[Villages Kahuna]

For those of you who aren't aware of the purpose of the fund-raising event held last weekend, I think you should know before hurling criticisms.

The funds raised in the weekend event and others to be held in the future, will be used to move a specific number of veterans and their families to The Villages, providing them housing and household furnishings as needed. I'm not certain, but they could all be disabled vets. I believe the number, at least initially is eight vets and their families.

Once here, their education and training in golf course management will be funded by both donations as well as contributions from The Villages--that dastardly "developer" so many are critical of. The vets will be trained thru an extensive program of formal education as well as on-the-job training in various specialties on our golf courses. The cost of their tuition to colleges providing the training will be fully funded, as well.

Once their training is completed, the vets will either be hired to work on our golf courses or placed in jobs with other golf courses or country clubs. The plan is to rotate in more veterans, possibly increasing the number, as those whose training is completed go on to permanent civilian employment.

This program does what so many say is needed to re-integrate our veterans into civilian society. It couldn't happen without the generous contributions raised at fund raisers like that held at LSL last weekend. As importantly, a program such as this could not be successful without the cooperation and funding by the owner-operator of our golf courses. Our developer.

So before folks get their shorts in a knot over various issues...selfish issues, if you read many of the posts above...think about what's trying to be accomplished here. Think about who's doing it!

There are altogether too many people who talk about what should be done for our veterans and altogether too few who actually step up with both creative programs and deep pockets. Often those that do don't ask for credit or thanks--they just do it. We should be happy that they do things like this and grateful they are so important to our community.