Cape Cod has several veterans’ organizations, but there is one that may not be so visible. Its members go about quietly providing veterans with services that government benefits don’t cover. They have provided everything from grocery gift cards, air conditioners, wheelchairs, car tires and a used car, to adapting a home for a disabled veteran and rehabbing an entire house.
They are the Cape Cod Veterans Inc. based in Dennis Port. This group of about 25 active volunteers has been helping other veterans, first out of their own pockets since 2001. They decided to form a more visible organization in 2011 and incorporated as a 501C3 public charity, founder and former president Richard Riehle said.
Riehle, current president Richie Sayers and future president Paul Glynn, are all Vietnam veterans.
“We weren’t treated too well when we came back. We don’t want that to happen again,” Riehle said. “We do things people will never know about. We pride ourselves in the veterans we help.” Glynn added, “We are fortunate we are in a position to help.”
Despite their small number they know how to find and recruit numerous individuals and businesses to help fulfill the needs.
“People come to us because we have wide tentacles,” Riehle said. The group has managed to acquire tens of thousands of dollars in donations of money, goods, services and labor across the Cape. They serve veterans from Falmouth to Provincetown, but they also raised $33,000 at one event for the Walter Reed Society. They also visit the injury wards at Walter Reed Military Medical Center and provide a catered dinner for active duty military and their families there.
“It all comes down to people willing to work and give up their time,” Riehle said.
“We try to get immediate help for the veterans within hours.” And they mean it – like getting an air conditioner for a 92-year-old World War II veterans, who was ill and suffering from the heat in July. They got 14 immediate responses from an e-mail and within four hours had installed an air-conditioner.
The veterans also got an air conditioner for Brewster woman, a disabled veteran paratrooper who fought in Iraq, who had two small children and only a small fan.
The organization has partnered with the County Sheriff’s Department, which provided inmates to do extensive repairs on an elderly veterans’ home. The members provided the meals for the workers. All the homeowner had was an old comic book, which he gave them and someone paid $1,000 for it at an auction the organization held. The veterans group gave the money to the man and they got the bank to reinstate his home insurance.
Sayers told how he noticed an abandoned car on his daily walk and asked the owner if his group could have it. They had it towed to Town Auto, which fixed it and cleaned it for no charge except for the car inspection as it has done for other repairs.
The organization has several fundraising events each year at the Irish Village in Yarmouth, including the upcoming annual Veterans Day music event from 2 to 6 p.m. on Nov. 13, featuring several local musicians. The members host a chili fest in the spring and a chicken wing contest in September. An annual golf tournament started by the late Kenny McGilray, a former group member, singer and former policeman, will now raise the funds for a scholarship in his name for a student pursuing a music or public service career.
One of the Cape Cod Veterans’ biggest projects was raising $60,000 to adapt the Hyannis home of Vincent Mannion-Brodeur, who sustained a serious brain injury from an explosion while serving with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division in Iraq. His home needed to be adapted for his disabilities, something the Veterans Administration does not cover. Mannion-Brodeur’s father asked the group for help and they obtained contractors to do the work as well as get all materials donated.
“It’s a tribute to the businesses in Dennis and Yarmouth who give,” Paul Glynn of the Veterans said. He and the other leaders raved about the generosity of Cape Cod residents and businesses.
The organization’s members, who are not all veterans, also reach beyond veterans into the community. They restored Merrill Park in West Dennis with a new walkway and plantings. They clean up Mayflower Beach in Dennis every year. They donate to the Dennis Library and the Yarmouth Food Pantry and host a Christmas party at Eagle Pond rehabilitation center in Dennis.
They gave travel money to a Navy Veteran mom whose daughter needed special medical help in Texas. The woman wrote a beautiful letter of thanks, reporting how her daughter had improved considerably because of the help. The group has a thick scrapbook filled with such letters.
The group also helps veterans connect to other agencies that provide services on the Cape, including the Veterans Administration in Hyannis and the Counseling and Readjustment Center on West Main Street in Hyannis.
Sayers noted that the veterans’ organizations sometimes compete with each other. “We should all be working together,” he said.
Sayers said some Massachusetts veterans are not aware of a Welcome Home Bonus of $1,000 for six months’ deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan and $500 for those serving stateside or in non-hostile areas. The group also has helped military widows get benefits for which they qualify. As part of Hire Vets 2016, the Cape Cod Veterans will host an information session and workshop at Career Opportunities in Hyannis on Nov.17.
Learn more
Cape Cod Veterans Inc. is open to anyone who wants to help veterans. They meet on the first Tuesday of the month at local restaurants.
For more information visit: www.capecodveterans.org
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