Allegany Valley Veterans Center officials can breathe a little easier after receiving a $22,024.36 last week.

As Tom Eaton, AVVC president, told the Times Observer, “It feeds and houses these guys for the next few months. These buildings don’t heat themselves.” Eaton estimated that it will take $150,000 to $200,000 per year, depending on the number of veterans served, “to keep the place open.”

Eaton and his board are turning a vacant elementary school dormant for five years into a center to help veterans get back on their feet. Eventually, the center will have space for 60 people, including women and families in a separate area from single men. The center will have 32 rooms, each with a bed and recliner. Each group of rooms has computer — the building is fitted with fiber optic cable — and laundry spaces as well as a common room for cooking, reading, watching television, and spending time with other vets. There is a shower room with six showers, one of which is fully handicapped accessible, for the 32 upstairs rooms.

The center will help get veterans in need of help in touch with employers on job placements and transportation, with a goal of helping between 100 and 150 veterans a year.

“Is there demand?” Eaton asked. “You’re darned right there is.”

Money helps, but it isn’t the only need. Individuals and businesses have donated furniture, bedding, showers, clothing, games and toys, and electronics to the effort.

The Allegany Valley Veterans Center is a worthwhile effort happening in our own backyard. Kudos to Eaton and his board as well as all those individuals and businesses that have chipped in thus far. We have no doubt the Warren County region will continue do its part to help get the center off the ground.