American Legion Post 210 in Danville, Ill., teams with Mission K9 Warrior to deliver scooter to Vietnam veteran battling PTSD.
A collaboration between two Illinois American Legion posts and another veteran service organization resulted in a nice surprise earlier this month for a Vietnam War veteran.
The combined effort of American Legion Post 210 in Danville, Post 203 in Georgetown and Mission K9 Warrior – which got its start at Post 203 – resulted in Vietnam War U.S. Marine Corps veteran Don Reid receiving a trailer to pull his mobility scooter.
Mission K9 Warrior raises funds to provide qualified veterans with highly trained service K9s to help assist them dealing with their post-traumatic stress disorder. It started in 2016 as a post program but now is its own 501(c)(3) nonprofit based out of the post. The program delivered service dogs to 12 veterans in 2024.
Past Post 203 Adjutant Neal Stephens serves as chairman of Mission K9 Warrior and received a service dog through the nonprofit. He said Mission K9 provided a dog for Reid in September, who has battled PTSD and depression, which eventually led to the Marine veteran being the recipient of the donation from Post 210, which had come into possession of the trailer but couldn’t find a local veteran in need of its use. That’s when Post 210 Commander Bob Balta reached out to Post 203 and Mission K9 Warrior.
“Bob and I have met up a few times,” Stephens said. “Bob was like, ‘Hey man, this trailer came in. We don’t have anyone we know of that can benefit from it. It might be something that you can use to pull behind a motorcycle to maybe haul dog equipment or something like that.’”
Balta sent a picture of the trailer to Stephens, who realized it was for a mobility scooter and then remembered Reid, a September recipient of a Mission K9 service animal who uses a scooter. Stephens reached out to Don’s wife, Diane, to get her insight into whether or not Don would accept the trailer.
“I worked through his wife because I didn’t want him to feel bad for us trying to donate something if he didn’t feel like he wanted something donated to him,” Stephens said “She was like, ‘Oh no, honey. He would love that.’”
In late January, Diane brought Don to Post 210 under the guise of meeting up with some friends. But Balta was there, and when Stephens arrived a short time later, Don got his surprise.
“He had no clue what was going on,” Stephens said. “When I got there, he was like, ‘Why am I here?’ I said, ‘We’re just here to hang out, buddy. Let’s go outside.’ And that’s when Bob showed him the trailer. It all kind of came together.”
Stephens said he’s seen a noticeable difference in Don since he was paired with his dog, Butter. Being able to work with Posts 210 and 203 to provide the trailer is an added benefit.
“Between American Legion Post 203 and Mission K9 … we will make sure we take care of veterans,” Stephens said. “It’s a very big, heartfelt warmth to be around Don and do something like this.”
Diane took to Facebook to express thanks for the donation. “Thank you so very much for this wonderful gift!” she wrote. “He hasn't stopped talking about it. Post 210 & Mission K9 warriors you have certainly helped him feel like he's 'Welcome Home'.”
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