JAY — Danny Taylor, 3rd vice president of The Sons of AMVETS Post 33, presented a check to Dixie Flagg for a donation towards completion of the Richard Parker Memorial and the “Stairway to Freedom” which currently has 160 steps.

The park is a memorial to Flagg ’s son Richard Parker who served in the Army National Guard with the A Battery 152nd Field Artillery, and who was killed in action on June 14, 2007, in Iraq, while serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The park is open anytime to anyone who would like to enjoy the beautiful serenity it holds. Flagg has also set up a scholarship fund in her son’s honor to be given out yearly to a graduating member of Mt. Abram High School.

As one of America’s fore­most vet­er­ans ser­vice orga­ni­za­tions, AMVETS and Sons of AMVETS (or Amer­i­can Vet­er­ans) has a proud his­tory of assist­ing vet­er­ans and spon­sor­ing numer­ous pro­grams that serve our coun­try and its cit­i­zens.

In addi­tion to the work of their national ser­vice offi­cers, other AMVETS mem­bers, as well as those in the AMVETS Ladies Aux­il­iary, devote as many as 250,000 hours a year to brighten the lives of hos­pi­tal­ized vet­er­ans.

Each year AMVETS awards scholarships total­ing $40,000 to deserv­ing high school seniors, ROTC stu­dents and vet­er­ans pur­su­ing higher education.

Help­ing oth­ers is not lim­ited to fel­low vet­er­ans. AMVETS mem­bers in more than 1,400 posts nation­wide also pro­mote and sup­port “qual­ity of life” community-service pro­grams rang­ing from Spe­cial Olympics and ROTC to scout­ing and organ-donor projects.

For more information contact www.amvetsofmaine.com or call the Jay Post 33 at 897-4112. For more information about the Richard Parker Memorial, the “Stairway to Freedom” project or the Richard Parker Scholarship Fund, call Dixie Flagg at 639-5518.