Week of Events Honoring Veterans Scheduled at UW-River Falls

November 6, 2014—With Veterans Day next week, the University of Wisconsin-River Falls invites the community to attend a week's worth of events honoring and supporting veterans and active duty members of the military.  

A donation drive for deployed soldiers is being held all week. Items for donation can be dropped off in the Veterans' Services Office, 220 South Hall, on the UW-River Falls campus. A list of items requested can be found at https://www.uwrf.edu/VeteranServices/AdditionalResources.cfm. UWRF has also partnered with the Michael's Craft store in Stillwater, Minn., to make and donate all occasion greeting cards for deployed troops to send home for their loved ones.  

Several events will be held in conjunction with Veterans Day on Tuesday, Nov. 11. There will be a breakfast for faculty, staff, and students who are veterans in the Trimbelle River Room of the University Center from 7:30-9:30 a.m. This is an informal breakfast and no reservations are needed.   

The annual Veterans Day Ceremony will begin at 11 a.m. near the flagpoles on the west side of North Hall. The featured speaker is Sergeant First Class Harley Hotchkiss. Harley is an art major who also owns his own business, Premium Plots, LLC.  His company improves the chances of larger and healthier deer populations on private hunting properties. Additionally, Hotchkiss is designing ergonomic improvements to existing military weaponry. Hotchkiss hopes to trademark his designs and produce them for his fellow deployed service members. 

The Veterans' Club will hold a bake sale Tuesday, Nov. 11, and Wednesday, Nov. 12, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on first floor in South Hall. Survival bracelets and key chains will also be sold at the table.  

On Thursday, Nov. 13, Sergeant Andrew Rondeau, a horticulture major at UWRF, will speak of the challenges and rewards of becoming your own boss through farming and agricultural services.  The presentation entitled "Veteran and New Generation Farming" is not exclusively on veterans' benefits and will include information on programs available to assist new farmers. Rondeau's presentation will begin at 7 p.m. in the Kinnickinnic Theater on the third floor of the University Center. 

For more information on these events or the educational benefits available to active duty military, veterans, and their family members, call the UWRF Veterans' Services office at 715-425-3529.