Central Illinois Gold Star Families receives $2,500 donation

Posted on June 11, 2015
Extreme Motors general manager Mike Cervini presents Patti Smith of Central Illinois Gold Star Families with a check for $2,500. (Joe Ragusa/WJBC)
Extreme Motors general manager Mike Cervini presents Patti Smith of Central Illinois Gold Star Families with a check for $2,500. (Joe Ragusa/WJBC)

By Joe Ragusa

BLOOMINGTON – The families of fallen soldiers are receiving some help from a local car dealership.

Extreme Motors presented Central Illinois Gold Star Families with a check for $2,500 Thursday. Patti Smith is the charity’s founder.

“We support (the families of veterans) with events, commemorations throughout the year,” Smith said. “We bring them together so they can meet others who have faced a similar loss.”

The donation is part of a promotion Extreme Motors ran in the month of May. Smith said she’s thankful the dealership reached out to her.

“We’re very grateful that they’re investing in the region to the broken hearted among us,” Smith said.

Smith said part of the money is going toward bringing American Sniper Co-Star Kevin Lacz to the organization’s annual fund-raiser on Oct. 2 at Five Points in Washington. More information about the charity can be found at CIGoldStar.org.

Joe Ragusa can be reached at [email protected].

Blogs

Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all

By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year.  It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …

Is federal mobilization the answer?

By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city.   Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…

In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans

By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…

Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life

Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University.   We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk.  Going to work every day for some people means…