The Midwest Shelter for
Homeless Veterans will dedicate its new Army Capt. Kevin C. Landeck Freedom
Commissary at 2 p.m. on Weds., Sept. 11, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony that will
include MSHV co-founder and board president Robert Adams, Wheaton Mayor Michael
Gresk and Vicki Landeck, mother of Capt. Landeck, in whose honor the facility
is named.
The Freedom Commissary,
located at 400 W. Liberty Dr. in Wheaton, provides at-risk veterans and their
families with new and gently used necessities, including clothing, household
goods, hygiene supplies and furniture, at no charge. The Shelter also plans to expand assistance to
qualified veterans by providing gift cards for other basic needs, including
gasoline, groceries and items related to gaining employment.
"As we reflect on this
day of remembrance, we invite interested members of the community to join us in
dedicating this new facility in support of the men and women who have served
this nation," said Pamela Kostecki, MSHV's director of operations. "The Freedom Commissary represents another
platform in support of our mission to help at-risk veterans and their families
achieve self-sufficiency."
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MSHV's Freedom Commissary is named
in honor of Army Captain Kevin C. Landeck, a 1999 graduate of
Wheaton-Warrenville South High School, who was killed in action in Baghdad, Iraq
in February 2007, when his vehicle struck an explosive. Capt. Landeck was a
2004 graduate of Purdue University and was assigned to Fort Drum in New York.
Naming the new facility in
honor of Capt. Landeck continues an MSHV tradition that was established in
2007, when the original home on West St. in downtown Wheaton, which offers
transitional housing to homeless veterans, was named in memory of Marine Lance
Corporal Nicholas Larson, a 2003 Wheaton North High School graduate, who was
killed in the line of duty in Iraq in 2004.
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In 2012, MSHV opened the
Staff Sergeant Robert J. Miller Home, also on West St., which provides
affordable housing to qualified veterans, including space for female and
handicapped veterans. Staff Sgt. Miller, a 2002 graduate of Wheaton North, was
posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for military
valor, for his heroic actions in Afghanistan in 2008.
The Midwest
Shelter for Homeless Veterans is a non-profit agency based in DuPage County,
Illinois that provides transitional and affordable housing, a comprehensive
array of supportive services and community outreach to help homeless and
at-risk veterans and their families achieve self-sufficiency.
Founded by
veterans in 2007, the Midwest Shelter operates on a vision of no veteran left
behind due to homelessness, joblessness, poverty and/or mental-health
issues. People interested in making a
donation, volunteering or learning more about MSHV can visit www.helpaveteran.org or call 630-871-VETS (8387).
