Service members and their families will soon have a place to relax while waiting for flights at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. A group of veterans plans to open the Western New York Freedom Lounge around May 1.
The lounge will be near the baggage claim area on the lower terminal level, in space leased from the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority that was previously used for an airline baggage office and storage space.
Retired Lieutenant Colonel Dan Walther, chairman of the group, says service members need some quiet, personal space in the airport. His group has been raising money to pay for the renovations and is setting up a non-profit agency to run the space.
Walther says the roughly 500 square foot space will be divided into three rooms: a reception room, "a kitchenette where we'll have free coffee and sodas, and maybe snacks... the other section will be like a small living room, with a big screet TV, stereo, computer... a place to sit down and relax."
The room will be staffed by volunteer veterans and members of veterans organizations. It will be open to service members and families of service members leaving town or coming home.
