Veteran of the Month (VOM) December 2023- Marlene Merck

Marlene is a Nevada Veterans Advocate, she has worked with Women Veterans in her community and the State. She is Vice Chairman of the Annual Veterans Ball in Elko and has been co-chair of the Veterans Day dinner in Elko for the past 4 years. She has been in charge and director of the Veterans Day Parade Flat for the parade and of the Parade of Lights in Elko.

Marlene has worked with the Guard and woman veterans as to what is to be a woman veteran. She has worked on Suicide Prevention efforts. She participated in joint functions with the VFW and the Guard.

Marlene is part of the Womans Veteran Alliance, she is also the coordinator for the donations received from Walmart. Through this effort she supplies cloths, toys, holiday decorations and Halloween costumes to Head Start in Elko. She also works to donate clothes, shoes, toys and holiday decorations to the Boys and Girls Club in Elko and Spring Creek. She also donates clothes and personal hygiene items to the Elko Senior Center, Harbour House, a shelter for abused women. She has coordinated the distribution of clothes and toys to the Northern Nevada Moses Project. She has coordinated the donation of 120 Halloween Costumes to the Childrens Primary Hospital in Salt Lake City.

She participated as a woman veteran in a teenage mom workshop with the Elko Resource Center. She works with the VA Hospital in Salt Lake City to be sure that we donate cloths and shoes to the needy veterans. She also works with the suicide awareness in Carlin. Marlene was the driving force of setting up and getting donations for the Veterans Food Pantry set up at VFW Post 2350 in Elko. She maintains regular hours for the pantry and has managed the donation of more than 1000 pounds of food to the veterans of Elko.