Wounded Warriors hope to meet fundraising goal

The Wounded Warriors Weekend Fundraiser is hoping by last count at the end of the month they will more than reach their goal.

After raising $30,000 in its first year and $45,000 the year after that, the goal was bumped up this time to $50,000 by its organizer, Marlene Oleshko. Currently, fundraising efforts from the Nov. 5 event sit at $48,000.

For Oleshko, the highlight of the evening was the presentation from veteran Joe Rustenburg and his wife Mel. The retired corporal shared his personal experience living with PTSD and the change his service dog Vixen made in his life.  

“He’s a vet who was in really rough shape,” Oleshko said. “He’s got PTSD and he was at the point where he was going to take his own life, and now he actually gets up on stage and speaks … Mel shared a little bit of what it’s like to live with someone who has PTSD from a spousal point of view.”