Use this search box to find articles that have run in our newspapers over the last several years.
Date: 6/11/2019
WEST SPRINGFIELD – Every fall, the Veterans Park of Heroes honors veterans with a field filled with star-spangled flags. Families and friends are invited to purchase a flag in honor of their loved ones and the West Springfield Lions Club utilizes the funds raised to award students in Hampden County with scholarships.
On May 29, the West Springfield Lions Club hosted their annual appreciation scholarship dinner for the Veterans Park of Heroes at the West Springfield Senior Center. Sixteen students received scholarships at the event. In order to qualify to receive a scholarship, students must have a parent or grandparent who is a veteran and live in Hampden County. The dinner serves as an event honoring both the students and the veterans in their family.
“It’s important to do this for the veterans. These men and women serve our country. They’ve missed events like graduations and birthdays. They’ve missed a lot serving our country. It’s important for us to invite them because of things they’ve missed,” John LaDue, chairperson of the West Springfield Lions Club, said.
Jessica Anderson of Wilbraham received the Mike Atkin Annual Scholarship. Anderson is the granddaughter of veteran Leo Duguay. Ryan Wilkinson of West Springfield received the Ed Smart Scholarship. Wilkinson is the son of veteran Thomas Wilkinson and grandson of veteran Peter Ryan. Both awards are named in honor of lifelong West Springfield Lions Club members who have passed away.
The students and veterans honored are as follows:
• Olivia Castonguay of Holyoke and her grandfather, Ronald Castonguay
• Quinn Serafino of West Springfield and his grandfather, Richard Yvon
• Nicholas Lamon of East Longmeadow and his stepmother, Gayle Lamon
• Ian Alves of West Springfield and his grandfather, John Bierden
• Gianna Graziano of West Springfield and her father, Fiore Graziano and grandfather, Kenneth Vigneault
• Danielle Trudeau of West Springfield and her father, Michael Trudeau
• Nicholas Commisso of West Springfield and his grandfather, Joseph Commisso
• Rachael Marion of Holyoke and her grandfather, David Jackson
• Kathryn Sadakierski of Westfield and her grandfather, John Miller Jr.
• Parker Florian of Agawam and his grandfather, Richard Cunningham
• Madison Dover of West Springfield and her grandfather, Denver Dover
• Samantha Cox of Longmeadow and her grandfather, Alfred Krol
• Jordan Perry of Westfield and his grandfather, John Perry Sr.
• Troy Chaput of West Springfield and his father, Travis Chaput
Sponsors of the event included Stop & Shop, Big E Trust (Mayor William Reichelt,) Jim Serbo of Peoples Bank, Mike Bertera of Bertera Auto Group, the Town of West Springfield, Chris Lizotte of the VFW Barcomb-Trowbridge Post 6714, St. Germain Investments, Maureen Buxton of Florence Savings Bank, Scott Dynak of Peoples United Bank, Vietnam Veterans of Massachusetts, Brian Fowler of New England DJ, Gary Speath of Speath Property Services, the West Springfield Record, TD Bank, Toyota of Wilbraham and Smith and Wesson.
LaDue said that everyone was excited to be a part of the event. “Everybody was excited. We recognize the veterans because they were the main reason that these students are getting scholarships. We really want to recognize them and pay it forward. There were a lot of tears,” LaDue said.
LaDue continued, “We asked the child to say a little bit when they came up to receive their scholarship about their veteran, so that was a great, emotional part of the night.”
Each scholarship is awarded in the amount of $750. This was the West Springfield Lions Club’s third year awarding scholarships. Since the initiative’s inception, the West Springfield Lions Club has awarded $33,000 total in scholarship funds.
“It was overall a great night,” LaDue said.
The West Springfield Lions Club is currently selling flag sponsorships for the 2019 Veterans Park of Heroes. The flags will be displayed on the West Springfield Town Common in November. Lines of flags will be shown with a tag on each sharing information about a veteran or group of veterans.
To sponsor a flag, visit the West Springfield Lions Club Facebook page at www.facebook.com/WestSpringfieldLions/ or visit www.westspringfieldlionsclub.org/veterans-park-of-heroes. The cost is $30 for one flag or $100 for four flags. Gold and Platinum sponsorships are also available. The deadline to sponsor a flag is Oct. 5.
Applications for next year’s scholarships will be accepted beginning in 2020. For more information, visit www.westspringfieldlionsclub.org/veterans-park-of-heroes.