In honor of Veterans Day, I’d like to spotlight one Iowa community’s exemplary support of our veterans and active-duty military.
Located in northern Iowa, Britt is a town of 2,000 people.
This year, Britt’s Dean Welsh VFW auxiliary Post 4370 received the Veterans and Family Support Award. This annual award from the national VFW recognizes select local auxiliaries for their exceptional work for our service members.
This community’s now-far-reaching efforts started with a phone call.
A volunteer with the Britt VFW auxiliary was talking to her granddaughter, who was serving on the USS Oscar Austin. She mentioned that some of her fellow crew members hadn’t received care packages. Within one week, Britt residents shipped 39 packages to the crew of the USS Oscar Austin. That was in 2012.
Now a decade later, the Britt VFW is sending care packages to crew members on the USS Fitzgerald, USS McCain, the USS Chafee and Iowa National Guard units deployed to Kuwait and Poland. They’re also preparing to send packages to the USS Carl Vinson. Volunteers fill them with various items, including beaded American flag keychains that they make by hand. Britt VFW members gift thousands of their keychains to veterans they cross paths with throughout the year, whether at community events or in their daily lives.
Britt VFW’s example should be a reminder to all of us of the importance of honoring our veterans and service members. Thank you, and we’ll be doing that this weekend.
-30-