Christmas Dinner With The Veterans of Foreign Wars by Bryce

Christmas Dinner With The Veterans of Foreign Wars by Bryce - April 2022 Scholarship Essay

By far my favorite volunteer activity is the time I have spent working with the Veterans of Foreign Wars post #1324 in Oregon City, OR. My great grandmother and grandmother have booth served as President of the Ladies Auxiliary at the post, among many other positions they have held, so it was natural that I became involved at a young age.

Christmas is a special time for volunteering at the post. It seems to me that during the holidays, people are looking for a place to be welcomed and a sense of belonging. Each year my family helps create that place by running the kitchen to cook dinner for as many as 200 people. We cook turkeys and hams, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans and whatever else my grandmother tells us we are preparing in any given year. In order to do this, we arrive at 7 AM and most of the time don’t wrap up until after 5:00 PM when the last dish is washed.

The crowd is made up of veterans from as far back as WW II and all the way up to those in our most recent conflicts. All of the veterans carry an immense pride for their previous service and it is obvious by the hats, shirts and coats they wear to the event. The camaraderie these men and women share is something that seems to be based in their shared experience of service to our country. All of the good-natured banter between the members of the various branches of our armed forces brings a smile to my face.

Cooking for and serving this group has taught me how simple acts of kindness can mean more to someone than you might expect. It is apparent that the veterans who attend the event come from many walks of life. Some have obviously had harder lives than others, you can see it on their faces. The looks of gratitude and the quiet “thank you” that you hear when you serve someone like that are powerful. I can honestly say that the past 12 years of volunteering at the VFW and this event specifically have significantly impacted me and how I treat others the other 364 days of the year.