Valentines For Veterans: Shoe Sensation hosts drive to share the love with local veterans in nursing homes
Published 4:54 pm Tuesday, February 14, 2017
A local business recently worked with community members to help spread some Valentine’s Day love to local veterans.
As part of their recent Socks for Soldiers drive, the staff at Shoe Sensation in Elizabethton also collected socks to distribute to veterans living in local nursing homes.
Working with community members, the store’s staff members were able to assemble 79 Valentine’s gifts for the veterans. Each gift included a pair of socks, some candy, ink pens, note pads, and Valentine’s cards.
“The children at East Side Elementary signed Valentine’s cards for all the veterans,” Assistant Store Manager Nancy Berry said. “I think that was just so sweet of them.”
While Berry spearheaded the project for the store, she is quick to share any praise with others who helped make the project a success.
In addition to East Side Elementary, Berry said the project also received assistance from Rebecca and James Hunt who paid to have Valentine cards printed for the veterans, John Whitson of Whitson’s Barber Shop who donated candy, Pastor Brandon Young of Harmony Baptist who also gave candy, and local business Cash Express which donated ink pens and notepads for the gift bags.
The socks for the veterans presents were contributed by Shoe Sensation as well as by customers of the store.
Berry worked with local nursing homes to find out how many veterans were in the homes to make sure there were enough presents for each veteran to receive a gift bag. On Monday, representatives of the local nursing homes picked up the gifts to distribute to their veterans.
Below are the totals for the local nursing homes:
• Roan Highlands – 10
• Ivy Hall – 18
• Hermitage – 15
• Hillview – 11
• Life Care – 15
• Pine Ridge – 10
Berry said the event was a success and is something the store and its staff look forward to doing again in the future.
As a company, Shoe Sensation looks for ways to get involved in the community and Berry said there are lots of events on tap for the store.
“We’re going to be doing something all the time,” she said, adding the store is planning special events monthly to reach different members of the community.