Remember-A-Vet donations continue to climb past 2020
The 68-year-old program to provide holiday cheer to veterans has already surpassed the 2020 collection.
The 2021 Remember-A-Vet campaign raised $22,000 by Thursday, according to Todd Greenman, Chief of Community and Volunteer Service at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Contributions continue to arrive and the campaign continues until Jan.1.
A year ago donations totaled $15,928 and in 2019 the total was $17,600.
"We have increased the amount collected by $6,000 and that is a testament that the community supports our veterans," Greenman said. "Our donors have been very generous with the amounts they have sent."
The annual drive which begins on Thanksgiving continues until Dec. 31 but the VA will collect money throughout the year for the Remember-A-Vet program.
Donations are used to buy coupon books which are distributed to in-patients and residents on seven holidays during the year and patients can use them in the canteen.
Gift bags are given to patients confined to the mental health units.
About 140 patients receive the coupon books or gift bags on Memorial Day, Valentine's Day, Easter, July 4th, Labor Day, Veterans Day and Christmas.
Greenman said the coupon books will be distributed Saturday along with other gifts provided by the VA.
Donations should be sent directly to the VA and checks should be made out to the Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Include a notation on the check or in a separate note that the money is for Remember-A-Vet.
Mail the checks to:
Battle Creek VA Medical Center
Community and Volunteer Services
5500 Armstrong Road
Battle Creek, MI 49037
Names of all those making donations will be published on the VA website beginning in January.
Art Middleton, a reporter and editor at the Battle Creek Enquirer proposed an idea to newspaper readers.
Middleton proposed the fund raising program after some readers asked how to send Christmas gifts to patients at the Medical Center.
Middleton, a veteran himself, outlined the program in a Dec. 13, 1953, column as a way to provide some holiday cheer for military veterans who could not leave the hospital.
He told of a conversation with a patient, only identified as Ed, who said, "It don't sound like it would be any thrill, but you ought to see some of the faces light up when they can go down to the canteen and get a dime or a quarter's worth of ice cream or to go shopping in the canteen store just like they were outside."
Middleton died in 1971 and his wife continued supporting the program until her death a few years ago. His daughter, Pam Lajoie, and granddaughter, Shannon Cochran, both employed at the VA, and his son, Rand Middleton, retired from the West Central Tribune in Wilmer, Minn., are supporters of the program.
"We are all so proud of his contributions to the city,"Rand Middleton said.
Contact Trace Christenson at 269-966-0685 or tchrist@battlecreekenquirer.com
This article originally appeared on Battle Creek Enquirer: Remember-A-Vet donations continue to climb past 2020
