Just three months after the Phoenix VA Health Care System announced it was short on funds for its annual Veterans Day parade, local residents and companies have come through with about $100,000 in donations.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/2011/11/03/20111103phoenix-veterans-day-parade-saved.html

Contributions ranging from $5 to $25,000 have saved the Nov. 11 parade, which costs about $60,000 to put on. Expenses include barricades, portable restrooms, helium for balloons, street-closure notifications and cleanup costs.

"Not only will (the donations) pay for this year's parade, it will also give us good seed money for next year's parade and activities," said Paula Pedene, spokeswoman for the VA hospital.

The hospital came up short after the Veterans Medical Leadership Council, formerly the key fundraiser for the parade, revised its mission to focus on assisting veterans returning from combat.

Pedene said the hospital began receiving donations from throughout the area immediately after the funding shortage was made public.

"All of a sudden, we started getting checks for $5, $10, $15," she said. "A 90-year-old lady wrote, 'I can't imagine not having a Veterans Day parade. Here's a check for $5.' A high school held a car wash and gave us all the money.

"Once that kind of thing started happening, it showed the importance of this event to the community," she said.

Former Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley and his wife joined the fundraising effort, forming the volunteer organization Honoring Arizona's Veterans, which is in the process of getting non-profit status, and reaching out to businesses and other contacts.

"I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly people came through, because I was a Vietnam veteran, and I remember there was a time when the country didn't honor its veterans," Romley said.

"Veterans need to know the community appreciates them. The parade is a way for the community to honor them," he said.

Pedene said the parade is not only meaningful for veterans, it's educational for young people.

"The youth of today may not know what a Pearl Harbor veteran even is," she said. "As these veterans die and we lose that part of our history, it's important to have someone to educate the American public about who our veterans are and what they've done."

The VA is expecting between 30,000 and 40,000 spectators at the parade, which will feature 19 floats, 12 bands, 12 marching units, six balloons and more than 50 veterans-services organizations.

The procession will start at 11 a.m. at the hospital, 650 E. Indian School Road, and head north on Seventh Street before moving west on Camelback Road, north on Central Avenue and ending at North Phoenix Baptist Church, 5757 N. Central Ave.