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VOL. 4/ISSUE 29
THURSDAY, MAY 19, 2016
AMVETS appeals to Martin County for spare building
A prince of a guy — British royal visits vets
Patrick McCallister FOR VETERAN VOICE
pmccallister@veteranvoiceweekly.com
The AMVETS Post 92 is hoping Martin County can help it out sooner rather than later. The Jensen Beach post is paying about $60,000 a year in rent — rent that Bruce Hudson, commander, said it can’t afford. Meanwhile the county has an old fire station at 2710 N.E. Samaritan St., Jensen Beach, that’s sitting vacant. It’s one of 26 properties county staff have identified as being disposable. “It’s been abandoned for 11 years or so,” Hudson said. The post has been at 747 N.E. Dixie Highway for about five years. Hudson said rent increases — which he said are justified with improving market conditions — have made operating the post a pricey proposition that is pushing it to poverty. “We have to do something,” Hudson said. “We just don’t know how long we’ll be able to sustain this. It’s a possibility we’d have to close our doors.” Hudson said the problem isn’t growing the post. It has 210 members, not including the auxiliary and Sons of the American Legion. New members have been coming in. The conundrum comes down to commercial properties in Jensen Beach being pricey. The post doesn’t have the option to relocates to less expensive areas. It’s chartered to serve Jensen, and there’s where the members live. “We’ve looked, in the past couple years, we’ve looked at a lot of different scenarios,” Hudson said. Of course a post can’t just pull up stakes and move operations. There’re issues with space and
See AMVET page 7
Photo by E. Joseph Hersom Prince Harry congratulates U.S. Invictus team basketball captain and retired U.S. Marine Corps Sgt. Anthony McDaniel on winning a gold medal in the 2016 Invictus Games in Orlando May 12. See story on page 4.
Veteran gives voice to children Shelley Koppel FOR VETERAN VOICE
info@veteranvoiceweekly.com
Sharon White recently retired from the military after 33 years. She began her service career in communications and ended as a first sergeant. She saw her role as a mentor to those she led. “I was a mentor and a trainer and I’d tried to lead them in the right direction to where they wanted to go,” she said. When she retired, White wanted to give back. She works with the elderly, doing home health care and found a brochure for the Guardian ad Litem program. The program trains volunteers to represent the
best interest of children who have been abused or mistreated. “I thought that was something I’d love to do, to be a voice for a child,” she said. “I can’t save them all, but if I can save one, it will make a difference in me.” White entered the training program to prepare her to go into the field. There was some time in the classroom and some work online over a two month period. She also had to pass a background check before she could be certified and she had to sit in on a courtroom session to get an idea of what she would need to do when she had to go to court for periodic judicial review of
See WHITE page 7