Please Note: I cannot do this without you. The 3rd annual Veteran's Day celebration will be held November 12th in my subsidized building. The first year was all privately funded by, well, me and two others. The second year was funded by generous people on this site. It was a terrific success and the vets were extremely grateful.
I was able to provide both gifts and cash to the vets through a raffle. It would be difficult for me to describe how much these senior vets appreciated the fact that folks still care about them. Some of the veterans in my building are in their late 70s, and 80s. They thoroughly appreciate whatever we do for them.
If anyone here wants to contribute, every penny would be used for the celebration or given in an envelope directly to a veteran. Please let me know either in a DailyKos email or in a comment. If you like, I will then give you my personal email address, my physical address, full name and anything else you desire (well, mostly, e.g. I'm not giving up any grandchild.)
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I posted the following - it's a "thank you" to each veteran:
Recognition of Service
Veteran's Name, on behalf of a grateful nation and in recognition of the years you served your country with honor, we say "Thank You."
It is said that no one desires or loves peace more than a soldier, because he or she must bear the burden of war. In this time of hopeful peace for us all, we remember your service. Mindful of the passing years we say to you that we remember, and we say thank you for your service to our country.
Each veteran receives a personalized copy of this. Last year I made several copies for some because they wanted one for each of their children.
I will also give them a copy of VP Joe Biden's "thank you" letter addressed specifically to the veterans of my building.
I know it meant a great deal to each of them, because they told me directly. I can't express how much their thanks meant to me. That's why I'm doing it again this year. We had 28 veterans last year, and with deaths and new folks moving in, we have about the same number this year.
I will make my chili again because it was very popular. I bought corn bread and someone else bought soda and other drinks. Other contributions to the food came from local merchants.
I've already bought some of the makings for the chili, lots of beans with some ground meat in it. I still need canned stewed tomatoes - think two large soup pots, 12 quarts each - plus onions, peppers, corn bread, meat, and so on. I would also like to order fried or roasted chicken and salad for 26.
Please, if you have a few extra bucks lying around, consider helping me with this celebration. Each year becomes a little harder to come up with extra money internally, so I do need some help. I got help to create a PayPal account so the link appears below.
I know there are so very many places to send money to, especially in these economic times. Three more of the veterans have passed on, due to cancer and to old age. Four more veterans have since moved into the building so this will be new to them. I want to do right by all of them.
Can you help me to show our gratitude for their service to our country? I have set up a Paypal account. Just click this button and donate whatever you can. And thank you!
PS. I will have help posting pictures this year so you will all see some faces of the older vets enjoying the party. Also, if any other Chicago Kos folks want to attend, please let me know and I will give you directions to our building.
https://www.paypal.com/...