Donations for Veterans at Ft Lyons a Success; Storerooms Filled

Building at Fort Lyon

Lamar Lions Ken Callison and Dick Ramsay have been overwhelmed by the amount of local support and donations for the Ft. Lyon Veterans Center in Las Animas. They were recently informed that the stores are filled to capacity at the Center. “Our 24^th load went out last week,” said Ramsay, and although any future donations aren’t earmarked for the Center, any additional items dropped off at the Rodeway Cow Palace Inn, will be used to help others in need throughout the area, such as the Salvation Army.

Ken Callison and Helpers

“We started this operation last August with just an idea and a few donations,” explained Ken Callison, the other half of the team that got the donation ball rolling on behalf of the homeless and homeless veterans who came to the Ft. Lyons Center to try to get their lives turned around. Items have ranged from small furnishings to clothing, to kitchen needs or any other room for a house. “We’ve become accustomed to seeing price tags still on some of the clothing,” said Callison, “including ladies skirts or sweaters.” The Center is open to men and women who are housed at the former prison facility which was refurbished into a residential center almost two years ago for homeless people from around Colorado.

Callison and Ramsay have spearheaded the operation which transports several hundred pounds of donated items to the site once the storeroom at the Cow Palace is at full capacity. Now, it’s the Center itself that has no room due to all the donations from the past year. “We don’t plan to stop at this point, and we’ve been talking with Kiowa and Baca Counties about receiving future donations for their areas,” said Ramsay. Callison added that he has been tremendously impressed by the generosity of the people from around the Prowers County area. “People of all ages and backgrounds have been coming in all year, dropping off items that they know will be put to a good use,” added Callison.

By Russ Baldwin