Rock Falls’ Culver’s teaming up with Whiteside County Honor Flight to support veterans

ROCK FALLS – Culver’s of Rock Falls is asking the public to help them send local veterans to the nation’s capital.

On Monday, Nov. 11, customers can help support the Whiteside County Honor Flight program when they make a purchase from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. at Culver’s, 1901 Harley Davidson Drive in Rock Falls.

The Whiteside County Honor Flight program honors veterans by pairing them with volunteer guardians for a daylong trip to Washington, D.C., where they will make lifelong connections with other veterans and visit national monuments, such as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the World War II, Lincoln and Korean War memorials.

The Whiteside County chapter was established in 2009 and is part of the Honor Flight of the Quad Cities, which operates as a regional hub among 131 hubs spread across 45 states and serves veterans within a 75-mile radius. Each year, the Honor Flight Network sends 22,500 veterans to the nation’s capital free of charge, with more than 300,000 veterans flown since the program was created in 2005 by Jeff Miller and Earl Morse.

This is the sixth year the restaurant will use a percentage of its sales to help support the program. Owner Ashlee Alber said her store helped raise over $1,500 for the program last year.

“The Honor Flight program is close to my heart as my grandfather, Eugene Sellstrom, was a World War II veteran,” Alber said. “My mom accompanied him on an Honor Flight back in 2009 and it was an emotional, life-changing experience for them both. My grandpa passed away only three months later. I wanted to find a way to give back and support this program in any way that we could. I reached out to the Whiteside County Honor Flight program and we have been partnering every Veterans Day for the last 6 years. It is truly our pleasure to support a program as impactful as this one. Thank you to our veterans for their service!”