Veteran groups team up to aid Gold Star familyDate: 12/16/2016 GREATER SPRINGFIELD – An area Gold Star family is struggling this Christmas, and Western Massachusetts veterans groups are among those stepping up to help insure the family of three – a mother and two children, one of whom is special needs – have a happy holiday and a more secure future this winter.
Kenny Melanson, volunteer coordinator for Holyoke-based Vet Air, which arranges air transport for veterans to meet their medical needs, was in the right place on Nov. 29 to hear of the family’s plight during the fifth annual Gold Star Family Tree Lighting at the Statehouse in Boston.
“I was blessed that [this woman] felt she could open up to me about their circumstance so I reached out to all the great veteran support groups out here,” Melanson told Reminder Publications. He asked that the family, who lost their father and husband during Operation Iraqi Freedom, remain anonymous to protect their privacy.
So far members of the Ludlow VFW Post 3236 have donated food gift cards, the president of the veterans support group One Call Away of Southwick has made a donation and a disabled veteran employed at the West Springfield Home Depot has arranged for the donation of a load of wood pellets for the family.
“Our missions are all different, but when it comes to supporting a Gold Star family, we team together,” Eric Segundo, VFW State Senior Vice Commander, who is based at the Ludlow VFW, said of the way local vets and groups are responding to this plea. “We [at the Ludlow VFW] decided to send some gift cards to the local supermarket, Big Y.”
Segundo noted this situation was “an opportunity to continue to thank these families that have sacrificed so much,” and that the VFW hopes “more businesses and organizations will appreciate the sacrifices our Gold Star families have made for our freedoms.”
Reminder Publications is serving as a collection point for donations of gift cards from such business and Big Y, Dunkin’ Donuts, or Mobil or Shell gas stations and other major retailers to help the family this holiday season.
“Gift cards are easier,” Segundo said. “That way the family can go out and purchase what the want and need.”
Send donations to Gold Star Family c/o Reminder Publications, 280 North Main St., East Longmeadow, MA 01028 or drop off donations at our offices at 280 North Main St., East Longmeadow, Monday to Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m.
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