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Volunteers rally round the vets

An outreach group of the American Legion Auxiliary spreads cheer and gifts among veterans and others in nursing homes.

By BETH N. GRAY
Published March 28, 2005

	[Times photo: Daniel Wallace]
	Richard McGee is showered with attention from Nature Coast Volunteers for Veterans members, from left, Kathy Knapp, Jean Coburn and Terry Dewey at the Brooksville HealthCare Center on Wednesday. The former Air Force pilot dodged bullets in North Africa, France and Italy in World War II.

BROOKSVILLE - Ten women decked out in red, white and blue burst into the Brooksville HealthCare Center on Wednesday, yakking and laughing and eager to share their buoyant dispositions with nursing home residents.

The members of Nature Coast Volunteers for Veterans, a community service outreach group of American Legion Auxiliary Unit 186, came bearing gifts: bunnies fashioned from washcloths, with paper carrots containing jelly beans tucked in the folds.

They spread their cheer, room by room, to veterans and other residents who have no visitors, no family nearby or no family at all.

Once a month, the women come - also to Heron Pointe Health & Rehabilitation and Tangerine Cove - throwing hugs around and offering resounding cheers, whether a vet replies that he served in the Army, Air Force, Navy or Marines.

They lavish on endearments. On this occasion, "You have a happy Easter, sweetheart," was rampant, accompanied by tender touches.

Seated in a wheelchair in a hallway, Roy Lesh, 79, a veteran of the Navy's USS Mission Bay in World War II, encountered the volunteers for the first time since taking up residency last September.

"We come here every month to say "thank you,"' Beth Geiger told him. Lesh choked up when she added, "We'll be back to see you next month."

"We love you," cooed Jean Coburn, the unit's first vice president, to resident Richard McGee, 92. "We're so fortunate to have you."

McGee, an Air Force pilot who dodged bullets in North Africa, France and Italy in World War II, responded in kind, "Oh, I appreciate you coming in."

Anticipating the women's arrival, he had put on his best white Sunday dress shirt.

Echoing McGee, Emory Romine, 80 and a Navy veteran of World War II who served in the Pacific, said, "Oh, yeah, we couldn't do without the girls."

"I think the ladies deserve all the credit," he added. "They stayed home and worried."

Richard Dougherty garnered effusive attention when the women learned he was a past American Legion post commander and district commander. Now 61, Dougherty served with the Marines during the Vietnam War.

"Thank you for being a Marine," Coburn said with sincerity.

As Geiger put a gift in the hands of Richard Barett, 50, she suggested coyly, "I know you're big, but you still believe in the Easter bunny."

The veterans themselves dispensed a bit of repartee.

Delbert Tiffin, whose Army service included a stint at Pearl Harbor, grinned at the Easter gift, saying, "Something for my sweet tooth."

He admitted to "coming up on 80" years of age.

When asked if he was joining the women for lunch in the center's dining room in an hour, the chipper pilot quipped, "I don't know if I'll live that long."

The women insisted that he would be around a while longer and promised to save him a seat at the table.

Since the group launched its regular visits in 2000, the lunch was the first served in recognition of its efforts at the center.

"These ladies are so special," said activities director Theresa Miller, who had the dining room decorated in red, white and blue. Residents, she said, are "thrilled" by the attention and camaraderie generated by the women.

While the volunteers are seeking additional people to join their ranks, Fran Horan Steeves, the group's founder, says the work isn't for everybody. In recruiting volunteers through the legion post, she said, "I tell them if it makes them feel good, do it. If it doesn't, get out; it's not the mission for you."

Furthermore, she counsels the volunteers: "You have to go there on a high. If you're in a bad mood that day, I tell them not to come."

In addition to the group visits, Steeves seeks "adopters," people willing to come to listen and talk and read and sing for residents who have no visitors.

Steeves is seeking men to join the volunteers.

While the women bring cheer and lightheartedness to the veterans, "(male volunteers) could relate to men who can share their stories," she pointed out.

"The biggest thing these people in nursing homes need is companionship," she added.

Geiger, wearing a broad-brimmed navy blue hat with red streamers imprinted in white with "God Bless America," said she enjoys bringing cheer to the residents' lives.

"We make a difference," she said. "All of the patients look forward to us."

Armed with a list of veterans to visit, Geiger led the pack of cheerful women through the hallways, dispensing snippets of information to her peers about each resident.

Notebook in hand, Steeves, chairwoman of the auxiliary unit's community service committee, brought up the rear. She wrote such notations as, "Walter needs socks."

A woman asked for shorts and a hat.

"We'll bring them to you," Steeves assured the woman.

A T-shirt was delivered to a resident who had asked for it during the women's previous visit.

"There is nothing they can ask that is out of our reach," Steeves said.

The auxiliary has yard sales to raise money for its giving.

Steeves, the widow of Navy veteran Thomas Horan, became involved with American Legion Post 186 when members came to her rescue after the no-name storm of March 1993. A resident of Aripeka, she escaped with only the clothes on her back.

"The first people who came on the scene was American Legion Post 186," she said. "And they kept coming back, and that's when I decided it's just payback time. I've made it my life."

--Beth N. Gray may be contacted by e-mail at graybethn@earthlink.net

[Last modified March 28, 2005, 01:36:12]