Hogan Family YMCA to host veterans breakfast

MADISON – Celebrations for Veterans Week will start on Nov. 3 with biscuits and gravy, music and prayer at Hogan Family YMCA.

Patriotic music will lift the spirits as guests lift up military personnel in gratitude and prayer at the twelfth annual YMCA Veterans Prayer Breakfast at the Craig and Steven Hogan Family YMCA in Madison.

The event’s objective “is to let our military heroes, both those who have served previously and those currently serving, know they’re cherished and valued in our community,” retired Brig. Gen. Bob Drolet said. Drolet is event chairperson; co-chairperson is Beverly Lowe, President of North Alabama Veterans and Fraternal Organizations Coalition.

Offering prayer will be Rev. Kerry Holder-Joffrion and Chaplain LTC Trenton E. Lewis, who serves as Chaplain for U.S. Army Garrison on Redstone Arsenal. The Army Materiel Command’s Arsenal Brass and Huntsville Police Department’s Blue Notes will entertain with music.

Retired CW4 Max Bennett, chairperson for Huntsville/Madison County Veterans Week, will serve as emcee. Retired Astronaut Brig. Gen. Robert Stewart, U.S. Army will be featured speaker.

“As the first event of Veterans Week in the Tennessee Valley, the breakfast adopts the theme ‘Courage, Sacrifice and Duty, Honoring our Military Veterans.’ Doors will open at 6:45 a.m. for check-in and a coffee social with the program beginning promptly at 7:30 a.m.,” YMCA Director of Communications Mary Anne Swanstrom said.

Individual tickets are $20. A reserved, sponsor table costs $300. For tickets, call 256-428-9622, ext. 3008; email events@ymcahuntsville.org or visit ymcahuntsville.org/VETERANS.

Veterans and active military personnel can request a free ticket with an RSVP by Nov. 1. “Table sponsors are encouraged to make seats available so veterans may dine with them,” Swanstrom said.

During Veterans Week, veterans and individuals (and family) with valid military ID receive free admission to all YMCA branches on Nov. 3-12.

“As part of Heart of the Valley’s ongoing commitment to supporting the total family, the Y offers free membership to soldiers before and after deployment and to their families while their loved one is away,” Swanstrom said.

In 2016, Heart of the Valley YMCA provided more than $129,600 in membership and programs to military families.