The donations go the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Battle Creek, Michigan.
I reached out to the VA because I believe that some of my readers might be interested in donating to their local VA.
This is the feedback I was given:
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| No aerosol products. No hand-sanitizer. Boxers, not briefs with sizes L, XL and 2XL in greatest demand. No sample or hotel sized products. No fidgets or toys. |
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| The "wish list" might vary slightly from VA to VA center but most of what is on this list should be solid. |
To find your local VA Medical Center, click on THIS LINK. Find the closest center and call the "Main Phone" and ask to be transferred to the "Voluntary Service Office" or "Community and Volunteer Service". Then ask for the specifics of where to ship the donations.
For those who like to run in launch-and-forget mode, it is possible to set up "recurring buys" on some e-commerce platforms like Amazon. You can fill a cart with items, set the shipping address and have the "buy' execute at some frequency.
A big shout-out to Todd Greenman and Jill Babas of the VA for their help in putting this post together.
And, as always, I take all responsibility for errors.
I think Folks who donate to Veteran Charities are Great Folks. But why should that even be necessary? Our government has a gazillon dollars for other countries needs and wants but they always seem short funded for our needy Vets. Joe, I enjoy reading your blog whilst sipping on my morning mug of caffeine, thank you and God's blessing on you and yours.
ReplyDeleteIt is very high praise to be mentioned in the same sentence with morning coffee. Thank-you.
DeleteYou are right. In a perfect world it would not be necessary. But we live in an imperfect world.
Government employees are not very agile while the patient-load can be very dynamic. In-patient clients might show up without a stitch of clothing on them. Sometimes the stay is for a week or six weeks or even longer.
And then there are the economics. The government cannot make money selling weed, so can you imagine how much a pair of boxers will "cost" all-in by the time they are delivered to the patient?
Incidentally, one of the reasons I wrote this post is that I had a friend ask me for charities that were not infected with the woke virus. At that time, I could not name any charities that met his requirements. The Veteran's Donations comes pretty close. They are legally here. They are (typically) not welfare queens. They earned their "entitlement" by serving unlike many who demand "entitlement" because they have a pulse or belong to some "oppressed" group.