For twelve consecutive years, officers and members from the District Anna Hurban of Chicago met on Saturday, April 21, 2018, for its Join Hands Day event at the Edward Hines, Jr., VA Hospital. Nineteen District members, including District and Branch Officers, spent the afternoon with twenty-six of the seventy-six resident veterans playing fifty-one very serious games of bingo where the vets had the chance to win some of the $1,085 in commissary coupons available as prizes. The District provided $500 toward the commissary coupons with District Branches contributing an additional $585. To make the playing field fair, each of the vets who arrived to play bingo received an initial gift of $5 in coupons along with an FCSLA t-shirt from the District. The branches also donated toiletries for packets that were put together to be passed out to all of the residents in the unit.
So as not to forget the other resident veterans who were unable to attend the bingo event, the District also gave each of them a $5 commissary coupon book and an FCSLA t-shirt. Due to playing time constraints, the District donated the remaining fourteen $5 commissary coupon books for use by the VA staff as prizes during the unit’s next regularly scheduled game of bingo. Once again, the event was a huge success with the vets truly enjoying their visit with us and looking forward to next year’s visit.
This VA Hospital is located in Maywood, Illinois, and is the largest of the Chicago-area Veterans’ Hospitals, well known for its many programs and specialties such as blind rehabilitation, spinal cord injury, neurosurgery, radiation therapy, and cardiovascular surgery, and it serves as a Polytrauma Center for severely injured veterans with skilled medical professionals who treat patients with traumatic brain injuries.
As always, the afternoon was filled with lots of laughter and fun, and everyone in attendance from the District agreed it was just a small way of showing these vets how grateful we all are to them for the sacrifices they have made to ensure our American freedom!
To view photos from this event, visit the Photo Gallery on the Chicago District Web site.
