MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — An investment towards local troops coming home from duty — that’s the crux of a $50,000 donation from Dominion Energy to Operation Welcome Home.
Dominion Energy, through the Dominion Foundation, presented the check to Operation Welcome Home Wednesday afternoon. The program aims to help veterans in North Central West Virginia, something Dominion Foundation VP Brian Sheppard expressed enthusiasm for Wednesday.
“Dominion is very excited to team up with Operation Welcome and to provide the funding that they need to continue to provide their support for our veterans,” Sheppard said.
The Dominion Foundation has been working with Operation Welcome Home for about six years. The focus of Operation Welcome Home is to help veterans gain employment and other necessary services.
“[Operation Welcome Home] provides critical training, as well as job fairs and job placements for our military and our veterans, who are returning to our communities,” Sheppard said.
The Dominion Foundation has previously helped Operation Welcome Home build a home facility in Mylan Park — the beginning of a relationship that started at the ground floor.
“We’ve been partners with Dominion from the very beginning,” Bob Pirner, Operation Welcome Home President, said Wednesday. “When we were building this building, the landscaping was done all of the sudden, one day forty guys in blue shirts showed up with a truckload of stuff.”
The home base is currently providing job preparation classes and other services that are needed to help veterans adjust to life back home. Pirner says that the faith people have had in the organization is starting to pay dividends.
“When we were getting up and running, Dominon believed in us, and that was when we were just getting started,” he said. “Now here we are six years later and we accomplished all these things and it’s good to still have our partners with us.”
Operation Welcome Home will continue to present options for veterans throughout North Central West Virginia and will have representatives spreading the word of their program at Mylan Park’s Home and Garden Show in March.