Post donates bus for veterans

Amvets Post 66 in Wheeling has been active in charitable efforts toward veterans.

Post Commander Tony Altieri said it doles out about $70,000 each year.

In the past, it has reached to the VA Medical Center in North Chicago, helping provide things like DVD/VHS players, a computer for the ICU unit and assisting in funding for a miniature golf course. It is also active on a monthly basis, hosting bingo, ice cream social and cookout events.

This week, it gave in a big way, helping to get a bus for handicapped veterans.

The bus was bought with a $70,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs.

Altieri said that prior to receiving the bus, the medical center had to rent a bus for events like dinners and ballgames.

Altieri said his post had originally approved $80,000 for the bus and even put up a $10,000 deposit. But that was before Altieri hooked up with Tammy Duckworth, director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs. She helped arrange the grant.

"Talk about a fluke," Altieri said. "A very beneficial fluke. I just couldn't believe it."

Instead of using the post's money for the bus, it used some of the funds to donate TV sets to the medical center.