Legion Riders provide summer barbecue while honoring residents of veterans home
Missy Heise grew up in a military family. The secretary of American Legion Riders Chapter and American Legion Auxiliary Unit 452 in Keewatin, Minn., she’s the wife of a veteran – Legionnaire and fellow Legion Rider John Heise – while other family members have served.
That’s why Heise and a group of her fellow American Legion Riders recently rode 90-plus miles to the Minnesota Veterans Home at Silver Bay to visit with the residents there, providing a summer barbecue in the process.
“For me, it means a lot,” Heise said. “It’s really important to me, because I feel that they don’t get enough thanks for all the freedoms that we get to enjoy.”
In addition to grilling out for the residents, members of Chapter 452 spent time listening to their stories and making sure they felt both remembered and honored.
“We felt it necessary to go up there and just spend some time with them,” Heise said. “They enjoy seeing and talking to people. They don’t get a lot of visitors, other than family. We felt to give back to them, it would be nice to not just donate, but to give our time to sit and visit with them and cook for them.”
It’s the second year the chapter has visited the home, but the Riders and other members of Post 452’s Legion Family regularly support the veterans there with donations.
But the visits are different.
“They absolutely love it,” Heise said of the residents. “We circle the building with our bikes so everybody does get a chance to see them. Then we have our bikes parked, and they’ll come through and spend a lot of time looking at them and talking to us about our bikes.
“We talked to one gentleman who used to ride Harleys all the time, and he was just amazed looking at our bikes.”
Jennifer Fisher, the veterans home’s senior RN, told WDIO that visits make an impact on the residents. “You know they don’t get tons and tons of visitors besides families,” she said. “So having groups like this come in and give that sense of community.”