As many of you know, I originated a Veterans Day celebration each year in my senior building in Chicago. This will be the 4th year of this celebration. Some of the vets have passed on, a few moved to nursing homes and so on. But each year we have new tenants who are veterans so the number of current vets remains about the same, 27 or 28. We have a smaller group of Korean War vets but most are vets from Viet Nam. I need your help to make it happen.
This is why I work to make Veterans Day a real thing:
UPDATE: Yesterday I met a homeless vet. All I could give him was $ 1.00. I have a very limited income. No doubt all of us see a homeless vet here and there and probably do the same thing. I want to help them all. But I also know I can't help them all. All I can do is take care of the vets in front of me, the men and women in my rent-subsidized building. (Some vets here get less than $700 a month on which to live.) And I cannot do it without your help.
The thing is, if I do not get a bunch of donations, I cannot do Veterans Day. I can't even afford the 8-10 pounds of ground meat for my chili on my own. I received a donation from a very kind person here. Bought some great socks, a commodity that is very appreciated here. Another person donated a winter coat for a vet who does not have one. I am so grateful for that.
In the past many of you have generously donated to make a great recognition party for the folks here. I am asking you, those of you can afford it, to donate again, or for the first time. I know there are so many places for you to give money to, especially these days. If you could see how deeply appreciated you are by the vets here, you would see how important each donation is. That we remember these vets means so much to them. Please help me make a once a year event memorable to them. Please.
At a recent Art Fair I met several WWII vets and made it a point to thank them. One of the WWII vets I knew personally passed away this year. I remember the last Holiday season where I spoke with him and thanked him for his service. I gave him a personalized copy of the Recognition of Service document I wrote.
I knew he (Howard) was in the Navy and fought on three ships that were sunk under fire. He always got a new ship and continued fighting. Howard was a small man, quiet, and one of the many veteran workers after the war. I said to Howard that he helped save the world and that meant so much to the world.
Howard said something that I've heard before about his service. We just had a job to do and we did it. That's all, he said, we just did our job. He would not accept any hero label or further praise. I know three ships he was on that went into battle were bombed out from under him and he went into the cold sea each time. Clearly he might have died each time. But he was like all the vets I've ever met from that period. We didn't do anything special, we just did our job.
His nephew is the father of my son-in-law, another veteran from the Navy, Viet Nam era. I gave him a personalized Recognition of Service as well, and welcomed him home. He thought if was beautiful and thanked me for welcoming him home. He framed the certificate.
A month ago, another infantry soldier said the same thing to me, with almost the same words. They did nothing special, just what we had to do. All the vets I've ever met always downplay their service, but to me, they are all extraordinary people.
My high school counselor was a Marine from the last "good" war, saw a lot of action in Europe. He is now suffering from dementia. I wished we had talked about it before his memory started going - I would have thanked him then but now he only has occasional glimpses of that time, or even of this morning.
I had another WWII vet as my high school Journalism teacher. He was a gunner on a fighter plane. He no longer slept without help because he said he could still see the faces of the men he killed. A gunner, apparently, sat in a bubble of glass with his gun between his legs. A gunner sees the gunner in the enemy plane, apparently, often. Each plane he shot down had other men in it. It was not like dropping bombs anonymously on targets far below. It was up close and personal. He saw the other gunner's face as he killed him. And he no longer slept without a shot or two or three or more of bourbon. Yet he was one of the finest teachers I have ever known.
One of my work supervisors in the late 70s served in the Asian Theatre. He, too, had an alcohol problem stemming from his war time in jungles and death. I never met a kinder man. Ken is gone now I suppose, but I remember him. Another manager at work hated Japanese people because he was also in Asia. Another man spent time in a camp for captured soldiers. He was starved then and could now not pile enough food on his plate at any gathering, as though it was the last food on earth. I knew them all.
So when I learned that our senior building did not recognize veterans in any way, I started one here. The first year was meager because a friend and I spent several months buying things from our own pockets and our pockets were and are not as full of money as we'd like. Someone on this site suggested I ask for contributions from DailyKos folks, which I have done before and I am doing now.
I've already started buying little gifts that are on sale in stores around my neighborhood. Since I live on social security, my budget is stretched a lot before contributions from you all come in.
Some of the veterans in my building are in their late 70s, and 80s. They thoroughly appreciate whatever we do for them. It has built and continues to foster a profound sense of community here. There are several vets who still suffer from PTSD and this has connected them with the larger building community.
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.)
I know there are so very many places to send money to, especially in this election year. We lose so many vets each year but the remaining veterans are looking forward to this year's celebration and I can't let them down. (My building is a CHA subsidized building and money is always short here.) Everyone is grateful here for your help. My gratitude to you would move a mountain.
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!
https://www.paypal.com/...