CLEVELAND, Ohio – The USO lounge at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport will close next month as the organization works to “streamline our operations and better meet the needs of the military,” a spokeswoman said.
Located on the baggage claim level of the airport, the lounge provides traveling military personnel and their families with a quiet place to relax and wait for their flights.
According to USO, the lounge at the airport has been there since 1968.
The last day the center will receive guests will be Wednesday, Sept. 25, and on Monday, Sept. 30, the center will close completely, according to Tess Fegan, a communications specialist with the USO.
Fegan said the decision to close the lounge was difficult.
“The USO recently conducted a thorough evaluation of its operations to ensure effective mission accomplishment,” she wrote in an email. “We determined that we can better support Ohio by reallocating our resources to deliver critical USO programs to our core audience, currently serving military members and their families.”
She added, “While this represents a significant change for the USO in the Cleveland area, the USO continues to demonstrate its ability and willingness to adapt to the ever-changing needs of the military.”
The center is currently open Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and is staffed by volunteers.
A volunteer at the center said this week that the lounge sees about 25 guests a day, from recruits heading to basic training to family members waiting to welcome deployed relatives home and veterans who are served as space allows.
The center offers comfortable places for reading and napping, toys for children, snacks and drinks.
USO centers at other Ohio airports, including John Glenn Columbus International Airport and Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky Airport near Cincinnati, will not close, Fegan said.
She said the USO will continue to support soldiers in northeast Ohio with mobile units, sporting events and other programs.
The USO recently deployed a new mobile unit to Camp James A. James Joint Military Training Center in Portage and Trumbull counties, Fegan said, calling it a “fully functional USO center on wheels with a kitchen, games and activities to support traveling National Guard units.”
In addition, the USO plans to support Coast Guard District 9, based in Cleveland, in future programs.
The USO (United Service Organizations) is a private, nonprofit organization founded in February 1941, shortly before the United States entered World War II, with the goal of boosting the morale of the country’s growing armed forces.
The USO’s first airport center opened in San Francisco in 1966 in response to the large number of soldiers passing through during the Vietnam War.
A spokeswoman for Cleveland Hopkins said USO pays $1 a year in rent for the 1,200-square-foot lounge. She said the airport has not yet decided what it will do with the space after USO leaves.
