Summer Endex event to benefit area veterans

TIFFIN — Half fundraiser, half party, Dress, Right, Dress founder and veteran Jeremy Parkins says the upcoming Summer Endex will be the event of the season. Parkins said he created DRD, with his own money, in 2015 after creating the nucleus or the program while working at a halfway house. He offered the idea to his boss at the time, but was repeatedly told no. Within his job, he found himself creating a "program within a program." "Everywhere I did this, it worked. It worked in Chillicothe, Columbus and Toledo." So he quit his position in 2017 and "decided to make a go of it," he said. He hosted focus-groups, worked with veteran inmate clientele, heard from Veteran Affairs, other veterans and other community leaders. The response was encouraging so he kept going. Originally designed to be a t-shirt sale that would give back to existing programs, DRD was formed to help bridge a gap for veterans transitioning out of the military or going through mental or economic hardship or even incarceration through a series of programs that will offer veteran to veteran mentorship, teach entrepreneurial skills, offer emergency funding for rent or food to veterans and provide education and awareness of veteran-related issues and even offer a mail care-packages for service members who are deployed abroad. "By 2019, we were on to something," Parkins says. The organization later partnered with several other organizations including NAMI, Ohio Mental Health and Correction Services and the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections to offer support with veteran inmates and veterans suffering with mental health issues. Parkins says he never meant to focus on veteran mental health. "But in the midst of forming this organization, I lost one of my service buddies to what we believe to be suicide." He felt he had no choice but to raise awareness of veteran mental health. Parkins said, currently, they are working on turning part of the DRD office into a storefront where veterans can work as they learn new skills or sell veteran-made merchandise. The Summer Endex event is meant to raise awareness and money for the DRDI organization, the services it provides by offering live music, food, veteran affairs information, raffles and an MRE eating contest. "We're really well known in the arenas we operate in but the general public doesn't really know about us," Parkins said. The bands performing at the event are veteran-led, the venue is owned by a veteran and the event will be attended by representatives from the Ann Arbor VA, Toledo Vet Center, Seneca County Veteran Service Office, Brandon C. Franzen Memorial Foundation and the Ohio Department of Veteran Services. The Summer Endex event will be from 5-11 p.m. Friday at Bel-Mar Boat Landing at 1700 Duchess Lane. "It's free, it's open to the public, it should be a good time," Parkins said.