HELPING OTHERS — Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla Jr. accepts a $15,000 donation from the Amsterdam Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 232. -- Contributed

STEUBENVILLE — Jefferson County Sheriff Fred Abdalla Jr.’s Veteran’s Appreciation Breakfasts and K-9 programs got a big boost last week, courtesy of Amsterdam VFW Post 232.

Quartermaster Gary McElroy presented Abdalla with a $15,000 check Wednesday to help defray the costs of both programs.

“Veterans are obviously who we are and who we stand for,” McElroy said. “We talked with Fred and part is going to be used to defray the cost of Veteran’s Breakfast through the end of 2026. We also chose the K-9 program because I believe they’re doing great things in the sheriff’s department, we need to get drugs off the street and communities cleaned.”

McElroy said they deposit a portion of the post’s profits throughout the year in a “charity” account, then use it to make donations to “different charities and non-profits.” In addition to the donation to the sheriff’s department, he said they’ve also made donations to Bergholz and East Springfield fire departments, the Amsterdam food pantry and Richmond baseball/softball association, and assist “within the community with parades, the village Easter egg hunt” and other activities.

“We have just a great group of men and women,” he said. “We always try to have something going on, whether it’s a dart tournament, dart leagues, turkey shoots–we just try to have something going on to bring people in the door all the time.”

Abdalla said the donation “means a lot for our veterans, our office and our community.”

“We are blessed to have received this gracious donation,” he added. “They would like to see $5,000 invested for our Veteran’s Appreciation Breakfasts, which would make that solvent into 2027, and $10,000 toward supporting our K-9 program. Some of the items we look to acquire for our K-9 program include equipment to enhance our training capabilities, (but) this gracious donation also helps to bring our goal of (having) four K-9s closer to reality.”