A Valentine’s Day Gift for Veterans

by Hugo Bravo

Each year during the week of Valentine’s Day, the U.S. celebrates National Salute to Veteran Patients Week. It honors the veterans receiving care at Veterans Affairs medical centers and encourages the community to visit and participate in outreach at these facilities.  

On Valentine’s Day, The Salvation Army in Puerto Rico did just that, showing love and appreciation to veterans at the island’s veterans hospital in San Juan. 

“This is the second year that The Salvation Army has had a table at the hospital, distributing personal hygiene kits, sharing information about our services, and meeting the veterans,” says Wanda Borrero, communications manager for The Salvation Army Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands Division. 

Marcos Lopez, development director for the Army in Puerto Rico, says that The Salvation Army’s women auxiliary was the first to reach out to veterans years ago. Every two weeks, the members visit veterans for coffee and socializing. The Salvation Army in Puerto Rico also has a relationship with the PenFed Foundation, a national nonprofit that helps address the financial needs of veterans and their families. This relationship helps fund the kits that The Salvation Army brings to the veterans, which contain toiletries, socks, face masks, and more. Kits for women also include feminine hygiene products. 

“At the hospital, there were veterans thanking us for our service, which is what we usually say to them,” says Lopez. “Another veteran we met said that when he was a child, he had attended The Salvation Army corps in Puerto de Tierra. That was one of the first Army locations that we had in Puerto Rico. He even remembered the officers’ names and their daughter. Even though years had passed, and he was suffering from health conditions, he still had those memories of the Army.” 

Borrero says that Puerto Rico is home to about 100,000 military veterans, but only 62,000 are properly registered to get the services they need through the VA.  

“We saw a great need to meet for all these veterans. Many of them do have resources, including a beautiful hospital, but they miss human interaction with regular people,” says Borrero. “A gift of products they can use means a lot to them, their families, and caretakers.”