Story and photos by Jennifer Scales, Columbia VA Health Care System Public Affairs<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Shoes, blankets,\nsocks, sweat shirts, toiletries and other items were provided during an internal\nNeeds Stand Down, June 27 at the Columbia VA Health Care System. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Veterans on the\nreceiving and giving end of this event were grateful and appreciative\nthroughout the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first\nVeteran grateful for free items, which were donated by various individuals and\ngroup charities to the Columbia VAHCS Voluntary Service Office, was Air Force\nVeteran Paul Williams. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am grateful\nfor any help that is provided to me,\u201d Williams said, originally from Harlem,\nNew York. \u201cI find myself at times just needing that extra bit to make it\nthrough the months, and this is surely just in time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Army Veteran\nVondell Davis, deputy for the Salvation Army Corps of Columbia, was on hand to\nshow his appreciation to those who have served in service to this country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBeing a Veteran\nof the Vietnam era, this is just my way of giving back and showing a small\ntoken of my appreciation for their service,\u201d Davis said. \u201cWhether they have\nserved in the past or the present, I just want to show them they are respected\nfor their personal dedication.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Voluntary\nService Specialist for the Columbia VA HCS, Wilfredo Solis, detailed the reason\nfor the Stand Down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe know we have\nVeterans in our community who have needs more than just around holidays,\u201d Solis\nsaid. \u201cThis is just a way for us to continue to provide for their comfort and\nbasic life necessities throughout the year. This is my first time being\ninvolved in a stand down. Being an Army Veteran also, I feel this is a calling\nfor me to continue to serve those who have come before, during and after my\ntime in service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Michael Liles,\nan Army Veteran, was able to step in to gather a few of the donated items for a\nVeteran friend unable to attend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is a great\nway of showing compassion and helping the Veterans at the same time,\u201d Liles\nsaid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is the best stand down that I have seen in my three years of working here at the VA,\u201d said Mary Kirkland, a Voluntary Service Specialist for the Columbia VAHCS. \u201cThis was very organized, the volunteers were great, it started on time and most of all, the Veterans were appreciative.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Photo: Vondell Davis (left), Army Veteran and volunteer, assists Veterans in getting items during the Needs Stand Down, June 27 at the Columbia VA Health Care System.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Story and photos by Jennifer Scales, Columbia VA Health Care System Public Affairs Shoes, blankets, socks, sweat shirts, toiletries and other items were provided during an internal Needs Stand Down, June 27 at the Columbia VA Health Care System. Veterans on the receiving and giving end of this event wereContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2228,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[38,40],"tags":[61],"class_list":["entry","author-john-griggs","post-2227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","category-military","tag-veterans"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gpstrianglenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/VANeeds_630x350.jpg?fit=630%2C350","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2227"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2229,"href":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2227\/revisions\/2229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}