Disabled American Veterans present gift cards to VA Medical Center

The Cranston Herald ·

Continuing their long standing tradition of supporting Veterans and their families, members of the Giovanni Folcarelli Chapter #1 Disabled American Veterans visited the Providence Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) to make their annual holiday season donation. Meeting with Donna Russillo, Chief of Voluntary Services for the Providence VAMC and Debra Veasey, Program Support Assistant, members of Chapter #1 made a presentation of $1,000.00 in Stop and Shop and $1,000.00 in Best Buy gift cards. These cards will be given to Veterans and their families during the holiday season. According to Donna Russillo, many of the cards will find their way to the medical centers annual giving tree. While the Stop and Shop cards are generally focused on the food needs of Veteran families, the Best Buy cards are specifically directed to the holiday needs of the teenage children of Veterans who, according to Donna Russillo, are routinely forgotten during the holiday season. Members conducted fundraising events during this year to raise money for this annual donation and for other programs supporting the needs of Veterans. The most recognized fundraising symbol used was the little blue Forget-Me-Not flower, first introduced to the public by the Disabled American Veterans on February 24, 1926 as a symbol commemorating those who had fallen in war. This small flower means simply Please dont forget me. Members of the DAV believe that the blue Forget-Me-Not flower is an appropriate symbol of remembrance and a reminder of the service and sacrifice made by Veterans and their families that make our American way of life possible.

Making the presentation from Chapter #1 were Joseph Gagner, Pasco “Pat” Rinaldi, Charles “Chuck” Palumbo, Alfred “Gus” Pagel, Kenneth DiLeone, John Hill Sr. and Raymond Denisewich. All monies raised through Forget-Me-Nots go directly to veterans and their families. The membership of Chapter #1 are grateful to the Stop & Shop Supermarket Company for their support of and partnership with Disabled American Veterans, and for the generous support of local citizens, who made the donation possible. Disabled American Veterans is a leading non-profit Veterans Service Organization with 1.3 million members located in 1300 Chapters throughout this country providing a lifetime of support for veterans of all generations and their families. In short, DAV provides a national network of local support to veterans and their families. Every year, DAV helps more than 1 million veterans with assessing healthcare, receiving disability and educational benefits and other benefits they earned. Our chapter, which has over 450 members, is now planning for next years Veterans support activities. For our membership, helping Veterans and their families is what we do and we enjoy it said Ray Denisewich, Chapter #1 Adjutant-Treasurer. Chapter #1 meets at 3:00 pm on the third Wednesday of each month at the Kelley-Gazzerro Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2812, 1418 Plainfield Street in Cranston.