Dakota Davis (holding certificate) was honored in March of this year during a Nevada City Council meeting when representatives of the Sons of Union Veterans and Sons of the American Revolution came to give him a Certificate of Commendation and a Bronze Good Citizenship Medal for his work on the Christmas project he did for Veterans at the Iowa Veterans Home. He was surrounded at that time by the Mayor, family, and friends. His work didn’t stop at Christmas. It has continued into the present year with more ways to honor and give back to veterans.
It started less than a year ago — right before the Christmas season of 2023. Dakota Davis, a Nevada High School sophomore at the time, came home one evening and told his parents that he wanted to do something for veterans for Christmas.
“I have a lot of family and friends in the military or who are going into the military,” he said. “So, I wanted to fill a stocking for each veteran at the Veterans Home in Marshalltown.”
His thoughts were to give each veteran a cocoa kit and mug, and collect any other miscellaneous items that they might need. Then he’d deliver the gifts to them in person, so they’d have someone visiting them for the holiday.
He announced his mission, set up some collection points in the community, which included having a table during Christmas On Main. The generosity from the Nevada community was overwhelming. “We blew it way out of the water,” Dakota said.
He delivered gifts to veterans on Dec. 23, 2023, and then found himself overwhelmed by their reactions.
“Some of them were on the verge of tears… mostly happy tears, because a lot of them may have family, but they don’t get to see them often,” Dakota said. His mother shared that he even got a call from a lady in Georgia who wanted to tell him how much it meant to her that he was able to visit her brother at the Veterans Home. Due to her own health challenges, it was the first year she couldn’t get back to Iowa to be with him. “She called us in tears,” said Dakota’s mother, Lola, because it meant so much to her that Dakota was there for her brother.
All of it impacted Dakota more than he could imagine. It made him realize how much it meant to veterans and their families. He knew he couldn’t just stop what he’d called a “Sophomore’s Salute” after Christmas.
He began working on his next mission, a “Summer Salute,” which would include taking a group of veterans to an Iowa Cubs baseball game in July.
As you read this story, that trip will have already happened. Just under 50 veterans and their companions/caregivers were treated to an I Cubs game with food, beverages and prime seating in the Left Field Lounge. All of it was made possible by donations given by many businesses, who supported the experience for these veterans — most from Story County, and about half from Nevada — to enjoy the all-American pastime of baseball.
Also happening in July was a smoke-off fundraiser to begin collecting money for the holiday season this year. Dakota said he wants to bring Christmas joy and also Thanksgiving meals to veterans who can’t provide a meal on their own for themselves or their families.
He enlisted the help of Nevada Parks and Recreation in putting on the smoke-off competition and fundraiser. “Parks and Rec gave us the space to store the meat, and let us use the SCORE Pavilion for the smoke-off,” Dakota said. The meat was provided by the Iowa Pork Producers and the Story County Pork Producers.
And the smoke-off isn’t his only fundraiser in the works. Dakota plans for a chili cook-off on Oct. 12 at the Nevada Legion Post, and he’s enlisted the help of former Nevadan Tony Dunson, who does shirt printing, to do shirts. Each shirt sold will raise funds for his “SalutING Service” mission.
What keeps Dakota going when it comes to veterans? “Their faces,” he said of the reactions he’s witnessed. “One of them actually gave me a replica of a painting he did after he got back from Nam,” he said, and this meant the world to Dakota, who lost a great uncle who had served in Vietnam and died from Agent Orange in 2004.
For those who follow Dakota on Facebook, one might think that all of Dakota’s time is spent raising funds for veterans and thanking his sponsors and supporters, but he does have other activities.
As he enters his junior year of high school, he’s excited to be starting the DMACC Auto Tech program, which is the career he hopes to pursue. He also plans to continue to be active in wrestling and baseball, and to continue his job at Sports Bowl as a cook.
Everything he’s done on behalf of veterans, and that his parents Lola and Harold Davis have helped him accomplish, is worth it, he said, because he’s learned an important lesson from these veterans about the “value of life.”
“A lot of these veterans have told me that no matter what, if they could go back, they would. They would keep fighting. They are proud of what they did, and they did what they thought was right.”
Dakota is working with an attorney in Des Moines on licensing “SalutING Service” as a nonprofit, public charity.
–Written by Marlys Barker, City of Nevada
