East Coast Wounded Warriors
On July 25, the Purple Heart Family Support Group served dinner to recovering Marines and their families at the Bethesda Naval Hospital despite some terrible weather conditions that threatened to delay the event. A severe thunderstorm caused a power outage in houses, businesses and traffic lights in the area that day, but dedicated volunteers and the food delivery truck managed to get the supplies to the hospital in time to serve up some delicious sandwiches.
In addition to the storm the volunteers experienced some other interesting events:
One volunteer was involved in a traffic accident on her way to the hospital, but in a great show of support she dropped off essential supplies before leaving to deal with her damaged car.
There were two new volunteers at this dinner, Mary Jane and her Marine Corps son Danny. Needless to say they had an exciting first day!
Another volunteer brought a service dog named Scooter, and he was a huge hit with the patients. The recovering Marines were excited to get a visit from such a beautiful dog. One father even requested that the volunteer bring Scooter to his son’s room because yellow labs are his favorite breed.
There was a line out the door for the dinner for the first time in several years, and despite the fact that the volunteers had increased their order by 25 sandwiches for this particular dinner, every sandwich was eaten.
Several patients and hospital staff were especially appreciative of the dinner.
Two Marines from the Behavioral Health unit got approval from their RN to visit the floor where the dinner was being served and bring the meals back to the other patients in the unit. They were so happy just to get some free time and interact with other people.
Patients and staff from the Traumatic Brain Injury/PTSD wing attended the dinner and were grateful to be included because they said that none of the other groups to visit the hospital ever think of them.
Two families from the ICU waiting area were also very grateful for the meals because everything on the base was closed due to the power outage.
Overall the dinner was a huge success despite the issues caused by the weather, and the sandwiches made many wounded warriors and Marine families very happy!
A Special Thank You
We'd like to extend a huge thank you to the Purple Heart Family Support July 2010 Sponsors. The meals provided this month were funded by:
Marlow White
July 2010 In-full
www.marlowwhite.com
Thank you for supporting our Wounded Warriors and their families through your contribution to Purple Heart Family Support!
