Bigham, Francis honored for service to veterans

Courtesy of Ric Smart
·1 min read

McDONOUGH COUNTY — Lois Bigham and Bill Francis were honored Thursday for their years of service helping get veterans to appointments during The Veterans Assistance Commission of McDonough County's annual driver's dinner and awards at the VFW Nov. 4th.

Bigham was honored for eighteen years of driving the Veteran's van. She has driven more than 2000 miles getting Veterans to their medical appointments. Bill Francis was also honored for his ten years of service on the VAC board. His service as Secretary kept a consistent and precise recording of the VAC operations.

In 2019 the VAC van made 178 trips to the Iowa City VA hospital. It delivered 378 Veterans a total of 46,606 miles. The volunteer drivers contributed 1,433 hours of their time.

Any Veteran needing transportation to a medical appointment may call the VAC office at 309-833-3275. The VAC;s priority is the Iowa City VA hospital and surrounding clinics. Other transportation may be arranged according to availability.

Volunteer drivers are always needed. Drivers usually contribute one day a month, sometimes two if necessary.

If you are interested in helping the Veterans of McDonough by becoming a driver please call the above number. At this point in time a Covid inoculation is required to be a volunteer driver.

This article originally appeared on The McDonough County Voice: Drivers honored for service to veterans