AMVETS post puts out the call for contest votes

September 29, 2012 at 12:09a.m.

STRUTHERS

With only two days of voting left, AMVETS Post 44 Career Center needs all the help it can get to win Home Depot’s Facebook contest and help area veterans.

If it wins the Home Depot contest, it would receive a $25,000 Home Depot gift card and be eligible to win $250,000 in cash.

Leading for most of September, then falling behind the past day or more, AMVETS — as of about 11:45 p.m. Friday — had again pulled ahead of its main competitor, the Heroes Night Out organization of Cedar Park, Texas, by only 42 votes, 28,300 for Post 44 and 28,258 for Heroes Night Out.

“It’s such a tight race. I’m hoping the people of the Mahoning Valley get behind us. We need a really big push,” said Jan Brown, AMVETS Post 44 commander.

People may vote every day until the contest ends at 11:59 p.m. Sunday.

The money will stay in the community to help its veterans and other service members, said Brown, a retired Air Force senior master sergeant.

The AMVETS Career Center provides services such as computer skills and career coaching for veterans, active-duty service members, National Guard and reservists who have served honorably or currently are serving.

If AMVETS Post 44 wins the $25,000 Home Depot gift card, it plans to enlarge its career center, add energy-efficient windows and make various other updates to make it a better and more comfortable place for veterans, Brown added.

In addition to the gift card, the winner gets the opportunity to go up against 10 other monthly finalists early in 2013 and compete on Facebook for $250,000 in cash from The Home Depot Foundation.

Organizations that garner the second- and third-most votes in the contest finale will win $150,000 and $100,000, respectively. The monthly runner-up organizations receive a $5,000 Home Depot gift card.