The Virgene Project - Veterans Store

Saturday, September 26 from 10 am - 4 pm
Veterans Store
518 Vermont, Quincy Ill.

Men and womens clothing in all sizes, shoes, caps, bedding, and much more.
Open to everyone! 
Please make a monetary donation
Veterans shop for FREE

The Virgene Project’s mission is to “serve every veteran” — a phrase described as “an impossible dream” by its founder so it operates as a volunteer-driven effort, offering free clothing to veterans in need. They now have a place at 518 Vermont in Quincy. 
The Virgene Project is named after Virgene Gilkerson.  She was a lifelong advocate for veterans, active in the Red Cross, Honor Flight, and local parades. She was a nurse at Blessing Hospital for 30 years, and after retiring in 1984, she volunteered at the hospital in the tea room and at the front desk. 
During World War II, she served as a 1st Lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps in New Guinea in the South Pacific from 1943 to 1945.She was awarded the Asiatic-Pacific Theater Ribbon and the WWII Victory Medal. She was a member of the seventh Great River Honor Flight to Washington, DC, in 2011, and enjoyed meeting veterans returning from other Honor Flights. She participated in the Illinois Veterans History Project. 
She was the American Red Cross Prairie State (Illinois) Nurse of the Year in 1999, the Adams County Chapter of the American Red Cross Nurse of the Year in 2002 and 2010, and the Blessing Nurses Alumni organizations Nurse of the Year in 2001. 
The Virgene Project is a local initiative based in Quincy, Illinois, dedicated to supporting veterans through the provision of free clothing. It was founded in the early 2000s by Jim and Sue Hobbins, along with friends Dave and Charlotte Tooke, who were themselves veterans of the U.S. military, and Virgene’s dedication inspired Jim and Sue to create a program that would honor her legacy and serve veterans in their community  
An individual has agreed to take it over as a volunteer, and would like to invite everyone to two events. 
On Sept. 23, there will be an open house, and on Sept. 26, there will be a donation sale.   Anyone may come in and make a donation for what items they want.  There are men and women’s clothing in all sizes, as well as shoes and caps, bedding, and more.
 They are inviting every veteran and their families as well as everyone in the community, to the sale.   This is open to ALL veterans in Illinois, Missouri and Iowa.