By The Port Huron Elks Lodge 343
Port Huron Elks Lodge 343 Veterans Committee & ENVSC organized a Veterans recognition ceremony honoring the Veteran residents at the Michigan Veterans Home at Chesterfield. On Thursday, November 6th, each resident of the MVH who served during the Vietnam conflict received a National Commemorative lapel pin, presented by Pentagon Representative Gene Nethaway, American Legion 8th District Commander. Along with the National recognition pin, every Vietnam Veteran and every other Veteran resident received a State of Michigan Veterans lapel pin presented by Michelle Fickes, Veterans Engagement Officer for the State of Michigan. The ceremony recognized and honored 96 Vietnam Veteran residents, along with 30 other Veterans residents during the event. The event was sponsored by the ENVSC and Lodge 343 Veterans committee, with the support of many MVH staff and volunteers. MVH Staff along with DDGER Scott R. Harris, ENVSC VAVS Rep, Monica Franks, ENVSC Deputy Rep and MiElks State President, Michael Bartolotta, all members from Port Huron Lodge 343, hosted this event. Cynthia Ross, State Coordinator from Elks National Veterans Service Commission and member of Plymouth-Ann Arbor Lodge 325 attended and assisted with the planning. On Monday, December 1st the MiElks & Lodge 343 sponsored and hosted (7) MVH handicapped Veterans and (5) MVH staff members while attending the “Christmas Together” with Amy Grant, Michael W Smith, and Cece Winans at the Fox Theater.
Other points of interest: Lodge 343 and ENVSC hosted our 3rd annual Free Hot Dog Roast on Wednesday, November 12th at the Yale VA. On Wednesday, December 10th we also hosted our bi-monthly free “Coffee & Donut Day” in the Veterans Wellness room. Our next “Coffee & Donut” day will be on Wednesday, February 11th. These events are sponsored by Port Huron Elks Lodge 343, the MiElks Association, ENVSC, and the Yale VA. This is our way to say thank you, to our Veterans, active Military and first responders for their service. Please feel free to stop in, even without a scheduled appointment, we would enjoy your company.
On another note: The Michigan Elks and Lodge 343 continue with our monthly (2) $25.00 free gas gift card “give-a-way” program now into our 3rd year. For the month of November, Veterans Ralph Lill, US Navy (Seal Team 2) and Matt Woods USMC were the two lucky local Veterans drawn for our monthly Marathon Gas Gift card drawing, congratulations! The Yale Veterans Clinic of McLaren/Port Huron Yale Community Health Center is located at 7470 Brockway Road, Yale, MI. 48097. To our Port Huron Elks Lodge 343 Veterans and newly initiated Veterans, your time served is very interesting to us, please consider sharing your Military Service story to Scott R. Harris PER, ENVSC VAVS Rep at scottharris55@comcast.net for a future Veterans Corner publication.
