It was such a great day Sunday at our VFW Post 2503. We had a lot of new people gathered together. We were mixed races, creeds, politics, religions, and heritage. We gathered to award money from donations, hard work, and what we earned from fund raising all summer. It was pretty incredible.
We had a board member from Nebraska COPS, the founder of Guitars for Vets Nebraska, and the founder of Moving Veterans Forward to receive their checks. It really made my heart swell. We’ve made a lot of new friends today. We have networked and we have new connections to make. It’s all going to be fantastic. And it seemed so effortless now that we are at the end of the summer. All it does is make us want to work harder for them next year.
To identify the people in the photo, here is a who’s who, from left to right:
Steve Cerveny, OPD, Nebraska COPS Board; Larry Quilliam, Commander VFW Post 2503; Ron Hernandez, Founder Moving Veterans Forward, Kathy Raabe, VFW Post 2503 Auxiliary; Peggy Ullom, Founder Guitars for Vets, Nebraska; Dan Raabe, Quartermaster VFW Post 2503.
What a great feeling it is to help coordinate to make the effort successful and effective. We will create new ways to help our Veterans who often suffer from PTSD, and are homeless. One condition seems to have a domino effect in the lives of some people. They may turn to drugs or alcohol to cope, lose their income, job, home, family, etc. In the past year, we have made many new contacts and friends by reaching out to organizations who can use our help.
The leader of the ABATE group and some of their members were present; they made a donation to us, and we turned it over to the two Veterans groups, MVF and G4V NE. How wonderful it is to share! I don’t have a photo of him, but want to share with you what ABATE is. They are a group of motorcycle enthusiasts. A Brotherhood Aimed Towards Education. They dedicate their time and effort to educating the public, motorcyclists, and anyone who is curious about safety and rights of riders. We are so blessed to have this connection.
I’m writing on my laptop today. I left the Chromebook at the Post, and I really miss it! Every system works differently, and every keyboard has a distinct feel to it. This is no exception. While it works, my cheat sheets that appear to the right of my writing vanished. I poked around, trying this key and that key, it’s a test for my brain, I’m sure. All is good. The worst part? My laptop does not have a touch screen, which is a feature I will include on all future devices, trust me!
Today, it’s back to work around the house. Laundry, cleaning, all the stuff about life that’s not glamorous or fun. But it has to be done. And if you re-frame things you don’t like, you can make something positive out of it. For example, I can be grateful to God for the privilege of owning enough clothes to have plenty of clean clothes and be glad I don’t have to carry the laundry out to the laundromat. I had to do that with clothes and diapers from my oldest son. While his dad was in the Army in Germany, I saved money to buy a washer and dryer for the apartment. He took the money and bought a motorcycle. I should have wised up then, but I didn’t. And I would never have had another son and a daughter who taught me all about independence. She was a very independent baby and toddler. I didn’t want to squash her spirit like mine was. She still amazes me.
I’m just going to enjoy the warmth that’s in my heart right now from the weekend. The people are so phenomenal! And soon, we will dig in again, with a special project. More later! Have a beautiful rest of the day. Be kind to someone today. You’ll be better for it. Thank you for reading and see you tomorrow!
Kathy Raabe 