Fleetwood Junior Girl Scout Troop 1793 adopted a veteran and his family in honor of Veterans Day.
This opportunity came to the troop leader Kristin Santangelo by a neighbor and friend whose husband is active in the military. The neighbor adopted a homeless puppy, Claymore, through Catworks and a program called A Hero’s Hero. They took in this homeless puppy and fostered him at their home in Blandon for about six months. They trained him and gave him lots of love. When he was ready, Claymore was permanently placed with a veteran and his family who live in Texas.
This veteran was wounded during his service in Iraq in 2007 and has a prosthetic leg. He is about to undergo his third amputation surgery on Nov. 21. He has endured more than 30 other surgeries from various injuries. He has received a Purple Heart and many other medals for his service to our great nation. He is a hometown hero and the Governor of Texas had a handicap ramp built onto their family home to better assist his mobility. He has a wife and a 14-year-old daughter who enjoys running cross country. The family are beyond blessed with the addition of their service dog, Claymore. So much so, that our veteran wants to continue his efforts with training dogs to be service dogs, as he has previous experience with dogs during his service in the United States Army.
In the nature of giving, the Girl Scout Troop will be having our Girl Scouts make cards for this family as they discussed Veteran’s Day. They will also collect donations. This is a complete surprise to the veteran and ‘adopting him’ is very special to the girls. This man would never ask for donations for himself, which is why he is being simply referred to “Our Soldier.” Once everything is collected, a care package box will be sent to him and his family in Texas.
The troop seeks donations from the community. Some things that would be great for donation items: cards of strength, thanks, and positive well wishes; dog toys; books (favorites include Richard Marcinko and Tom Clancy) to read or keep himself occupied while he recovers from his surgery; gift cards for the family for Wal-Mart and take out dinners; and items for his wife and daughter. Think of having your husband, father, brother, uncle, grandfather out of commission, and think of things that might uplift the women in his life.
In this season of Thanksgiving, donations may be made by contacting troop leader Kristin Santangelo at 610-926-6912. All donations are requested before Nov. 28 when the girls meet to pack their collected items. A big thanks to “Our Soldier” for his heart, for his strength and for his perseverance. We thank him for his service to the United States of America. God Bless Claymore, Our Soldier and his family. God bless you!
