A dream has come true for veterans and their loved ones, as well as the public.

The Home With Heroes Free Clothing Bank for Veterans and Loved Ones opens Thursday upstairs at the VFW Post 9573 near Walmart in Natchez. At the same time, the Veterans’ Memorabilia Room (a mini-museum) will open.

Both have been on the “to-do” list for Home With Heroes for a long, long time. Thanks to Natchez Mayor Darryl Grennell and VFW Post Commander John Floyd, we were given access to two nice rooms upstairs at the VFW post, an appropriate place for the Clothing Bank and Memorabilia Room. We hope to create a resource center for veterans and for the public to learn about area veterans and their needs.

Volunteers have worked hard to prepare the rooms, which needed work to transform into something we hope veterans and the public will appreciate.

Our intention is to open Thursdays and Fridays to start, from 9 a.m. to noon, and occasionally on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon depending on the number of volunteers we have.

As a way to honor local veterans further, we have dedicated the Free Clothing Bank to the memory of Army Sgt. Henry Brown, the first Natchez soldier killed in Iraq. And we have dedicated the Veterans Memorabilia Room to the memory of the father-son duo John W. “Big Blackie” Williams Jr. and his son Thomas “Tommy” Williams. John served during World War II, and Tommy served in Vietnam. Both were longtime VFW members and Tommy was one of the veterans instrumental in having the “flyover” named the Veterans Memorial Bridge.

We are proud to say all items will be high quality and free to veterans and their loved ones. We already have a well-stocked clothing bank with shirts, jackets, slacks, ties, belts and much more. We are accepting donations of quality items, including toiletries and dental supplies during our hours of operation. Please do not leave items outside the VFW when we are not there.

As for memorabilia, we are accepting permanent and temporary loans of all sorts of items: uniforms, helmets, photos, ribbon racks, etc. The memorabilia, a mini-museum, will be on display in a room separate from the clothing bank. Donated items should be in good condition and not require any special treatment (cleaning, repairing, etc.) prior to going on display.

And, if you’d like to volunteer to be on duty any morning, please call or send an email. My number is 601-442-0980 or gmarklafrancis@hotmail.com.

We also will have forms to sponsor a wreath for the 2018 Wreaths Across America Program at the Natchez National Cemetery, forms to purchase a brick at the Veterans Memorial in downtown Natchez, information on the Veterans Administration, as well as other resources for veterans and their loved ones.

Of course we will accept donations to help this project and the others that Home With Heroes does in our community.

So please stop by and see what we’ve created for veterans and the community. And as always, please pray for our men and women in uniform.

G. Mark LaFrancis is president of the Home With Heroes Foundation, a nonprofit organization helping and honoring veterans and their loved ones.