ASHLAND — A single check from the owner of a western Kentucky company met the goal of a drive to raise enough money to bring close to 500 soldiers home to eastern Kentucky.
Bill Baird, owner and CEO of Saturn Machine and Welding in Sturgis, heard about the efforts of Families and Friends of the 201st on Friday morning and almost immediately wrote the group a check for $49,000.
Added to the $11,000 the group had received from other donors, it brought the total to $60,000, enough to pay bus fare for every soldier in the Kentucky National Guard’s Ashland-based 201st Engineer Battalion, who recently were granted an unexpected week of leave before their deployment to Afghanistan.
The fund drive had gotten off to a good start Friday with $11,000 already received by the United Way of Northeast Kentucky, which is handling the donations.
The drive got a boost from two veterans’ groups. AMVETS Post 95 and Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1168 each donated $1,000, said Sandy Childers, secretary at the United Way.
Then came the call from Charles Lynch, president of Baird’s company.
“Bill wanted to do his part to ensure that these guys are brought home to their families,” Lynch said.
A local TV station’s report had made its way to CNN, which is where Baird heard about it, Lynch said.
The unexpected largesse came after the group had already planned several activities to raise the money.
The Ashland Chick-Fil-A restaurant has offered to donate 10 percent of its sales on Friday to the cause, Childers said.
And organizers are scheduling a benefit concert at the Central Park bandstand from 1 to 4 p.m. April 12, said Melanie Kersey, mother of one of the soldiers.
Local talent will include Bill and Chase Yates, Kerry Beach, Kathy Hughes, Bronson Bush and more, she said.
Donations received will be added to the fund.
The group already had determined if the fund topped out at more than the $60,000 target, they would develop plans to apply it to care packages to the soldiers or a welcome home celebration when their deployment ends.
That’s still the plan, and the events are still on, said Mari Jo Ferguson, wife of the battalion commander, Lt. Col. Michael Ferguson.
The soldiers are scheduled to spend at least 10 months in Afghanistan.
Theirs is the largest unit deployment in Kentucky. The soldiers will be traveling from Fort McCoy in Wisconsin, where they are training, leaving April 24 and returning April 30.
Those who want to make donations to Families and Friends of the 201st may do so with checks payable to United Way of Northeast Kentucky Inc., Box 2063, Ashland KY 41105-2063.
MIKE JAMES can be reached at mjames@dailyindependent.com or at (606) 326-2652.
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