After her father passed away in January 2015, Candace Delis, her mother, and a few friends created the Thomas Baer Veterans Memorial Fund in April 2015.
“On July 18, 2015, the day that would have been my dad’s 75th birthday, we held our first fundraiser,” said Delis. “We raised over $10,000 at that first event. We had our second annual fundraiser in September and raised right around the same amount. Overall, in our first two years we raised around $40,000.”
Around $11,000 was raised last year, and she said this year, their fourth, they hope to raise even more to help the growing homeless veteran population and meet the increased need for assistance from area veterans. The charity partners with other organizations if unable to fulfill a need completely.
This year, the admission-free fundraiser will be held Saturday, October 13th from 4-9 p.m. at Nutz Deep II in Marshfield, and has made a few changes.
The first is the addition of the 1st annual Freedom-4-All Fitness Boot Camp starting at 9 a.m at the Marshfield armory. Veteran, author, and motivation speaker Aaron Hunnel from Fox Valley will kick off the event with a short talk, followed by the fitness portion led by Ann Dieringer of Fitness Belle and Nutz Deep II. All ages and fitness levels are welcome to try out this hour-long camp.
Cost is $20 and includes a t-shirt and two drink tickets (soda for underage). While same-day registration is available, participants are encouraged to register by October 5th to guarantee a shirt. Forms are available on the Facebook event page, the Thomas Baer website, Nutz Deep II, and Eventbrite.
The event itself will include basket raffles and many more silent auction items than previous years. Raffles include a beautiful quilt that can be viewed in advance at Marshfield Mercantile, and an autographed Brett Favre jersey.
“The winner of the raffle last year, Abeer Sher, generously donated the jersey back to the memorial,” said Delis. “The tickets are available at Fairway Mortgage in Marshfield, Bliss Spa and Salon in Nekoosa, Friendship Cafe in Friendship, and you can also request them through our Facebook page.”
Food is provided by Emerald Lane Angus of Edgar and beer from Sawmill Brewing of Merrill, with live music.
Proceeds from the event go toward the memorial fund to help many veterans with plumbing repairs, utility bills, housing and transportation costs, requisition of military paperwork, veterinary care, and other needs. Delis noted a large number of homeless veterans asking for assistance in the past year.
“We have worked with many area businesses and organizations to provide as much assistance and as many resources as possible,” she said. “Every holiday season, we hand deliver gift baskets with homemade baked goods and gift cards (and gifts for their children and pets) to about 50 veterans and their families in the area.”
Besides this event, the charity raises money by selling salsa at the Festival Foods Farmers market.
For more info, visit thomasbaerveteransmemorial.com.
