American Legion in LA delivers quilts to soldiers' families
By Eliza Ridgeway Town Crier Staff Writer,
 JOE HU/TOWN CRIER Members of American Legion Post 558 deliver the quilts. |
Members and friends of American Legion Post 558 in Los Altos brought a homey touch to soldiers’ families June 27 when they delivered handmade quilts and blankets to Fisher House. The house, located on the grounds of the Veteran Administration’s Palo Alto Health Care System’s Palo Alto campus, opened its doors April 19. Its 21 rooms provide a place to stay for the parents, spouses and children who travel to the hospital to support their active-duty military personnel and veterans receiving treatment.
Members Hank Nagao, Lou Miller, Bill Goss and Ken Girdley accompanied by Chris Nagao, Virginia Miller, Verlain Goss and Jan Vargas represented the legion at the presentation.
“Being proud members of the community, and appreciative of all the things Fisher House has done and will do in the future, we’d like to present these blankets,” said Girdley, post commander. “Our main purpose in life is to support our veterans, not only those who served in World War II and Vietnam, but also those serving right now, putting their lives on the line for the nation.”
A group of about 10 women, the “Crazy Cut Ups,” has been meeting at the legion hall for more than a decade, quilting in support of legion-related causes. Many of them are spouses of Post 558 members.
The 15 quilts and 12 fleece blankets that will brighten Fisher House rooms took “hundreds of hours of work,” quilter Nagao said. She described how the women set up their machines in a circle at the hall and worked straight through long holiday weekends.
One of the quilts was presented to Linda Perry, who came here from Connecticut to be with her son, Army Specialist Dan Perry, who is being treated at the VA for wounds suffered in Iraq.
She noticed a boisterous Roy Rogers quilt immediately and pointed it out to Dan, a quiet, strawberry-blond young man with scars along the side of his face. He was injured in February and faces another six months of rehabilitation.
“I knew I was going to be here a long time and I didn’t know what to do,” Linda said. She brought a sewing machine to her Fisher House room, and has begun work on her own block quilt with her 10-year-old niece, Amber Bruce. The two of them talked shop with some of the quilters who delivered the gifts.
In addition to providing bedrooms, each with a private bath, the house has a communal kitchen, with a bank of refrigerators, appliances and cupboards of food donated by the community for families arriving with few resources. One of the house’s guests daily refreshes the platter of cookies on the counter.
The house features wood furnishings, plants and artwork. A series of thoughtful photos and large paintings reflects the quiet sense of the house. It is a place for hopeful people who are also sad.
Because of the high cost of temporary housing in the Bay Area, many families would not be able to stay with their loved ones without the help of Fisher House.
Palo Alto is the site of one of four VA Polytrauma Rehabilitation Centers in the United States, created in response to the high incidence of traumatic brain and spinal cord injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan. About 60 percent of injured military personnel suffer some degree of traumatic brain injury. Families travel from throughout the country to care for the injured servicemen and women placed at the Palo Alto center. Guests can stay at the house for up to 90 days.
Zachary and Elizabeth Fisher began the Fisher House program in 1990, dedicating $20 million toward building housing for the families of hospitalized military personnel. There are now 29 Fisher Houses, which have provided more than 183,000 days of housing to more than 50,000 families.
For more information, to volunteer or to make a donation, visit www.fisherhousepa.org or write to VA Palo Alto Health Care System Voluntary Service (135), 3801 Miranda Ave. Palo Alto 94304.
