'WE LOVE OUR VETERANS': Veterans shop for Christmas gifts

Dec. 20—Each year, veterans at the Georgia War Veterans Home in Milledgeville have had the opportunity to shop for Christmas gifts.

The veterans recently attended the annual Christmas gift-giving program in the GWVH recreation center, picking out clothes and other items of their choosing.

Help was provided for those unable to select items on their own by a host of volunteers from American Legion Posts in Milledgeville, Eatonton and Loganville.

Students from Georgia Military College volunteered their time to help out again this year.

"We work closely with the Georgia Department of Veterans Services to have volunteers assigned to each of the veterans facilities," said Carrol Griffin, who represents the Morris-Little American Legion Post No. 6 in Milledgeville. "Some of them come here to Milledgeville, while others go to Dublin, Augusta and Atlanta."

Griffin said some volunteers also come from Covington in Newton County.

This year, a record 55 volunteers assisted veterans with their Christmas shopping.

"A total of 19 of them were students with our Junior Auxiliary from GMC," Griffin said.

Griffin said Christmas is a special time for her.

"It's always been a very special time of the year for me and my family, but since I'm so very involved in this project with the veterans every year, it's been hard to find the time to decorate our home for Christmas," Griffin said.

She and her husband John, who serves as post commander of the Morris-Little American Legion Post No. 6, are busy year-round doing for other veterans and their families.

"This makes my Christmas now," Griffin said. "We haven't had time to decorate our home in the past few years. We haven't even put up a Christmas tree."

Even so, she's not disappointed about it.

Instead, her real enjoyment of the Christmas season is seeing the big smiles that come across the faces of veterans when they choose gifts they can use throughout the year.

"It's so heartwarming because they have all become extended members of our family," Griffin said. "I get really emotional when I talk about it."

Griffin said her husband was a retired Army lieutenant colonel, and that their lives have always been surrounded by veterans.

"We love our veterans and we love doing for them all year-round, especially at Christmas," Griffin said. "I've always respected veterans. They are dear and close to my heart. They see us coming around and they just light up. They are so happy to see us and we are so happy to see them."

If it wasn't for what volunteers do every year for veterans at the veterans war homes throughout Georgia at Christmas, many of them would be spending one of the most joyous and holy times of the year alone.

"We want to show them they are loved and appreciated for what they did in service to our country," Griffin. "That's why we do what we do for them."

During their Christmas shopping, each of the veterans received a Christmas card, as well as a special poster drawings made by youngsters from elementary schools in Loganville.

Cathy Hedges with the American Legion Post No. 233 in Loganville said the posters were actually left over from the Poppy Drive earlier this year.

"We thought it would be a great idea to share them with our veterans here in Milledgeville for Christmas," Hedges said. "They can put them up in their rooms and look at them all year long."