Fresno State will honor its students who have served the nation through military service with a Veterans Day Ceremony on Wednesday (Nov. 4) and the Fresno State Army ROTC Veterans Day 5K Run on Saturday (Nov. 7).
Coming up after that is the annual Fresno Veterans Day parade Nov. 11 in downtown
Fresno, which will be led by the Fresno State Bulldog Marching Band.
The campus is closed Nov. 11 for the holiday, so the University’s observance will be from 11 a.m.-noon Nov. 4 at the Allen Lew Memorial Garden (near the Frank W. Thomas Building).
Lorenzo Rios, the CEO of Clovis Veterans Memorial District, will deliver the keynote talk. Lt. Col. (RET) Rios worked at Fresno State as commander of the Army ROTC Bulldog Battalion until he retired in May. He is a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army.
The Fresno State Army ROTC and Air Force ROTC, led by bag piper Ken Bain, will present colors.
The event, sponsored by the Student Veterans Organization, will open with Chaplain Clayton Diltz, an Air Force veteran, delivering the invocation. He is the current chaplain for the Fresno Veterans Home and the wing chaplain the 144th Fighter Wing Air National Guard Base in Fresno, and Kaweah Delta Health Care District. He also is an adjunct professor at Fresno Pacific University and on the elder board at Visalia Evangelical Free Church.
Two members of the Fresno State Chorus will perform “My Country Tis of Thee” and “God Bless America.”
Veterans Day
Virginia Cardinal, coordinator for Fresno County Toys for Tots, will announce this year’s drive organized by the Marine Corps League of Fresno. They are accepting new, unwrapped toys to distribute to children in the community during Christmas.
The Veterans Day 5K run Saturday will begin at the North Gym on campus with check in and registration at 7:15 a.m. Donations are accepted as an entry fee. All proceeds from the run will fund the Clovis Veterans Memorial District and the VFW.
The race is open to all ages; however, adults must accompany minors in the one mile run.
Fresno State also supports veterans with the CSU Troops to College initiative and three programs including the Veterans Services in Student Affairs. A new program was funded over the summer: the Student Support Services Veterans Program. Also the Veterans Education Program in the Division of Continuing and Global Education received a gift from the Red and Nancy Arnold Foundation in June.
For more information about the ceremony, contact the Veterans Services Office at 559.278.7030. For the 5K run, contact Nancy Kobata at 559.278.1664 or at nancyko@csufresno.edu. Sign up: https://runsignup.com/
