In August 2024, Harry Donovan Jr. Valor Home partnered with Toth Buick GMC and Northern Ohio Buick GMC to raise money for local veterans by raffling off a brand-new 2024 GMC Terrain, with the winner drawn on Veterans Day. The raffle succeeded in raising over $24,000 for Valor Home, all of which will go towards forwarding the organization’s mission to help homeless veterans achieve permanent housing.
In addition to raising money for the organization, the raffle also resulted in a happy coincidence for one of its long-term supporters. Edie Deyarmin, the winner of the raffle, was one of the first to donate to Valor Home when it opened its doors in 2013. She sponsored three of Valor Home’s rooms to ensure the comfort and security of its residents. “It’s a very nice program,” she remarks. “The people who work there, everybody has the love for the veterans, as opposed to just having a job, and that’s important.” She has also previously made various in-kind donations at Freedom House, another veterans program under the F&CS umbrella.
Edie’s Story
Edie Deyarmin is a bus driver for the Stow-Munroe Falls City School District and a mother of two children. Her son, Lance Cpl. Daniel “Nathan” Deyarmin Jr. served with the 3/25 unit in the U.S Marines and was tragically killed in 2005 while deployed in Iraq. Following his death, Edie founded the Deyarmin Foundation and hosted annual poker runs that raised thousands of dollars each year up until the COVID-19 pandemic, where she later focused her resources to directly supporting veterans experiencing a crisis.
In fact, Edie first heard of the Valor Home car raffle when she volunteered to sell tickets for it as a way to support the organization. When she received the call on Veterans Day from the Director of Development Matt Slater who told her the good news, she said “I was shocked when he said I won it.”
Having volunteered at a veterans breakfast earlier in the day, she considered the car to be another addition to her “wonderful” Veterans Day. “There’s these things that happen throughout life. I know he’s still around me. I know he keeps an eye on me, and that’s why I thought ‘did you give me this car?” She laughed about it, “I just think a lot of things that happen, happen for a reason.”
When asked about why she continues to give, she responded: “I feel like I’ve always been a helper. If I feel like I’m making a difference and if I feel like it’s making my son proud of me– because I know whenever I see him, whenever I cross that rainbow bridge–if people even cross rainbow bridges – when I have my reunion with my son, I want him to be proud of me. Whenever I see him again, I want him to give me a hug and know that I did something for him.”
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About the Harry Donovan Jr. Valor Home
Harry Donovan Jr. Valor Home in Summit County provides transitional housing for veterans alongside case management and therapy to support them on the path to permanent, secure housing. Its support is only possible with the generosity of our community, and information about the program, including who it serves and its needs, can be found here.
Monetary donations are also always appreciated and can be donated online here.