Vets group sifts donation treasure, trash

Drivers passing the Cloquet Armory Monday morning saw what appeared to be a mountain of garbage bags outside the bright green DAV donation boxes.

Happily, those bags were mostly filled with clothing donations members of the local Disabled American Veterans chapter will take to the Savers store in Duluth. The local DAV has a deal with the thrift store, which gives money to the veterans organization in return.

Unhappily, there was also a fair amount of "junk" mixed in with the donations.

DAV commander Stan Heuer picked through the bags and loose items stacked in a trailer that would be headed in the opposite direction from Duluth: to the Transfer Station, where the DAV would have to pay to dispose of the old VCRs, part of a large heating duct, broken picture frames and half-used bottles of lotion and shaving cream.

"People have too much time on their hands, so this is the garbage outlet," he said, referring to all the folks spending more time at home because of the pandemic. "And it's really sad because it's a lot of work to pick them up in the first place, let alone having to deal with other people's garbage and wondering what kind of yuck it is on there."

Four volunteers worked with Heuer to sort, pulling out junk, finding items that could be sold in this weekend's DAV rummage sale at the Armory. Most of the clothes were headed to Savers.

"We've got so much cloth that I'd need three armories to put it in," Heuer said, explaining that "cloth" includes everything from jackets and clothing items to purses and shoes. "And we're finally getting rid of cloth after the pandemic shut that down too, so I've got semis coming in to take it."

Heuer deals with the yin and yang of the donation boxes and being active in the local DAV chapter: all of the money they make from Savers, the twice-annual rummage sales, 4-wheeler runs, golf outings and running the brat wagon every holiday weekend goes back to veterans, he said; and at the same time, dealing with people breaking in and stealing from the donation boxes (which has been happening in Moose Lake) or leaving insulation in a Barnum bin, which contaminated everything.

The commander said there is definitely a big need for their help. The DAV uses all the money it raises for taking care of veterans in the county that need help, from homeless veterans to those who need help paying bills or getting a working vehicle (which can also be donated).

"It's unbelievable. I'm getting calls nonstop about needing this or that. Furniture, whatever it is. I'm pretty reactive and we do what we can do to take care of them."

That's the good part, said the Desert Storm veteran.

"That's what fills my soul, being able to take care of veterans that need help, like I did. It's an awesome thing to have that feeling of helping someone get back to being a normal person again, instead of being down and out or whatever they're suffering from. I try and help them and get them in the right direction."