400 cost covered by the caregivers themselves, which is considered a donation to the cause.

“Normally we have four flights with about 10 veterans. This year we have three because there are so many people wanting flights from all over,” Travi said. “We are eagerly awaiting the list of veterans who will be flying on this flight.”

Following an orientation for veterinarians, volunteer keepers and staff on October 19, the first flight, currently scheduled, will depart from Moline on October 29. The dates and times of the remaining flights are yet to be determined.

When veterans return, they are greeted at the airport not only by their loved ones, bands, flags, flowers and music. There is also a “Mail Call,” a packet of thank-you letters and cards from family, friends and school children – contacted and collected by the center – as a sign of their welcome upon their return from war.

“Veterans have told me they’ve been to Washington DC and looked at the monuments,” Mike Thier said. “But going there as part of a group of veterans is an experience I’ll never forget.”

In the meantime, the Ottawa American Legion has held numerous fundraisers of all kinds to support the cause, from bingo to auctions of Chicago Bears merchandise to quilt raffles, including Quilts of Honor.

One example is a barbecue planned for Saturday, September 28th from 11am to 6pm during the Ottawa Fall Fest, with 100% of proceeds going to Honor Flights.

“We were at McDonald’s selling cookies to raise as much as we could,” Travi said, “and this woman came up to me and gave me $2.75. She said that was all she had left and wished she could give more. That $2.75 stuck with me and means as much to me as any donation we could get because she gave everything she could.

“We gratefully accept any donation for this good cause, including this contribution from Financial Plus.”

Veterans may apply for Honor Flights by writing to the Honor Flights Committee of Lee County, PO Box 986, Dixon, IL 61021 or contacting Travi at 815-535-8047.