Pennsylvania Legion Family members continue support for local VAMC residents

For years, members of the American Legion Family in the Department of Pennsylvania’s District 12 have come together to provide celebrations, off-site trips and gifts for residents of the Wilkes-Barre VA Medical Center.

When the coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, those Legion Family members kept up with their work, providing socially distanced Christmas, Veterans Day, Fourth of July, Father’s Day and Memorial Day celebrations. And while access to VA facilities eventually opened up, restrictions continued to be in place at the Wilkes-Barre facility for various reasons.

But those were lifted earlier this year, allowing District 12 to finally get to be face-to-face with the medical facility’s patients, first at a Super Bowl party and, more recently, for a St. Patrick’s Day celebration. For the Legion Family members, it was long overdue.

“It’s been horrible not being able to go (into the VAMC),” said Past District 12 Commander Nichole Guest, who serves as the District 12 Fund Canteen Representative. “But you can’t put a price on something like this. To see them socializing. To see them dancing, laughing, smiling … and when so many come up to you and they say, ‘I don’t feel like I’m at the VA’ … that’s because of all the decorations. And it transforms them. They feel like they’re in a different place. One of them said to me, ‘I feel like I’m with family.’”

The events at the Wilkes-Barre VAMC are paid for through the District 12 Canteen Fund, which receives donations throughout the year. This was the 11th year the district has provided a St. Patrick’s Day party at the facility.

This year District 12 members decorated the facility’s second floor recreation room’s walls and tables, providing balloons, hats, leis, tableware and other supplies. The district also purchased $300 worth of the VAMC’s canteen books to serve as prizes for the games.  

Rentko’s Catering served corned beef and cabbage, and stuffed shells; cupcakes and cookies were delivered by Schiel’s Family Market. Other local groups, businesses and individuals donated candy, while music was provided at no cost by DJ Mikie Mike, who has provided the soundtrack for multiple District 12 events at the facility.

Members of District 12’s Legion Family spent the day playing games, and dancing and visiting with the facility’s residents who attended the party. Also present were William Smith, a member of the Legion’s National Veterans Affairs & Rehabilitation Commission’s Executive Committee, and Department of Pennsylvania Central Vice Commander Bill Whitmoyer.

On Easter, District 12 will deliver desserts to every ward at the medical center, while Father’s Day bingo and a Fourth of July celebration are on the books. District 12 also has taken veterans from the facility on a shopping trip to Walmart, complete with $25 gift cards, and will be taking a group in April to a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins hockey game. And this summer, groups will be attending multiple Scranton/ Wilkes-Barre RailRiders baseball games.

Guest, a member of American Legion Post 473 in Freeland, said these efforts will continue as a way to make the veterans at the Wilkes-Barre VAMC feel appreciated.

“It gets mundane living in a nursing home, for anyone I imagine,” she said. “It’s that connection to the outside world when all of us come in. And you have all the different people from the different (Legion posts) and all their buddies. It’s that connection when they socialize and see other people. It makes a difference.”