Coventry Fire Districts Thank Ocean State Job Lot Customers for Support of WWII Veterans

Thanks to the generous support of its customers, store associates and charitable foundation, Ocean State Job Lot, a North Kingstown-based closeout retailer with 110 stores throughout New England and New York, funded two Honor Flight tours in 2013, bringing more than 100 Rhode Island WWII veterans to visit the WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C. for the first time in their lives.

Job Lot worked in close partnership with the R.I. Association of Fire Chiefs (RIAFC) to coordinate the “Honor Flight Bravo” flight for 42 R.I. WWII veterans which took place in March 2013, and “Operation: Gratitude” in September 2013 for 64 R.I. WWII veterans.  “Operation: Gratitude,” funded entirely by Job Lot, was the largest tour of its kind in the history of the national Honor Flight program, encompassing 400 veterans and their guardians from all six New England states – including Rhode Island – and New York.

To show its appreciation, on Friday, Nov. 8, 2013 local fire chiefs from the RIAFC hung banners that read “Thank You Job Lot Customers!” at each of the 16 Job Lot store locations throughout Rhode Island for display from Veterans Day weekend through Thanksgiving and into early December.

Central Coventry Fire District Chief Andy Baynes and firefighters from both CCFD and Coventry (Anthony) fire districts brought several pieces of apparatus to the Tiogue Avenue Job Lot in order to hang the banner on the storefront to show their gratitude to customers.

“We thank Ocean State Job Lot and their customers for stepping up to donate the money for all our veterans to attend this event, as well as the items they need, other than medication, that we collected from local Job Lot stores for the Honor Flights,” said George Farrell, chairman of RIAFC Honor Flight and a retired Providence Fire Department Chief. “Job Lot has been supportive of our group since we officially kicked off with our first flight from T.F. Green last November, and we hope to continue partnering with them on future veterans initiatives.”

Job Lot customers in seven states (throughout New England and New York) donated $1 at the registers throughout the year in support of the Honor Flight program. The retailer matches the contributions and donates funds to cover all transportation services including air and ground travel for the one-day event. Supplies are donated from the stores as needed. 

For “Operation: Gratitude 2013,” 128 veterans and their guardians from Rhode Island joined with two other regional Honor Flight hubs to travel on Job Lot-chartered Southwest Airlines planes to visit the WWII Memorial in Washington, D.C.  Departing out of T.F. Green Airport, Boston’s Logan Airport, and MacArthur Airport in Islip, N.Y., the participants were honored to meet two world-renown dignitaries:  Retired U.S. four-star General Colin Powell (former Secretary of State) and U.S. Marine Corps Commandant General James Amos. 

The R.I. contingent was greeted in D.C. by Senator Jack Reed, Rep. James Langevin, and Rep. David Cicilline. The event culminated in a banquet dinner at the BWI Airport Hilton Hotel in the veterans’ honor. Ranging in age from 85 to 100, the veterans represented 30 towns across the state of Rhode Island, and two in nearby Massachusetts. Guardians included active and retired fire chiefs and firefighters, registered nurses and physician assistants.

Chief Baynes, who participated in both the March and September honor flights this year, bringing a 92-year-old veteran on the first trip and an 87-year-old on the second, says he supports the program for giving veterans an important opportunity that they would likely never get otherwise. He attributes his interest in the program with the fact that his father, a member of the U.S. Coast Guard during the war, passed away nine years ago without ever going to see the memorial.

"This is a great program and one that we'd like to continue being involved with," he said. "In the U.S., we're losing vets at approximately 900 to 1,000 a day and averaging 13-19 burials daily in the Exeter veterans cemetery, so you see why programs like this are important to honor them."

Through its Charitable Foundation, Ocean State Job Lot has established a long history of philanthropic leadership in the communities it serves. In addition to its work with the Honor Flight Network, the Foundation also supports charities and causes including but not limited to medical and educational institutions, food banks and pantries, disaster relief efforts, the performing arts, special needs children and foster children.