North Valley veterans continue search for home
MARC BUCKHOUT ~MANAGING EDITOR ~ 9/8/2010

The Daisy Mountain Veterans, a group consisting of some 65 veterans, a combination of American Legion members and Veterans of Foreign Wars, is once again in search
of a new home.
The vagabond group has been in existence in the North Valley for the last five years, but still is an organization without a permanent home.
The group, which uses twice a month bingo nights as one of its chief fundraisers, has spent the last two years using the Del Webb building, located at 3701 W. Anthem Way #215 as its home base.
Ray Norris, of the VFW, explained that once Del Webb was no longer using the space that the Daisy Mountain Veterans approached them and asked if they could use it.
Ben Dutton of Pulte made a deal for the 3,000 square foot area, with offices around the main room that the veterans now use for storage of various bingo equipment as well as equipment used for the Veterans Parade that the group organizes each year.
“He said we could use it for a dollar a year,” Norris said.
Instead of having to spend money on rent, something the group said it really can’t afford, they’ve been able to use the proceeds from their bimonthly bingo games to help those in need.
“In the winter we’ll get 100 plus players and in the summer it’s probably 60-75,” Norris said. “How much we make varies, but we’ll take in $500 plus on a good night.”
Fellow Daisy Mountain Veteran Mary Ann Derryberry said the proceeds go to a lot
of worth causes.
“Recently we’ve used funds to help veterans in the area pay their utility bills,” she said. “There are a lot of people hurting. We also regularly contribute to the Military, Veteran and Family Assistance Foundation. It’s an organization that aids the families of deployed soldiers. We also send care packages to soldiers overseas, give to VFW children’s hospitals, support the local Little League as well as the Boys and Girl Scouts.”
In addition they are gearing up for their biggest event of the year, the Veterans Day Parade, which will be the sixth annual coming up on Nov. 6, one that typically draws between 12,000 – 25,000 to Anthem. This year’s goal is 25,000.
With Pulte’s lease set to expire in February of 2011 the group received a scare when the real estate agent for the Scottsdale couple that own the property said the group would need to be out of the building by Sept. 30.
“We knew that we were coming toward the end of our stay in our current situation, but this really put us in a panicky, scrambling state,” Derryberry said. “We have all of our efforts invested in preparing for the Veterans Parade right now so I really don’t know what we would have done.”
With some convincing by Pulte the Daisy Mountain Veterans were given until the end of January 2011.
Though that word warranted a sigh of relief for the group, it’s only a temporary reprieve.
“Before we were here we’d run bingo at various schools, sometimes at the library and the thing is it’s not all that easy for us older folks that run it to move all the equipment and stuff for the bingo in and out of places each time we have an event,” Norris said. “With all the stuff we have between our bingo setup and the equipment we have for the parade we’d probably need to get some sort of storage unit if we can’t find a permanent location.”
That would again cut into the charitable efforts the group makes.
“It really could effectively end our ability to serve our veterans and the community at large,” Derryberry said. “At this point Bingo is our largest profit maker and it isn’t that much. The last two Memorial Day Parades have actually both lost money. If we have to pay full price for a space to rent we won’t be able to exist. At this point we can’t even afford to pay the utilities for a facility much less rent.”
What the Daisy Mountain Veterans said they’d like to see happen is for a property owner to step forward and offer the group a space to use, or even some land in which they would be able to build a facility of their own at some point.
“Our plea is that there is a lot of empty office space here in Anthem,” Norris said. “A lot of these buildings have been empty since the day construction was completed and with the economy the way it is I don’t think it’s a stretch to think that it could be three years until tenants are found. We’re looking for a space for once a week meetings, twice a month bingo and a place where we can store some equipment.”
The group’s bigger goal is to one day be able to have a facility to call their own.
“We’re a very small group and one of our biggest problems is we don’t have a facility of our own,” Norris said. “We’ll have some of our younger veterans come by, but we can’t hold them. We have 65 members, but the ones that are active are about a quarter of that number because we don’t have a gathering place. It would do a lot if we had a place where veterans could come and get a beer and swap stories or get something to eat. When veterans travel they stop in at VFWs.”
Derryberry envisions a facility that could serve a multitude of non-profit enterprises.
“I could certainly see us inviting the ProMusicas of the area, the theater group the scout troupes to rent out space from us for different productions,” she said.
While the group currently makes Anthem home Derryberry explained that with membership in Desert Hills, Tramonto and then all the way up to Black Canyon City along with Anthem and New River that the group would be open to a variety of options.
“Everybody has a life and obligations, but I think there are a lot of retirement age veterans that would take pride in a place to call our own,” Derryberry said. “We just need a place that is accessible to North Valley residents where our veterans feel safe coming to.”
In the meantime the group will continue putting on bingo, which takes place at 6:30 p.m. the first and third Friday of the month. For information on the group go to daisymtnvets.org or call Bob Hackett at 623-551-9805.