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Madison County Veterans Committee cut the ribbon to their new home

Richmond Register - 5/25/2021

May 25—After a year of waiting, the Madison County Veterans Committee officially cut the ribbon on their new building on Saturday.

Before group relocated into the building located at 1215 W. Main Street, the organization was working out of the old armory building.

Richmond City Commissioner Ed McDaniel, who is a veteran, said the old armory building was in rough shape.

According to McDaniel, the building had a leaking roof in addition to other issues, so the commissioner said he took it upon himself to help find the organization a better place.

"It's one of those things where I said, 'Okay, I'm a veteran. I've got to take it upon myself to get these veterans in a better home,'" McDaniel said.

It just so happened, at the time in 2019, the city was in the process of buying a new senior citizen's building, and the old building was going to be available. McDaniel said he mentioned the new property to Mike Boyd, Madison County Veterans Chairman, and he and the chairmen decided the building "fit the bill."

"This is the first decent building we've had since I have been here," Boyd said.

The organization plans to use its new home to help the veterans of Madison County as much as they can.

Boyd said the building would have veteran's benefit service officers in the building on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. They will be able to help the veterans of Madison County and surrounding areas deal with benefit questions. There will also be different organizations such as the Disabled American Veterans (DAV), Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), and more who will be working out of the building.

The group also does things around Madison County, such as placing flags on veteran's graves every year, and the honor guard who participates in anywhere from 50 to 80 funerals a year.

Not only did the organization host a ribbon-cutting, but they also had a Blue Star Memorial By-way Dedication as well as an open house with vendors who were geared towards information on veterans outreach.

Richmond city commissioners, Mayor Robert Blythe, representatives from Richmond and Berea, Congressman Andy Barr, state representative Deanna Frazier and more were attendance on Saturday.

"Beautiful day for the Madison County Veterans ribbon cutting for their new building. Amazing to see so many volunteers make this a special day for our veterans," Congressman Andy Barr said.

As the flag was raised outside of the building, the Madison County Veterans Committee was ready to get to work.

"It's an official kind of decree for the military when you raise that flag — it's business on," McDaniel said.

The organization has big plans for an already busy year. They will be placing flags on veteran's graves on May 26 at 5 p.m. at the Madison County Memorial Gardens cemetery. They will also be hosting a Memorial Day service at the Richmond Cemetery at 10 a.m. and Memorial Gardens at 1 p.m. on May 31.

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