Mike Gibbs and Fred Greiner, Boone Area Veterans Center, October 9, 2026

We are going to take some time and visit about, uh, the Boone area veteran center. Got to make sure everybody's headsets are working. Can y'all here? Okay. Yes. You got knobs and everything down there if you have to, but joined by Mike Gibbs and Fred Griner. It's been, uh, been a little while since, uh, we had an opportunity to talk about what's going on, but guys keep moving forward with it. And, um, I think, uh, probably the big thing is, is how, how has fundraising been going? That's the big one you got to keep tabs on. Well, uh, fundraising's been going great, Jim. Uh, we're very excited. We just reached the $2 million level for fundraising, which was our first goal and we feel really good that we're able to do that. You know, just in about a year after starting the fundraising and our next goal now is to get to three million. So we can start playing for a lot of state grants and other grants that are available. I think Fred, one of the first things I did, people say something or if they ask me, I'm going, you guys have decided that you need to be about five million is the estimate on the project roughly at this time. We'll say, yes, it is. And we have the plans are 50% complete. It's, um, at the stage where contractors can now take a look at it and do their bidding, whether it's HVAC, um, electrical, IT, um, technology, whatever it may be, they can now take a look at it and, uh, give some idea of what the cost will be. But, uh, the goal of five million is what we're trying to reach. We just don't want to have any debt when we start, uh, after construct. That's the one thing I keep saying is, uh, what you have this goal and that, we want to have pretty secure because you don't want to have anything left over. You want to make sure that, or you could leave things leftover for building maintenance and things like that. I, if there, if you have some carryover, but right now the big thing is, yeah, just trying to, trying to get to that point. So three million kind of magic number. Is that, uh, that opens up grants and things like that. Is that kind of what you're looking at? Yeah. Right. At about three million dollars, uh, we can start applying for some grants with the state. Um, one grant will pay up to 15% of the project at a maximum. You know, it's of course their decision where they're at. And, uh, there's some federal grants out there that we're looking at. Um, the DAB has a grant. There's just several grants out there, but they all seem to be about the 60 to 65% of the project level. So yeah, that gives you kind of that rough spot. We need to get to this. Then we start to become eligible for these things and, and then can go go ahead and submit grants. You've got some people that can write some pretty good grant applications. I think there's a few veterans that have done that a few times out there. So, yes. So there are people out there that are very capable of writing those grants. So just getting to the three million is that next big goal. Uh, this past summer has been quite busy in fundraising. We had a golf tournament scheduled in July, but it was canceled three times because of the rain or twice because of the rain. Finally, the third time at work, but that, uh, golf tournament raised about $14,000. And then the rotary club came to us and when rag bri was coming through town, they wanted to, um, you know, free will donation for sliced watermelon. So Dave cook, uh, lives right on story street. That helped out immensely. Yes, it did. And a lot of the writers stopped by. There was free will donation, but it was also a campaign to raise some money. And from our understanding, we haven't received the final total yet, but it's over $30,000 that was raised on that one day alone. So that is absolutely tremendous. But the organizations throughout the city of Boone County have been very helpful in helping us raise this money. You have had, uh, I mean, there have been a couple of other things that have, uh, somebody would do something and then proceeds to go to the Boone Area Veterans Center. And, uh, again, to help with that way, any kind of funding for that, that, that's much appreciated. Very much so they've, uh, some have taken it upon themselves to do it, but need to let us know about it if they're going to do it. But a few, uh, people have had memorials for their, uh, sibling or family member that passed away, uh, has gone to the Boone Area Veterans Center. And we appreciate any and all donations like that. This is the time of the year when I start to say for people, if you're thinking about your, what you're going to do for taxes into the year, that sort of thing. And you, you'd want to do some smart giving. This is one of those things where you can take a look at it because there are some benefits. Yes. And we can do a qualified charitable distribution at QCD. We also can do a DAF donor advisor fund. So we've had several of those. We can pretty much make anything work. And if someone wants to pledge, uh, we can set it up for over three years and we can do it quarterly, automatic ACH debit from their checking or account. We can do most anything and it's well tracked. We have an accountant that is tracking everything. And they'll also get reminder letters when it's time to send the pledge in. Yeah. The, uh, the website does have an easy way, very easy way I'm thinking for people. If they just want to just make a donation or if they've done some, you know, done some fundraising and then decided they would like to just make the donation to the, to the project. Yeah. It's a bavc.us. It's like you said, very easy site to use. And we, we've been getting people going in there making donations, which is awesome. And of course they have options, you know, to do it up front, do it over three years, different options of, you know, how they want to pay. Yeah. It's very easy to do. And it's been working well. We've had quite a few people go on the bavc.us website. Do you still run into people are going? So what is this bavc? I mean, I honestly, almost weekly, it seems like I run into people that have not heard about it. And, uh, it just, it kind of baffles me a little bit, but, but I understand it too. You know, it's just hard to get the word out to everybody. What, you know, what we're trying to do with this project. And, and basically they'll go by and go, well, what's happening here? You know, it might have been two years since they last heard about it. And they kind of tend to forget a little bit sometimes too. But, uh, still got the site, still got the things up. And so people can see it. Yes. It's there. Just mowing the grass and Mike's been our person doing that. Is what really looks nice, but we'd rather be building something. Sure. But just about a month ago, we met with a former Chinese ambassador, China ambassador, Terry Brand, stand along with retired army, National Guard General, Tim Moore. Okay. And they gave us a lot of good insights and other contacts that we can reach out to for a possible donation. So they, they've been a help. And we're going to continue to reach out and contact companies that are involved either with the local National Guard out here or other companies that we feel will support this project. And we still have a lot of activity that's going on the airport with the guard that they, for those that aren't aware, they have decided they are going to kind of increase their space out there. So that is a project that's going to be coming up to in the community that you're all of a sudden going to wonder what's happening out there at the airport. No, it's, it's a good thing for Boone that they're here and they're going to be expanding. But it's those younger veterans and families that we're also trying to attract and join either the VFW American Legion Marine Corps League and to bring those families in. It's different today than it was after World War One, World War Two and Korea. But just attracting those veterans and their families. And this facility will be open to the public, but all the meetings for the different organizations will be conducted there. Along with, there'll be a lot of dinners and other

Well, it's going to be like an open restaurant opportunity for everybody. Yes, it will be. Next week on Friday, we're taking a bus trip. Chad Hausen with Croc Plumbing and Heating is kind of arranged that, but we're going to go up to Waverly and take quite a few folks up and kind of show them what it's all about. People have asked questions. They don't quite understand it. They can't vision it. So we're taking a bus trip, which we think will be very helpful. So you've seen it. So you know. Yeah, since yeah, we've been up there more than I have, but we've both been up there several several times. And yeah, it will fit really. I'm thinking with the new parking and stuff back behind Hausen's location down there, Croc Plumbing. That really opens up that area down there for. Yes, it really does. So we just think if we can get people to see what this is all about, it'll be a big help. And still work off whatever the back of the livery is going to be doing too. It's going to be kind of one of those prime prime spots sitting there too. The and I did say, you know, that I know people are still not quite aware of everything. Going to the website, you can see a lot of information about what's happening, right? Yeah, we've really tried to concentrate, get more information out on the website. We realized, you know, when we first created that, we weren't get a lot of information on it, but we've really been working hard to try to get information out there, show appreciation to those that have already given us donations. You know, we did a check presentation yesterday with members community or credit union. We've got a couple more coming up with, you know, some local banks and we just want to get the word out and let people know that we're still moving on. Now, do you have some other fundraising activity that's coming up because the golf was one. I know it seemed like every time I turned around, I got delayed from rain, but everything was getting delayed by rain. Yeah, we currently have a gun raffle going on. We're going to give away 12 guns. All the guns were donated by sponsors, you know, paid for the guns. So 100% of what we raise on that gun raffle will go to the BABC. We do have some folks this weekend out at the gun show that'll be selling tickets tickets. They're $25 a piece or five for $100. We'll start that in December. We'll give away a gun every day for 12 days. Okay. And that's so that's one that's going on. Well, I know it's the next year, obviously. Oh, there will be other and there'll be another golf tournament, I'm sure. But people have asked, how are you going to sustain this? And I guess I can explain it by, for instance, the American Legion has bingo every Thursday night. Sure. And they have donated the proceeds from the bingo several times they have done that. It's several thousands of dollars that they've already given to the BABC. And that will continue to happen once we have a building each organization will be because they don't have a building to maintain anymore. Yeah, they'll still have their bingo will be held at. Yeah, the bingo will be held at the new facility. And they can, you know, continue each organization will donate a portion of the money they're raising to sustain the facility. And also the BABC itself will have functions, dinners, and it could be a cornhole tournament, for instance, they've talked about esports, gaming, having a setup for that. So we'll be, we'll be able to do that with the technology we're going to have installed. Okay. So it'll, it'll be a constant, but we really feel it'll, it'll work here in Boone. Once again, we're talking about the Boone Area Veterans Center and fundraising opportunities for that. So we've hit, like you said, gone past the 2 million mark. The goal really get to three, which then opens up some other avenues for potential funding grants and things like that. Once, once you can show you've got a certain level of funding established, then it's a little easier to secure these grants and things. And, and they're out there too, still looking corporate sponsors too? Oh, yes, we'll still be calling on corporations. Again, some of them, we don't know who they are at this time, even, but we'll continue. We have a meeting, the large gift committee meets once a month, and we have different assignments for each individual on that committee to make that contact. And that's been going on for over a year, and that'll continue. As we reach all of maybe Boone County, we may reach beyond Boone County. For instance, the VFW has closed over in Ames, Iowa, and we picked up members here to our local VFW. And there's potential that some, there may be some, some over there with connections that will come here. I know that, and that's one thing too, we want to point out. It is for the county. Yeah, that's correct. That's, yeah, Boone area. So, you know, even outside the county, if people want to come use a facility, obviously, you know, it'll be available. But yeah, we want to include the entire county, you know, different organizations. It's not just Boone. And at the, at the same time, folks, they still are maintaining the older buildings. We still, still have that going on. We had the wall issue. Yeah, at least it's still there. It is. And Franklin Masonry came and helped us out and shored that wall back up. And, you know, it was, it was a $30,000 payment that we weren't looking forward to do, and we weren't planning on. So, it's just continuing things like that. And Legion Cabin has its issues, you know, and we have to spend money to maintain that as well. So, our facilities are older. Yeah. And that's part of the reason for combining not only the declining number of veterans, but the age of the buildings that we're in. And going back to Waverly, we spoke with them a couple months ago, and they were booked all the way through December every weekend for their large venue, whether it was for weddings, receptions of some type, or some other event, dinner, whatever it may be. So, the county, they really support it. And we feel we can do that here, but we're not going to be like them. We're going to do our own thing that works for Boone County. We do what's suitable for Boone County and do that. And again, very easy to, yes, be able to, with what you would have there, potentially with the food and beverages and everything. Yeah, you could do a, you could have the whole works inside. Yeah. So, it's exciting just to be able to, to me, do it in downtown Boone and take an area that had some buildings that needed to be demolished and were. Yeah. So, we're just looking forward to having a new facility on that site. All right. www.vavc.org.us. If you go to the website and if you need somebody to help you get there, find somebody. Just tell them you want to find out more about the Veterans Center. That's an easy way to do it. Do you do some Facebook too? Yes, we're also on Facebook. Again, we try to post a lot of things on Facebook. Okay. Yeah, that's been pretty popular. And our, our big fundraising one right now is a gun raffle. So, that's the one that'll be coming up here. Tickets available. Tickets. Yeah. And we'll, the giveaway will be December, in December 12th, I believe the first part of December. We'll, we'll drop live on Facebook every day at four o'clock, you know, today's winner and, you know, a couple people won two guns last, last time. So, yeah. But you can't win without a ticket. That is correct. That's right. Yep. And we'll have people at the gun show this weekend out the fairgrounds selling tickets and that's also on our website too and online, you know, how to get tickets. All right. So, available there too. I think the big thing is, yep, over two million, right? Like you said, just really over a year, that's pretty, pretty impressive. Pretty amazing. The people of Boone and Boone County have always been very supportive of veterans, but to reach this level in a little over a year is really great. So, we're happy about that, but we're, we've got, we know we have our work cut out to continue to raise, to get to the three million and then eventually be able to start the project. And mine is, big one is, I'm waiting for ribbon cutting. So, there you go. We all are. Let's make it sooner than later. Absolutely. We'll keep doing what we can too. I do appreciate you taking time coming in and getting us updated on what's happening and how things are progressing again. Folks, pay attention to what's going on and like I said this time of the year, if you're thinking about what am I going to do? Where am I going to make donations? What am I going to do? Smart giving is a great way to do it and check out what you might do with a Boone Area Veterans Center. And one other thing we coordinated, well, Fred actually did out with Landis for a grain donation. So, that's an option as well as we get into the harvest that, you know, if it ever stops raining, they get in the field and yeah. So, you know, we've coordinated with Landis. There's an opportunity to make donations, you know, through your grain. You can do it that way as well too. So, a lot of ways to help support the effort to the Boone Area Veterans Center. And once again, looking forward to getting it done. Check out the online or follow along on Facebook and get a raffle ticket for the guns too. Thanks, Jim. Thanks so much for joining us. You bet. Thank you, Jim.