(rain pattering) - We're standing in the cold October rain at the site when the Senate Investment Committee came to Montevideo and the community as a whole.

Commissioner Lindsay, I cannot say enough about the fine staff at this home.

They go above and beyond.

(gentle tranquil music) - The veterans home is a great thing.

There are quite a number of veterans throughout the state and so they have an alternative to living alone and toughing it out, you know, and I think it's just wonderful.

- We opened up in January of 2024.

It has been about a 16-year process to get the building here, to get the veterans home located here in Montevideo.

We'll serve only veterans and 10% spouses.

We really focus our care on them.

We want to respect and honor our veterans and be a team and give them a place to call home.

- It's a wonderful place.

It's not only nice to look at, the people are just super.

Everybody's treated with a lot of respect and I have a lot of admiration for every one of them.

They're just like family.

- There's almost anything available here.

We have our own little physical therapy gymnasium.

The dentist comes and the traveling doctors come.

Barber comes every other Thursday.

I've had my hair cut three times here already.

They just do everything excellent here.

- I have family that comes and visits me quite often.

I get out with them quite a bit.

Go out to their house for a meal.

That's always fun.

- [Bill] I've always been a people person, so I like to visit with all the different guys.

I've got to know all of them real good.

- The companionship, the camaraderie with the fellow veterans and the people made it quite easy to make the change.

- You know, I've been with the same lady for 75 years, but I got accustomed to it pretty fast and we get together still constantly.

So I wasn't deserting my wife.

It's that all of my family wanted to come here.

(dramatic inspiring music) - The dedication was really to just honor the building itself and all of its accomplishments.

You know, it was a very long process to get the Veterans Home here.

We had the right amount of people showed up for the dedication.

The weather was absolutely beautiful.

Marv Garbe was the ring leader in all of this that they felt that since there was a community care clinic already here located in Montevideo, that having a veterans home would make the most sense for them to have this as their location.

- A small group of us started this in 2007.

During this time our research indicated there were 1,500 plus veterans in Minnesota that could be placed in a veterans home.

Our mission was to have a veterans home constructed in Montevideo so our veterans had a place in their area for care and in reasonable traveling distance for the families to visit.

This is what it's all about.

A home for our veterans, a place that is close so their family and friends can visit.

May God bless America, our service members, all our veterans, all construction workers and those employees that will serve our veterans.

Thank you.

(audience applauds) - The governor was here and no politics involved.

(laughs) Yeah, it was a good program.

- This community of Montevideo took on a responsibility that will be there as long as this great nation stands.

We will be here every single day and we will care for this nation's veterans from every single era as long as it takes.

- [Bill] Then all of us that are living here, we had the front two rows.

So everybody was just staring us in the face when they were speaking.

- The veterans who stand here in front of us and those that serve right now, you heard it, less than 1%.

There's less than a few percent of people who serve.

But Americans all want to serve and I'm gonna give a thank you to administrator and to these folks you see wearing the red shirts.

All of these folks here know this is not just a job for them, this is a passion and a calling to care for our loved ones.

So I wanna say a thank you to you.

(audience applauds) - Our staff all worked together to make this such an organized program.

And to me it was just overwhelming, like I could not believe that our staff could pitch in that much and we could accomplish this for, roughly, 350 people that we could have them in our home and out of our home.

We're trying to create our own culture here.

What kind of culture do we want and what kind of culture do we wanna give to our veterans?

And that really just showed at that dedication.

- For any veterans, you could not find a better place to come to.

They take care of us from morning till night and they just treat us wonderful.

Every one of the staff, I always call them every one of the crew, they're just wonderful.

(dramatic inspiring music) (dramatic inspiring music fades) (dramatic lively music) (dramatic lively music continues) - [Announcer] "Postcards" is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the Citizens of Minnesota.

Additional support provided by: Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies; Mark and Margaret Yackel-Juleen on behalf of Shalom Hill Farms, a retreat and conference center in a prairie setting near Wyndham, Minnesota, on the web at shalomhillfarm.org; Alexandria, Minnesota a year-round destination with hundreds of lakes, trails and attractions for memorable vacations and events.

More information at explorealex.com.

A better future starts now.

West Central Initiative empowers communities with resources, funding and support for a thriving region, more at wcif.org.

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