Greetings fellow Oak Lawnians and Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to you! Enjoy all the festivities, have fun and be safe tomorrow.
Johnson Phelps VFW Auxiliary Post 5220, 9514 S. 52nd Ave., Oak Lawn, recently held a fundraiser to benefit thisAbleVeteran.org, a service dog organization benefiting veterans who suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder. Each service dog is trained to assist its veteran partner with anxiety alerts, depression and other stressors associated with PTSD, as well as with the healing process.
Sue Opila is president of the auxiliary and has been a member of Post 5220 since 1984. Opila said the auxiliary wanted to do something different for the “Project Able” fundraiser so, she thought a Paint-N-Party would be a great way to raise funds for such a worthy cause.
Training PTSD service dogs is expensive, Opila said.
“It costs about $25,000-$30,000 to train a dog for each veteran,” she said. “Project Able selects a dog for a vet based on the vet’s needs. The dog and the vet are both trained extensively over three weeks. The vet learns to allow the dog to help him and the dog learns how to react to a vet’s anxiety levels and they become companions.”
Deb LoPresti is the owner of Paint-N-Party. She hosts the painting parties at different venues and brings all the supplies needed for attendees to paint a 16″ x 20″ canvas. During each party, she offers instructions on how to paint a selected painting and, by the end of the evening, the customer goes home with their own acrylic work of art.
The parties usually last about two and a half hours. LoPresti charges $25 per person. She hosts private parties in homes, as well as local venues, such as VFW Post 5220, and in the surrounding communities of Monee, Manteno, Peotone, Beecher, Schererville and other areas.
LoPresti said she came to know Opila because “Sue had been to quite a few of my parties. I do parties about once a month at the Post.”
“I’d been to about six of her parties,” Opila said. “We approached Debra, spoke with her about the fundraiser, and she was glad to help. At our next auxiliary meeting, we brought the idea to our members and everybody thought it was a fantastic idea and something new.”
Opila said the fundraiser was promoted “in our monthly newsletter, on Facebook, Twitter, we hung fliers up in grocery stores and we had people signed up right away. We had 40 people. We had some ladies from Crete, some veterans and five men. It was a good turnout for our first time. We supplied snacks and finger food and everyone had such a good time.”
The Auxiliary raised $640 for Project Able from the painting party. Opila said “the money went strictly to disabled veterans to provide individually trained service dogs for veterans who suffer from PTSD.”
LoPresti will host another Paint-N-Party at the Post at 6:30 p.m. March 22. To register or, for more information on Paint-N-Party, visitwww.paintnpartyillinois.com. For information on This Able Veteran, visit its website at www.thisableveteran.org. For information on the Auxiliary or upcoming events at the Post, visit www.oaklawnvfw5220.com.
Here’s our celebrity announcements: Brooke Arundel’s family and Raven send her their love on her 14th birthday. Happy 16th birthday to Nicolas Szambelan, and to his sister, Brianna, who’s turning 18, from their parents, Carrie and Tony. Happy 17th birthday to Mallory Byrd and to her mom, Melissa, from their great-uncle Rob Turek, Brandy and Nemo. Happy 20th birthday to Frank Murray, from his family and Bailey. Happy birthday to Debbie Paluch, from her sons, granddaughters and family. Birthday wishes go out to Eddie Brooks, from his family and Meaner. St. Patrick’s Day birthday wishes go out to Brian Feerick, from Carrie and Tulley.
Wedding anniversary wishes go out to Jose and Aimee Gomez on their 1st anniversary, with love, from their family.
Keep your fellow Oak Lawnians informed about birthdays, special events or special “stuff” going on with your family or within the community. Call me at 708- 899-9544 or e-mail me at cjpetzel@sbcglobal.net.
Until next time…
Cheryl Petzel is a freelance columnist.
