Cleveland event to help injured vets

Staff report

Cleveland

The Wounded Warriors Project hopes to raise some money through a downtown celebration in honor of Veterans Day.

The Nov. 12 event begins at 7:30 p.m. at Quicken Loans Arena with the Lake Erie Monsters hockey game, said event coordinator Adam Widner. The after-game party will be at Barroom Cleveland on Euclid Avenue.

Widner said hockey-game tickets for active military members and veterans are $22 for lower-level side and club seats and $16 for lower-level corners and ends. General-public tickets are $24 for lower-level side and club seats and $18 for lower-level corners and ends.

Veterans and active-duty military personnel will be admitted to Barroom for free, and the general public is asked to make a $5 donation at the door.

Widner said a portion of all ticket sales from the game and cover charge at the bar will go toward Wounded Warriors, a nonprofit veterans organization whose mission is to raise awareness and meet the needs of injured service members.

“Basically this whole night is going to be about [veterans,]” he said. “The Northeast Ohio area has such a high military presence.”

The Wounded Warriors alum said three members of the original cast of the HBO miniseries “Band of Brothers” also will be on hand at the after party.

Actors Ron Livingston, Michael Cudlitz and Richard Speight will mingle with guests and sign autographs, Widner said.

Widner said veterans issues are important to raise awareness about because so often their post-war troubles go unnoticed and untreated.

“Wounded Warriors is getting guys out of their houses, people with mild [post-traumatic stress disorder] all the way to amputees,” he said. “Transition from combat lifestyle to civilian life can be a lot more difficult when you’re wounded, and this empowers them by getting them out of the house and making them mobile.”

For more information about the event, contact bandofbrowwp@yahoo.com.