Military Order of the Purple Heart Honors Peekskill Business Owner Monday

Chapter 21 of the Military Order of the Purple Heart presented Domenic Volpe of Domenic's Cleaners & Tailoring with a special citation Monday night for his work helping veterans.

Neil Gross, the chapter’s commander, said Volpe was given the award for the contributions and clothing drives that he and his family have organized for veterans being treated at the VA Hospital in Montrose for post traumatic stress disorder. Gross said Volpe has been holding clothing drives since 2010.

The ceremony took place during the Peekskill Common Council meeting.

“The men in that ward eventually finish their treatment and they go out into the world, hopefully to lead normal lives,” Gross said. “Some of them do, some of them need a lot more help. But they go out into the world and of course going out into the world, they need the basics that we normally take for granted. Some of them have come from situation where they weren’t able to have the write clothing or have the right credentials to make it in the world. This family has given what they have in support of the men in the PTSD ward.”

Said Volpe: “It’s common knowledge that we have a little over one million veterans that are in New York state. There’s been for some reason, a move to shut down the Montrose VA. It’s wrong. If our government does one thing, it shouldn’t shut down that facility.”