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PLAINS TWP. — For many of the veterans currently staying at the Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Christmas could be a pretty lonely time.
But thanks to the work of the local American Legion chapters, vets will never have to worry about spending the holidays alone.
For the sixth straight year, the VA welcomed Santa Claus and his big bag of gifts to town, as the volunteers from the legions went up and down the hallways surprising vets with a Christmas gift of their own.
Clothes, toiletries — anything that a vet could use, they got. The volunteers worked swiftly and tirelessly to ensure that every veteran in the hospital was given a gift for Christmas, something that, without the help of the community, some of the veterans would go without this holiday season.
Nicole Guest was one of the Legion volunteers helping to spread a little Christmas cheer throughout the hospital on Wednesday. In addition to giving out gifts, the Legion members spent their time with the men and women of the hospital, talking and listening and offering a friendly hand.
“Anything we could do to make sure the vets know that they’re not alone,” Guest said.
The vets were very appreciative of the effort put in by the staff and the volunteers, as well as with their gifts.
“I would say I’m living like a king, but a king never lived like this,” said John Wrazien, one of the many vets that attended the Legions’ Christmas party.
Wrazien, along with a handful of other men and women, brought the cheer and the spirit to the party, singing along with the holiday tunes and eating enough food to fill them up for weeks.
This was all done, of course, with a certain solemnness in mind, both for the men and women who couldn’t be here to celebrate, but with the vets that don’t have anybody to spend their Christmas with. The men and women who were at the party knew not to take the help of the Legion lightly, and would never take Christmas for granted.
“Christmas means everything to me,” said Derbert Dilworth, another resident of the VA. “It symbolizes having freedom, being free and happy and safe.”
