For the third straight year, Lake Geneva Middle School supports the VetsRoll program with a donation and written letters.
VetsRoll is a Beloit-based nonprofit that takes more than 200 World War II, Korean War Veterans and “Rosie-the-Riveters” on a four-day road-trip to Washington, D.C.
The trip begins each year on Sunday. The first stop is at the National Museum at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton, OH for a tour and dinner. On Monday, Vets enjoy a beautiful afternoon drive in West Virginia. By Tuesday, they arrive in Washington, DC and spend the day touring the major memorials including, the Iwo Jima U.S. Marines Memorial, the World War II Memorial, and the Vietnam Memorial, and the Arlington Memorial Cemetery. On Wednesday, the group makes the journey back to Wisconsin and arrives in Beloit around 10:00 p.m. for a welcome back celebration, said Deb Kolanda, a VetsRoll volunteer.
On April 6, Kolanda visited Lake Geneva Middle School and gave a presentation about the Vets Roll program to the entire sixth grade.
According to Kolanda, there is no out of pocket cost for the Veterans to participate in VetsRoll and the program is supported by donations. It costs about $500 for each veteran who participates.
This year on April 5, 2018, Lake Geneva Middle School launched an internal donation effort to support VetsRoll called “One Night, One Dollar, One Vet.” The goal of the program was to raise $500, the amount needed to send one veteran on the trip in one night by having students throughout the school each bring one dollar to school on April 6, 2018.
The student’s efforts were a success. In one night, the students along with a donation by Nick Nottestad which was raised at the annual Duffy’s Fishing Derby in Lake
Geneva, raised a total of $1,100 for the VetsRoll.
In addition to the donation, the sixth-grade students are all writing letters which will be distributed to veterans participating in this year’s program.
For more information about VetsRoll, visit www.vetsroll.org/
VetsRoll Volunteer, Deb Kolanda, takes a selfie with Lake Geneva Middle School 6th Grade students to show this year’s veterans on the bus ride, who helped support them with fundraising.