Tri-State Veterans standown awaits starting date

PLAINS – With three barns at the fairgrounds lined on both sides with military surplus gear, featuring everything from bed sheets, to heavy-duty sleeping bags and military boots, the Tri-State Veterans Standown is ready for kick-off.

The Standown will take place on Saturday, May 4 and Sunday, May 5 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

With over 1,400 volunteer hours already put in place, the fairgrounds are ready to see the 1,500 to 1,700 veterans expected to come to the Standown.

The event will provide veterans with free clothing, food, haircuts, chiropractic services and massages.

With close to 2.5 million dollars of supplies ready for veterans to pick up, the event gives back to those who have served our country.

Billy Hill, organizer of the Tri-State Veterans Standown, explained the veterans will line up at the fairgrounds, enter through the Administrative building where they will cycle through registration and fill out veteran information forms.

During the registration process, the veterans will be greeted by people who will evaluate them medically, for agent orange, PTS and other symptoms, collecting data, which will help the Veterans Affairs decide where to put in effort to better serve the veterans.

“It’s absolutely free to the veterans, every bit of it, 100 percent free,” said Hill.

Once the veterans go through the registration process, they will start “shopping” for gear at the first barn.

This year, the Standown will have twice as much stuff as last year’s event, dishing out extra equipment and supplies to those in attendance.

Last year, in its first year, the Standown received three semi-loads of surplus equipment while this year there were seven loads in total.

The event is put on solely by volunteers, with Hill estimating between 100 and 150 people donating their time by the end of the event.

Along with the volunteers, are donators of forklifts, which were used to help unload the trucks and sort the dozens of pallets filled to the brim with clothes, sleepwear, and t-shirts, as well as a staff of 25 security people needed to patrol the event.

Once the veterans enter the first barn, they will be provided with a duffel bag to load all of their free merchandise into. Each veteran will be helped out by a volunteer boy from Building Bridges or Explorations who will help pack their bags for them as they make their way through the three packed-full barns.

After picking up their gear, and being thanked for their service at every table they receive goods from, the veterans can pile their load of stuff onto a four-wheel gator and are driven out of the fairgrounds to their cars, where their stuff is unloaded and packed into their vehicle.

Along with the merchandise, food will be provided with a free breakfast, which will serve pancakes, sausages, spuds and French toast. At 11:00 a.m., the breakfast booth will close down and the veterans will be able to treat themselves to a lunch/dinner of spaghetti or stew, whichever fits their fancy.

Pickup trucks full of gear will be on standby to resupply items that are running low out of storage units, which are packed with more gear, helping to ensure every veteran, down to the last one, has a chance of reaping in their well deserved benefits.

Hill explained they have more gear then they anticipate needing, hopefully having leftover for next year.

“If you close by getting rid of 90 percent of (your merchandise), the last people through only have 10 percent of your stuff to shop on. That’s an injustice to them,” explained Hill. “I think if you can get rid of 60 to 70 percent, that still gives somewhat of an opportunity to your last shoppers.”

The veterans will also be offered a box of food including bread, potatoes and macaroni as well as other food, which will be donated by Costco and Wal-Mart.

The Standown is also open to widows of veterans.

“The kid of a veteran should not be cut out just because (the veteran) died. So we’re allowing the widows to come and get (supplies) for minor children,” said Hill.

Veterans interested in attending the Standown need to bring their DD-214, Discharge, VA or Military identification to prove their veteran status.

Mental health providers, employment counselors, showers and service officers for VA Claims will also be at the fairgrounds ready to aid any of the veterans.

The event is sponsored by Tri-State Veterans Standown, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Montana Food Bank network and Noxon Community Fellowship Food Bank.