Lisa Stanbery

CLEVELAND, Tenn. -- Bradley County Commissioner Lisa Stanbery tells veterans that although they've given a lot, she's asking them to help a little more.

Mrs. Stanbery met Saturday with members of the USS Haddo Base, a Cleveland, Tenn.-based submarine veterans group, to update them on progress toward a regional veterans nursing home in Bradley County.

She urged the submariners to use their network to grow grass-roots support for the project.

"We need to organize all of our veterans organizations, VFW and American Legion posts and let them know there's support in this area," she told the group.

The County Commission began working to get a state veterans nursing home in the county in 2003. The project now is listed as No. 123 on the Veterans Administration's national priority list. The new list expected to come out in January could reflect local efforts to find sites and fund the local share of the project, local officials have said.

On Saturday, Mrs. Stanbery said cooperation from neighboring counties is necessary to raise the local share of money and demonstrate to state and national lawmakers that the project has regional support.

Richard Noble, a group member, advised Mrs. Stanbery to have a timeline for the project to show groups during her pitch.

After the meeting Mr. Noble said that the veterans home is "an important thing to have but they got to be a little more organized."

USS Haddo base members wrote down suggestions for Mrs. Stanbery and advised her to contact the Chattanooga Area Veterans Council to reach more organizations.

Chattanooga Area Veterans Council head Ronnie Williams said the organization already has given information on the project to all its 53 member groups.

BY THE NUMBERS

* 45,861: Veterans in Bradley, Hamilton, Polk, McMinn, Meigs and Rhea counties in 2007

* $21 million: Estimated cost of veterans nursing home

* 120: Number of beds

* 80: Number of day-care slots

* 25: Number of acres needed

Source: Veterans Service Office

TIMELINE

* 2003: Cleveland and Bradley County pass resolutions of support for a veterans nursing home

* 2007: Census update shows nearly 46,000 veterans in Bradley, Hamilton and area counties

* 2008: Tennessee General Assembly adopts resolution of support

* January 2010: Anticipated release of VA priority list for project funding

Source: Bradley County and Bradley County Veterans Service Office