Donation boosts New Jersey Post 25's efforts to help veterans in need

A $10,000 donation has boosted the ways that American Legion Joyce Kilmer Post 25 in Milltown, N.J., helps veterans in need.

The donation from Paul Sansone Sr. and the Sansone Auto Mall, The American Legion’s 2017 Large Employer of the Year, has helped boost Post 25’s Veterans Emergency Fund. The fund “is designed to rapidly provide assistance to veterans in an effort to provide them with a bridge to long-term sustained success,” according to Post 25 Commander Ron Dixon.

Dixon said that Post 25, on an almost-daily basis, receives referrals to assist veterans from a variety of agencies, including Middlesex County’s Veterans Diversion Program.

“In response to these referrals, the post has previously provided informal assistance when possible through its members,” including funding for short-term housing, transportation costs, auto repairs, food, clothing, utilities and other essentials.

Post 25’s Veterans Emergency Fund establishes a way to provide sustained assistance to qualified veterans in need, Dixon said.

“It’s not a handout, it’s a hand up,” he said.

In an October 2020 press conference to announce the donation, Rich Liebler, administrator of the Sansone Military Assistance Program and a member of Post 471 in Iselin, said, “What we’re trying to do today … is to help veterans who are in an emergency situation.”

“There’s nothing like somebody coming back from service, fighting for our freedoms, and they have a situation and an economy where they can’t find work,” said Mayor John McCormac of Woodbridge Township, N.J. “We owe them so much for what they’ve done for us.”