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Veterans for Veterans American Legion members visit nursing home

The Spectator - 5/17/2017

SOMERSET - Members of the Lt. Warren S. Hathaway Post 228 of the American Legion visited with veterans who are residents in the Somerset Ridge Center last Wednesday.

The veterans shared war stories and the Legion members gave the nursing home residents cookies and magazines to read. They also presented them with Challenge Coins, challenging them to stay healthy and thanking them for their service to their country.

Steve Souza, a member of the Legion post, said the members will be visiting veterans at the nursing home at least once a month. He said he is hoping the Somerset Ridge Center can transport the veterans to the Legion Post on Roosevelt Avenue so that the members can provide a meat pie supper to the nursing home residents who are veterans. He said the Legion members hold a Poppy drive and they can use the money from that fundraiser to help veterans who can't afford to get out of such facilities.

"We want to thank the nursing home for opening their doors to us and them," Souza said as he was visiting with the veterans at the Somerset Ridge Center.

Souza said there are also members of the Legion who perform in bands and he would like to bring them to the Somerset Ridge Center to entertain the veterans there. Legion member James Rebello is a singer.

"They will love it, because it's older music bands," Souza said.

The residents of Somerset Ridge Center who are veterans were also given free memberships to the Somerset American Legion Post.

Other members of the Somerset Legion post who went to Somerset Ridge Center with Souza included John Hajder, who is a Korean War veteran, Bill Bowen, who is a Korean War veteran, and Sandra Means, the adjutant of the Somerset Legion Post who is a Navy veteran of the Gulf War era.

"It helps us meet some of the older timers," Hajder said. "We're old timers, ourselves. We're giving them memberships. We'll come and visit all the time."

Means's father, James Means, a Navy veteran of the Vietnam War, is a resident at the Somerset Ridge Center.

"These people, my father especially, don't get a lot of visitors," Sandra said. "I was in places alone, so I know how it feels. These people need support."

Sandra also has a sister and a brother who have been in the military.

Souza said the Legion members are hoping to visit veterans at the Clifton Rehabilitative Nursing Center in Somerset next.

Visiting the nursing homes is part of an effort of the national organization of the Legion to visit veterans in residential facilities who can not visit their posts. The program is being called "Veterans to Veterans."

Ann Marie Anunciacao, activities director at the Somerset Ridge Center, said the veterans at the nursing home were excited about the members of the Somerset American Legion Post coming to visit them.

"It's a way for our veterans to feel they are important for what they did for our country and they are not forgotten and they need to be recognized," Anunciacao said.

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