Veterans Family Fun Day celebrates vets, highlights resources

Sunday, we celebrate our veterans at the Veterans Family Fun Day at Airway Fun Center.

However, it's more than a Sunday fun day for retired Army veteran Megan Malz.

Megan served in Iraq from 2008 to 2009 and served in Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012. While serving in Iraq, Megan worked in an Iraqi prison, and in Afghanistan, she was a part of the female engagement team and deployed with the infantry.

“After 9/11, I just graduated high school, and was looking for some more purpose in life, and the Army's where I found it."

When speaking about her daughter, Megan said, “I want her to see that women are capable of being able to serve their country and do meaningful things.”
Charles Jackson is a retired Army veteran who served in Germany from 1980 to 1983 as a cannon fire direction specialist.

Charles said, “I felt that it was it was my thing to do, to serve my country.”

Charles risked his life for the good of our nation. "My expectancy of life was like 45 seconds.”

Everyone at the Veterans Family Fun Day has a similar story of personal sacrifices.

Lauren King, supervisor of the Kalamazoo County Veterans Service Office, said, “Our aim is to make sure that we are serving veterans with care and compassion and candor.”

Lauren made sure these veterans were seen Sunday. "The more veterans know that there are resources out there for them, the better," she said.

Lauren tells me that after surveying their veterans, results indicated that social events were lacking.

“When a grant opportunity became available with the Michigan Veterans Affairs Agency, we did decide to utilize some of those funds to throw this event,” Lauren said.

For Megan's daughter, Addy, today was a chance to tell her mom why she loves her.

“I love that she's strong, nice and she helps me out with the stuff,” Addy said.

Megan remarked, “It gives us such a great opportunity to spend time together — and in a very stress-free environment.”

The Kalamazoo County Veterans Service Office is putting on their next event, Veterans Stand Down, on Sept. 13.

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