Packer Tailgate Party supports soldiers

The 19th annual Melvin Wester American Legion Post 412 Packer Tailgate Party presented $6,000 in donations to organizations supporting veterans and active duty service members last month at Five Pillars Supper Club. From left were Post Commander Mark Thiele, Dan Toomey of USO of Wisconsin, Wade Roberts of the Fisher House at the Milwaukee Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Patricia Clason of the Starfish Foundation, Maggie Robertson of Heaven’s Gait Ranch, Graham Knowlton, suicide prevention manager for the Clement Zablocki VA Medical Center, and Bill May, the Legion Post’s finance officer. Four checks were for $1,000 with $2,000 going to veterans’ suicide prevention, the post’s annual Sprader-Shaw donation in honor of two area families who lost their sons after their Gulf War experience.          Photo by Sam Arendt