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Chester County Press

Oxford community thanks military veterans with breakfast

11/12/2014 10:47AM ● By J. Chambless

By Steven Hoffman

Staff Writer

For the fifth year in a row, Oxford Area Community Enhancements, Inc. organized a free breakfast for U.S. military veterans as a way of thanking them for their service.

Volunteers started arriving at the Oxford Area Senior Center at 5 a.m. last Saturday morning to prepare the eggs, bacon, pancakes and other breakfast favorites.

"We enjoy doing this," explained Bud McCoury of Oxford Area Community Enhancements, Inc. "We get more veterans here every year."

McCoury said that they served between 250 and 300 veterans this year. The veterans are always very appreciative, and they like that their service to the country is being remembered.

"We’ve even had people who cry," said McCoury.

The event wouldn’t be possible without a dedicated team of volunteers that includes members of Oxford Area Community Enhancements and friends of the organization. This year, members of Oxford Area High School’s Helping Hands organization and the Boy Scouts also assisted.

"The volunteers really keep this going," said Eileen McCoury. "This is a purely volunteer event, and the veterans are really grateful."

In addition to the volunteer work, it take’s approximately $2,000 to pull the event together each year. McCoury said that numerous people and organizations help out to make the breakfast possible.

"The community helps support us," he said. "We get a lot of people, usually the same people, who donate more and more each year.

This year’s event was dedicated to the memory of Jack Lynch, a veteran of the U.S. Navy who was part of the committee that helped organize the event in previous years.

McCoury said that he anticipates holding the breakfast again next year, and if they can find the additional support they would like to keep making it bigger each year.

"We’d like to reach out further," he said. "If we can get the help, we’d like to do even more."

To contact Staff Writer Steven Hoffman, email [email protected].