The Youngstown Disabled American Veterans Chapter Two Mahoning County Color Guard performed multiple ceremonies at the event. Commander Don White described being asked to attend and participate as an honor. Shown from left are Youngstown Disabled American Veterans Chapter Two Treasurer and Fundraising Chair Bob Cooper, Past Commander Don White, Commander Terry Mackey, Veteran’s Services Commissioner Dale Baringer, and Milo Johnston. (Photo by Morgan Ahart)

SALEM — The Salem Kiwanis Club held its inaugural veterans luncheon Thursday at the First Christian Church Fellowship Hall Thursday.

More than 90 people submitted RSVPs to attend, and more than 40 veterans attended.

In addition to providing veterans with a free meal, the event featured an opening and closing ceremony, as well a flag folding ceremony and veteran’s pinning by Youngstown Disabled American Veterans Chapter Two Mahoning County Color Guard, and remarks from Mahoning County Veterans Commission Outreach Coordinator Corbin Baker, and Dr. Marshall Bahr, CEO and founder of Xterra Health: Nexus Letters and DBQS for Disabled Veterans. Attending veterans also received homemade cards made by second-grade students at Buckeye Elementary.

Bahr said that being asked to attend and speak with the veterans was an honor, and that he had been inspired to found Xterra as a way of helping veterans secure the medical and financial benefits that they have earned. He explained that many veterans’ requests for health care through the Veterans Administration are denied on the grounds that they lack sufficient documentation to prove their medical issues resulted from their military service, and that Xterra helps veterans to overturn those rulings by securing veteran nexus letters for them.

He also noted that prior to founding Xterra the existing companies providing that service were often predatory and charged exorbitant fees to capitalize upon veterans in a desperate position, which inspired the founding of Xterra’s non-profit foundation which works to assist veterans with financial hardships free of charge.