Larry Vanhorn, Rick Wilder and Joe Mack were part of the team that delivered blankets at Hillcrest Commons on Saturday morning.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — One hundred-and-twenty-four veterans now living in nursing homes were given a special Christmas gift on Saturday.

 

Members of the Berkshire Veterans Coalition delivered blankets to veterans in eight different assisted living facilities Saturday morning, greeting them with a smile, a salute and a thank you.

 

The delivery brought tears to eyes and smiles to faces.

 

"We do something different each year," said American Legion Post 68 Commander Tom Landry.

 

In previous years the organization purchased T-shirts or pins. But the real gift is the honor of having five or so soldiers arriving in the resident's room with a salute.

 

"We find the veterans and wish them happy holidays," Landry said. "If they want to talk some more, we'll stay and talk."

 

The American Legion started a program years ago in which gift bags were delivered to the veterans. But over time, the program was stopped. The Legion's program included Lenox and Lee as well but the coalition only has enough funds for Pittsfield.

 

"Starting about five or six years ago, the coalition started making the donations," Landry said.

 

Now some of the veterans organizations that make up the coalition contribute to the purchasing. This year the blankets — purchased through T-shirts to Go on Dalton Avenue — featured a flag and "U.S. Veteran." 

 

The organization tried to work with the nursing homes to find out which branch the resident served in and matched up the blanket colors accordingly — navy for the Navy, green for the Army, light blue for the Air Force and orange for the Marines.

 

"It is something they'd use and something they'd always want to have," Landry said.

 

This year about 30 veterans met at 9 a.m. at the Wendell Avenue Veterans of Foreign Wars before dispersing to seven nursing homes in Pittsfield and one in Lenox. 

 

"This year we had a great turnout," said Joe Mack.