Rusk Veteran Center to celebrate re-opening with ribbon cutting

CHEROKEE COUNTY, Texas ( KETK ) – A ribbon cutting event for the Rusk Veteran Center is taking place 11 a.m. on Saturday at the American Legion Coleman-Isgate Post 293 after renovations.

The event will have food and refreshments to honor those who made the center a reality. Event organizers want to invite veterans and community members to celebrate alongside them.

“It’s great to see them restore it and open it back up,” Mark Raiborm, a Rusk resident, said. “America should honor their veterans and military personnel and this is a way to do this and keep it going.”

Post commander Terry McPherson said the American Legion post wasn’t active in the area, so for 10 years, the veteran center sat empty. Eventually, with support from the community and local businesses they are able to reopen.

“We’ll book events parties were going to try to have first Friday night dances again,” McPherson said. “We’re going to try to do anything more as a community center as well as a veteran center so that’s an important thing people need to know.”

The American Legion organization’s mission is to support veterans, but McPherson said he wants to involve the community as well.

“One thing we want everybody to know is though we are a veteran organization, and this is a veteran center we want to do things for anybody in the community,” McPherson said.

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