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| from www.dav.org |
It is with a sad heart that this week’s donation is made in
honor of a my friend’s father, Ronnie. This is the same friend that last week’s
donation went to. On September 3rd, her father passed away with his
family surrounding him. His family asked that in lieu of flowers at the funeral,
donations be made to the Disabled American Veterans. He was a Navy veteran as
well as having a long and productive career at many companies including
Electric Boat. Unfortunately, his career spanned a time in our history that
occupational health was not a concern and workers were continuously being
exposed to carcinogenic agents such as asbestos, leading to horrible cancers
like mesothelioma. Ronnie fought his illness valiantly. I am grateful that I
got to visit with him only weeks before his death. He was so positive and
friendly and was speaking of the future as if it was assured. His family has
been renting one of our cottages on the lake the same week in August for well
over 30 years. Every year he busily spent his vacation raking and cleaning up
around the cabins and the property. He could never sit still and always had a
smile on his face and a story to tell. We will miss his presence enormously
around here.
One of the most poignant moments in the funeral was when his
nephew got up to say a few words about his beloved Uncle. He reminded us how
his Uncle had lived his entire life serving his family, his community, and his
God and was always thinking of others and how he could help. The nephew went on
to ask everyone at the funeral to commemorate him by doing something for
someone else as a living memorial. I love that. In this complicated time of
political bickering, poor economy and struggling people, it’s just that simple.
Do good for others. Period.
And I’m happy to donate to the Disabled American Veterans
organization since it was meaningful to Ronnie. This is an old and unwavering
organization that has a long standing history of helping disabled veterans. One
of my favorite aspects of the DAV is their National Service Officers who are
available to assist veterans in so many ways, from representing them at medical
review boards to assisting them with home loans, finding services, healthcare,
employment and so much more. The military system is unorganized and chaotic
when it comes to assisting veterans. Any veteran returning from a deployment
oversees knows what a hassle every aspect of receiving entitled benefits can
be. The DAV is an excellent resource for guidance and help.
This here for more
information about DAV or to donate.
