Thank you, Clinton Journal, very much for supporting the Clinton AMVETS Post 14 and, in turn, supporting what we do to uphold the AMVETS motto of “Veterans Serving Veterans” with your fantastic fund raising that resulted in a $75 donation.  Be assured your contribution will be used wisely to help veterans.

I would like to briefly share with you some examples of how the Clinton Post 14 AMVETS over the past few months has helped the veterans and the community with the money we raise and contributions such as yours.

Post 14 has been a conduit for contributions to help the patients at the Danville VA Hospital.  Last year, we contributed in various ways helping the patients and their families pay for commissary cards, giving money to help pay for family visits, and donating funds to “spruce-up” the terminally ill area of the hospital.  We also held two “picnics” (in concert with the Fisher AMVETS Post) at the hospital to bring the patients a little cheer with hotdogs, burgers and pies.  These picnics are becoming an annual event for our post, and it is so rewarding to see the smiles of appreciation from Veterans who have been used to eating just hospital food.

Another special event we do at Christmastime is to sponsor a family with “Operation Red Sleigh.” As part of this annual project each year, we give money to support the Department of Illinois AMVETS charitable campaign.  With the combined effort of the Illinois AMVETS Service Foundation and individual Posts, “Operation Red Sleigh” sponsored over 75 families last year.  AMVETS of Illinois is proud to be the developer and sponsor of “Operation Red Sleigh,” which is designed to select veteran families, during the Christmas season, and provide gifts for the children and some money for the family to have a special holiday meal.  This is why contributions such as yours make a huge difference in our ability to help veterans and veteran families.

Another couple most recent examples are we helped a local veteran who is having heath issues with gas money to cover his above and beyond expense of hospital and treatment trips.  Also, just in the last few days a veteran was traveling through Clinton and needed help with gas money and there was no hesitation to say “Yes we will help.”

As you can see, contributions like the Journal’s go to help local veterans, those in the veterans hospitals and veteran families at Christmastime.  These donations enable our post to continue to serve area veterans and bless veteran families – all of these contributions allow us to continue the AMVETS motto of “Veterans Serving Veterans!”  

Clinton Journal, you make us proud, and we want to say once again, thank you very much!

Darrel Tucker

Publicity and 2nd vice commander

Clinton AMVETS Post 14