Members of the Operation Remember Club at the Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School will host a fundraiser at the Liberty Bell at 886 Main Street next Wednesday from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. A portion of all sales at this well known establishment will support local Korean War veterans.

Operation Remember is the culmination of our year long recognition of Melrose Korean War veterans. The MVMMS club is raising money to send Korean War veterans to their monument in Washington D.C. in addition to dedicating the first Korean War Memorial in Melrose on Memorial Day.

In addition to the sales promotion, members of the Operation Remember club will be selling raffle calendars and 50/50 tickets in order to help fund their worthwhile effort.

For $10 you and your family can eat all the chili, chowder and soup you can handle all while support Operation Remember, our effort to send Korean War veterans to their monument in Washington D.C.

Local organizations will compete for best chili and best chowder for the second straight year. Additionally, local restaurants will offer their fine fare in an effort to raise money to support Operation Remember.

Students from Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School have been working hard all year as part of a year-long focus on Korean War veterans. A trip to Washington D.C. on May 7th will pair these students with Korean War veterans for a once-in-a-life time trip to experience the national Korean War monument. Operation Remember will culminate on Memorial Day will the installation of a Korean War Memorial.

The event will also feature a 50/50 raffle, a Korean War display, beer and wine.

Here is a list of the organizations and restaurants participating in this year's Challenge:

Tooba's Cafe
Bobby C's
Petrone's Pizza
Melrose Veteran Services
Melrose Veterans Advisory Board
Melrose Emblem Club
Melrose Girl Scouts
Boston Wounded Vet Run
VFW SGT Harold O Young Post (2 Teams)
VFW LT Norman Prince Post

We want you to know about the benefits and events that honor our district's veterans. We promise not to flood your email box and, but we want you to know when we hold an event or find a veteran benefit you might not know about. The average number of emails you will receive is 1-2 a month with a higher volume around the 
Memorial Day and Veterans Day holidays. 

Wakefield residents will find for the first time an opportunity to donate locally to veterans on their excise tax bills mailed today. The opportunity comes after town meeting voted unanimously to support the creation of a tax check off option supporting local veteran relief and the restoration of veteran memorials.

Residents wishing to donate to these two funds can drop off a check at two locations - Wakefield Veteran Services at the Senior Center on Converse Street or the Tax Collectors office at Wakefield Town Hall. 100% of all donations will directly support veteran relief and veteran monument restoration.

Veterans in the district who are living under 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Level may qualify for financial and medical assistance through the state's Chapter 115 program. Updates to the federal poverty level mean adjustments to the income levels qualifying veterans and their family members for assistance.

The new income and assets levels can be found in the flyer shown below. If you are a veteran, veteran family member or know someone who may qualify for life-changing assistance, please contact our office so we can set up an appointment to review eligibility.

Wakefield residents will have the ability to donate to Veteran Relief and Veteran Memorial Restoration as a part of their excise tax payments starting February 6th. The local option was voted in by town meeting in early 2014 and made into law through the work of the Wakefield legislative delegation in early January. The idea for these funds was formed by the Wakefield Veterans Advisory Board.

To make a donation, residents can add an additional check to their annual excise tax payment made out to the name of the funds shown below in bold. These checks will go directly to Wakefield Veteran Services for processing and 100 percent of all proceeds will fund local veteran assistance.

The Wakefield Veteran Relief Fund provides rapid support for qualifying veterans in need of immediate assistance. Examples of expenditures include gift cards for local grocery stores, winter clothes and oil/fuel assistance. While many of the benefits delivered by Wakefield Veteran Services come directly from local and state budgets, some expenditures are not allowed by state regulation or will come too late to provide necessary assistance. This fund aims to serve as a stopgap between issues and longer term assistance.

The Wakefield Veterans Memorial and Patriotic Celebration Fund will serve as a long-term funding mechanism for Wakefield veteran memorial restoration and creation. Additionally, funds may be used to supplement patriotic celebrations such as Memorial Day and Veterans Day. Examples of expenditures may include restoring installed monuments, drafting plans for new veteran monuments and regularly maintaining important veteran objects like memorial gravestones.

If you would like to make a donation outside of the excise tax cycle, please call our Wakefield office located at 30 Converse Street.

The Massachusetts Department of Veteran Services published new asset eligibility guidelines for low-income veterans and their families seeking assistance under the Chapter 115 program. Chapter 115 allows local VSOs to distribute benefits to eligible veterans in order to improve veteran quality of life.

Veterans and their family members, to include non-remarried widows, qualify for assistance if their income falls below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level. Additionally, veterans must meet liquid assets standards. Newly published standards for 2015 now place the asset thresholds as follows:

Veteran Only - $5000
Veteran and Spouse (or family) - $9000

This asset threshold increase is the first since July 1, 2004. Now, veterans who were previously disqualified due to excessive assets may now be eligible for our life-changing benefits.

If you are a veteran, widow or know of any qualifying persons in our district, please contact our office immediately for more information. We ask that even if you come close to these qualifying standards, you reach out to us so we can determine your eligibility directly.