When I retired, I went all in with my post and did two years as 2nd vice commander, two years as commander and one year as past commander. I then stepped back to let others have the experience of leadership. I did observe during my leadership roles that some of our older members were not showing up to our meetings. I asked around and heard that some if not most were on our Sick Call lists. When I dug a little deeper, I found that many were being moved or living in senior living communities and nursing homes in our area. They couldn’t drive anymore and didn’t have family in the area to bring them to meetings and events at our Legion.

I made inquiries with our senior living communities in town. The activity directors were excited when I mentioned what I was looking at doing for members of their communities. I worked out a schedule for visiting on all six on a monthly basis, spending one half-hour at each community and then allowing 15 minutes to travel to the next community. Our Veterans Visit Committee was created on June 15, 2022.

The original schedule was on Wednesdays, but finding volunteers to help was a difficult mission. Our Auxiliary president suggested that more volunteers might be available if we could move the visits to Fridays. There was one more piece to complete our committee, and that was to get support from our veterans service officer. The VSO agreed and was on board with our veterans visits program to update the veterans and family members on what benefits might be available to them.

We average about 30 veterans each month during our visits. There is no agenda. We greet our veterans, thank them for their service, remind them that they are not forgotten, and update them on all the happenings of our post and any updates with VA. The activity directors frequently have coffee and treats from their kitchen for our visits. The veterans enjoy visiting.

The stories we hear are from veterans who have served during all conflicts. Most of the ladies who attend are either spouses of veterans who had either already served or served after they were married; had sons and daughters who are serving or already served; had grandchildren currently serving; or had brothers who served.

We don’t turn anyone away who wants to listen or share their veterans stories with us. Staff listen in and learn something new about their residents. We have gotten some family members who also join us. All are proud