Stocking donations delivered to Veteran patients at JHQVAMC
Soldiers’ Angels, members of the East Tennessee State University women’s basketball team, and employees of James H. Quillen VA Medical Center’s (JHQVAMC) Center for Development & Civic Engagement (CDCE) delivered holiday stockings to Veteran patients Dec. 13, 2023, here.
Stocking delivery to patients, here, has become an annual event aimed to bring joy to patients during the holiday season.
Soldiers’ Angels, a national charity, donates stockings yearly and coordinates with CDCE to provide them to patients. ETSU women’s basketball helped make delivering them a special occasion for Veterans.
Delivering stockings each year is so important because “Veterans feel that someone cared enough to visit and bring them a gift,” said Roger Hull, Soldiers’ Angels representative. “If you could have seen the faces of some of the Veterans receiving a Christmas stocking. Their eyes lit, then some of them, more than a few, started to tear up.
“It’s important to spend a few minutes with each Veteran, to ask them how they’re doing, and most of all to wish them a Merry Christmas,” Hull added.
Many patients here are without family or friends nearby and the stockings and other holiday activities at JHQVAMC help them cope. Air Force Lt. Col. John Drury (Ret.), is one such patient, here. He retired after 23 years of honorable service and lives in Johnson City, Tenn., with no family to spend the holidays with.
“I don’t think some people understand just how important this is to me and others like me,” said Drury, speaking about the stocking delivery. “This was my Christmas, and for me and other Veterans it makes a huge difference to us. I really appreciate the time the basketball players and others put into this. They’re truly setting a great example.”