Slawik: Supporting our Veterans

On Friday, Nov. 11, we celebrate Veterans Day. All of us know at least one veteran, whether it’s the parent or grandparent who served in World War II, the brother who served in Vietnam, or the former classmate currently serving in Afghanistan, and they deserve our utmost thanks and appreciation. As a daughter of a World War II veteran, I am aware of the sacrifices and struggles facing our military members and their families.

Our most recent military men and women are still serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. As of last month, the War in Afghanistan has been going on for more than 10 years, making it the longest war in our country’s history. The veterans coming home from these wars are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, terrible injuries and high unemployment. We can and we must do better for these veterans.

I’ve long been a supporter of “Beyond the Yellow Ribbon" program that creates awareness for the purpose of connecting service members and their families with community support, training, services and resources. Most recently, I was part of the Oakdale “Beyond the Yellow Ribbon” kick-off in September. Under the leadership of Marc Cove from Platinum Bank, members of the military, community leaders, business people, government agency personnel, school staff and a variety of Oakdale residents gathered to start to plan a BYR Collaborative. 

The group will focus on four major initiatives including a business services management team to help families needing financial services; “Fun2Night” events which provide a night out for military parent with child care provided; Arrow Forces who will help military families with tasks like snow shoveling and grass cutting while the deployed are away, and Deployed to Employed which will help returning vets tune up their resumes and find good jobs. More information on the “Beyond the Yellow Ribbon” program can be found at www.btyr.org.

Another project I’ve continually supported for our veterans is the Oakdale Veterans Memorial. The proposed memorial would be placed next to City Hall, and would honor members from all branches of the military and provide visitors with a place of quiet solitude and reflection. At this point the project has been funded solely through private donations. I’m proud to be the chief author of the bill to provide the project with state bonding money, and while we haven’t been successful in obtaining the funding yet, I will continue to work for it during the next session.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank Oscar Binder, the owner of the new McDonald’s that opened in Oakdale in August. Oscar and the new McDonald’s made a generous donation to the Oakdale Veterans Memorial fund. For more information on the memorial, please visit the City of Oakdale website at www.ci.oakdale.mn.us/.  

It’s said time and time again that we owe our veterans everything—and it’s true. From this generation of veterans, to the generations long before our time, our veterans have kept us safe, preserved democracy, and defeated some of the greatest evil the world has ever known. Please take some time to honor our veterans on Nov. 11.

Thank you again for the honor of continuing to serve you in the legislature.

Nora Slawik
State Representative
District 55B
(651) 296-7807
rep.nora.slawik@house.mn