Veteran’s Last Patrol and Operation Holiday Salute

October 14, 2022October 10, 2022 AWN Command Team 0 Comments veterans

We’re so pleased to share our non-profit’s story. Our mission is to Befriend, Honor, and Support veterans on their LAST PATROL. These very special veterans are those in hospice and end-of-life care. We’ve been in operation for almost four years. We seek volunteers around the country to help us with this important work.

Approximately 1.5 million Americans go into hospice care each year. About 6% of these are veterans. These veterans are being cared for in communities around our country.

Sadly, there are far too many veterans going through their Last Patrol alone. Many of them have been forgotten by the veteran community.

For three years now, our goal has been to bring these veterans in their final stages of life more attention, demonstrate they are not forgotten, and that Americans are forever grateful for their service.

Veterans, and their families, are all familiar with concept of “patrolling.” All branches of military service know — whether it’s land, air, or sea patrols – that teamwork is essential to good patrols.

The Last Patrol is no different. Veterans in end-of-life care need help from a team — professional medical caregivers of course, and also our team of volunteers.

Most critically, we need individual volunteers that can visit and provide companionship to veterans on their Last Patrol. These volunteer opportunities are available in communities everywhere, and we can connect you.

Typically, a volunteer will visit a veteran patient for an hour each week. These visits are a time for companionship, reminiscing, and just providing a warm, welcoming ear.

Volunteers will find these visits to hospice and nursing home facilities a very rewarding experience. Many of our volunteers report very meaningful connections and life lessons.

OPERATION HOLIDAY SALUTE.

We conduct OHS every year and we need your help. Last year we collected 50,000 personalized Christmas and Holiday cards for veterans in hospice care. These cards are sent to us from supporters of the military and our veterans — young and old, individuals and groups.

We then assembled 7,000 card packets for veterans on their Last Patrol and distributed them all over the country. This year our goal is presenting a holiday card packet to 10,000 dying veterans.

We seek your help — your help bringing holiday spirit and America’s gratitude to those who served our nation in uniform.

You can support us this year by:

Creating and writing Christmas and Holiday cards for veterans and sending them to us.
Help us bring one more “WOW” to the eyes of our country’s dying veterans.

Learn more about how you can support our mission and Operation Holiday Salute by visiting: www.veteranlastpatrol.org From our website you can visit our social media pages