Today is Veterans’Day, and when we received this holiday message from David Levinson, Founder and Executive Director of Big Sunday, our amazing neighborhood center for doing good and giving back, we thought it was well worth sharing with our Buzz readers.
Today, of course, is Veterans Day. People often confuse Veterans Day and Memorial Day.* For that matter, people often aren’t sure if one is supposed to say things like “Happy Veterans Day!” For those who have those questions and more, here is a helpful article from USA Today called “Is It Okay to Say ‘Happy Veterans Day?” (And no, Veterans Day does not have an apostrophe.)
At Big Sunday, we have worked for and with, and been aided and assisted by vets in a million different ways and in loads of places, from LA to New York. In fact, here’s a photo I love of a harbor cruise we took a couple years back in the San Francisco Bay, with some vets from the SF VA. (It was a blast.) (Even though the San Francisco Bay is a lot choppier than Long Beach Harbor, but that’s another story.)
If you’re interested, please know that many of the bags we’re assembling for Thanksgiving dinner will be going to organizations that serve vets. And, of course, we’ve just started our annual collection to provide new bikes for vets’ kids for the holidays. (All info about how you can get involved with either/or are below.) Plus, our Big Sunday Resource Guide has a whole section of ways to learn more about vets, including ways to help. (More info about that below, too.)
Mostly, if you know a vet, please take a moment today to thank him or her for their service.
Have a nice day, and hope to see you again soon!
As always,
David*Both days are observances to honor those who have served in the military. Memorial Day, which is in May, particularly honors those who were killed during their service.
Levin also told the Buzz that if you want to do more to help local vets, perhaps by sponsoring a bike or a bag of Thanksgiving food, Big Sunday can help with that, too.
Finally, Levinson reports that Big Sunday’s 10th Annual Thanksgiving Stuffing event, which helps all kinds of people (not just veterans), all over town, is coming up on November 24 from 9 a.m. to noon, and will be held in person for the first time in two years. “Should be a blast,” Levin said. “We’re packing 3000 bags of food, each of which will serve 4 people. (That’s 12,000 people.)…Really, a celebration of thankfulness.” The event will also include breakfast and music for the volunteers, so if you’re interested in pitching in, sign up here – but be sure to do so soon; the event is smaller than usual, due to the pandemic, nearly full already. (And please note that, also because of the pandemic, masks will be required for all participants, and proof of COVID vaccination is required for volunteers ages 12 and up.) If you can’t make it to the event, but would still like to help from home, there are ways to do that too – see the event link above for more information.
