Woodmen Life, Arts Council Fund Memorial Wall Repairs

L-R: Bennie Durbin, Jack Hasty, (DAV) Hank Vincent (Woodmen Life), Ricky Skaggs, Jamie Carnes, (Arts Council).

Darren Doyle, story and photos:
Two organizations have come together to solve what could have been a devastating problem.

According to DAV Chapter 32 member Jack Hasty, the Wiley Willis Memorial Veterans Wall had begun to show evidence of water penetrating its foundation, which had caused issues with the individual bricks. The labor and materials necessary to repair the problem and keep it from happening again was around $3100, Hasty said, which the local DAV covered. The local DAV and DAV Auxiliary volunteer to maintain the wall and surrounding area.

Local representatives from Woodmen Life wanted to assist, and through the help of the different county entities, a way was found a way to cover the costs. 

"Woodmen Life has a foundation that makes grants or benefits available to 501 C3 organizations around the country and it was brought to our attention at one of our meetings here a couple months ago that the wall was needing to be repaired, and some funds were needed to be made available for that," said David Brown, representative of Woodmen Life at a check presentation today at the site of the memorial.

The organization could only make the donation to a 501C3 nonprofit, which was a different type of nonprofit than the local DAV. After a few phone calls, The Edmonson County Arts Council was able to accept the donation on the DAV's behalf. 

"The Edmonson County Arts Council has agreed to allow us to use them as a conduit to get the money to the DAV, where we could help finance repairing this wall," Brown said. I know the work's been done, and it looks really good to me, and I'm happy for you guys to get it fixed and happy for the memory of those that have served, that names are on the wall.

David Brown, representative of Woodmen Life.

Ricky Skaggs, President of the Arts Council, said it was a great opportunity for them not only to help by serving as a pass-through to the DAV, but also by a future commitment to help this same cause.

"We're happy to be able to get these funds directly to the DAV for the repairs that were necessary to the memorial wall, but we've also committed to donating the rest of the money after our next dinner theater," he said.

The Arts Council donates their profits to local causes as well as continue to provide scholarships to ECHS students.

Brown said the Woodmen Life Outreach Foundation is a private foundation focused on promoting family, community, and country by providing financial support to charities addressing the following areas, hunger, food insecurity, disaster relief, and assistance, patriotism, support of country, including the presentation of U.S. flags, community, and family engagement, relationships, and well being.

Hasty said all the necessary repairs have been recently properly completed and should keep problems from arising in the future. Skaggs said the Arts Council was getting the funds to the DAV as soon as today.

Several local Woodmen Life representatives attended today's check presentation along with DAV and DAV Auxiliary members, and Arts Council personnel .