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Share the Fair program is for military families
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
CANFIELD
Family memories of the Canfield Fair can travel a long way for military members and their families through the Share the Fair program.
Share the Fair lends a video camera to military families to use for a day. When the camera is returned at the end of the day, the images are downloaded to a laptop computer, and the Youngstown State University Office of Veterans Affairs burns a DVD for the family for free.
The DVDs can be kept at home or sent to loved ones in the military far away as a reminder of home, said Jim Olive, YSU Office of Veterans Affairs administrator.
The video cameras are available at the YSU booth at the fair next to the Grandstand from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, said Olive, who said the program was a great success at last year’s fair.
Also, Olive said as a likely addition to the DVD this year, the university’s marketing department is preparing a short introduction featuring YSU students thanking the military personnel for their service.
Olive, of Weathersfield Township, an Army Vietnam veteran, said it’s satisfying to see the look on people’s faces when they realize what the program is about. They say it’s a unique and great idea, he said.
People who want cameras for days other than Saturday and Sunday during the fair, which runs Wednesday through Labor Day, may contact John Schupp at 440- 488-6416.
Schupp, a chemistry professor at Cleveland State University, initiated Share the Fair three years ago as a way to not only create memories but also to introduce veterans to SERV (Supportive Education for the Returning Veteran), a program to assist military veterans with their transition from soldier to civilian to student.
SERV classes are designed only for veterans to help them in their first year of college; and all SERV professors have volunteered to teach SERV classes, and thus are the most veteran- friendly professors on campus.
Also, a Veterans Affairs representative is part of the SERV staff to provide on-site assistance with VA and GI Bill issues, he said.
Schupp, no longer affiliated with the CSU program, is spreading Share the Fair and SERV to other Ohio college campuses, including YSU, which Schupp said is doing a tremendous job recruiting and retaining area veterans to its campus.
The other colleges and county fairs involved are: Fulton County Fair, Lourdes College, Sylvania; Miami and Darke counties, Edison Community College, Piqua; and Sandusky County, Terra Community College, Fremont.
Schupp said he is grateful to the AMVETS for providing funds to buy 40 cameras when the program started and for support by the Mahoning County Veterans Service Commission and YSU Veterans Affairs Office at the fair.