By Maggie Kenworthy
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — During the Warsaw Board of Aviation Commissioners meeting held Tuesday, April 13, the board approved for Warsaw Airport to host the next Veteran Stand Down event.

This event is put on through Goodwill Industries and has taken place at the Warsaw Ivy Tech campus and the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds in the past. This year, the event will occur from 4 to 7 p.m. on July 23.

At the event, veterans can receive help in the form of free items from multiple vendors, information on different available resources and a hot meal.

“It’s for veterans who need assistance — whether they need jeans, socks, toothpaste or toothbrushes — they’ve got all sorts of different vendors,” explained Airport Manager Nick King. “It’s a way to help veterans who are having anything from financial difficulties to PTSD, you name it. They have lots of different services available.”

King presented two different map layouts for hosting the event, including one for inclement weather. Anywhere from 75 to 250 veterans are expected to show up.

“We would love to host it,” said King. “I think it would be a really, really good event for the airport and it really won’t cost us anything. We just have to do a little bit of planning.”

King also informed the board that the fuel usage report for this year compared to last year at the same time is almost identical. Fuel usage numbers are no longer dropping and King is hopeful that the airport will see more traffic in the future.

Mary Kerstein, CHA project manager, notified the board that the final draft of the FFA grant for the powerline project was recently sent in. 

“Now we are waiting for their blessing to let us go ahead and sign the grant application,” said Kerstein.

The grant application was approved pending the FFA’s review.

The board also approved a pay request in the amount of $126,863.48 to Phend and Brown for the ongoing runway rehabilitation project.

Also approved was a lease for a new tenant in Hanger 18C.

The next meeting of the Warsaw Board of Aviation Commissioners will be held at 5:15 on Tuesday, May 11.