DAVENPORT, Iowa — The Veteran's Car Club of the Quad Cities hosted its second annual car show on Saturday, July 16.
The show featured dozens of classic and unique cars and motorcycles, as well as a 50/50 raffle. It was all to benefit the Quad Cities Veterans Outreach Center. The center provides veterans with meals, housing assistance and job placement, among other free services.
"They do everything for all branches of service and help all the veterans, whether they're homeless, whether they got problems," Veteran's Car Club member and Army vet of 26 years Jerry Dykes said. "We've got problems with PTSD and suicides, so they're there to help the veterans and also to help them when they're down and out."
The car show was held a few days after the U.S. House of Representatives passed a sweeping defense policy legislation on Thursday, July 14.
The $839 billion National Defense Authorization Act for the 2023 fiscal year was approved in a 329-101 vote. It includes a 4.6% pay raise for service members.
"Sometimes, the pay has gotten behind so far that it doesn't sustain them as well as it should," Dykes said. "It's a good thing that they're raising those rates and giving them more money."
Veteran's Car Club president Bruce Cheek served in the Navy during the Vietnam War.
"I know that they're making better money now than they did when I was in," Cheek said. "I think that that's a good thing. They put their lives at risk 24/7, 365 days a year. You could be here today and somewhere else in the world tomorrow. And you can be alive today and not alive tomorrow."
Cheek wants to see more of a focus on health care for active service members and veterans and to see them get the treatment they deserve for their service.
The Veteran's Car Club was hoping to raise $1,500 at the car show for the Veterans Outreach Center.
The NDAA also included 2.4% inflation bonuses for service members earning less than $45,000 a year and codifies President Joe Biden's executive order to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour for federal contractors across the government.
The Senate has not voted on its own defense bill.