By Jenny Farley

On the wall of a large room at the Coatesville Community Living Center – part of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Coatesville Healthcare System – hangs a beautifully carved wooden American flag that gives the illusion of waving in the wind despite being still. A veteran who lives at VA nursing home designed the flag.

If you look closely, you can see what’s written in the bottom right corner. It is a nod to the famous quote from Stephen King’s The Shawshank Redemption, “Get busy living or get busy dying.”

On October 14, volunteers from the American Red Cross Delaware Valley Chapter came to that room with the flag to help veterans who have birthdays in October celebrate another year of life.

Karen Nielsen drove to the nursing home with a huge birthday cake and a cooler filled with ice cream. She has volunteered for the Red Cross for the past two years and has several roles including Volunteer Partner to the Service to the Armed Forces (SAF) national director, Military and Veteran Caregiver Network and the Coatesville VA Hospital Veterans Affairs Voluntary Service (VAVS) local representative.

Karen’s favorite part about helping veterans is, “Having the opportunity to be there for them, showing we care, and that we have not forgotten their sacrifice.”

Most of the veterans arrived at the festive celebration by wheelchair, brought down from their rooms by Red Cross volunteers and nursing home staff in an elevator, happy to be at the birthday party that was just for them.

Wearing her Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces T-shirt, Nicole Bryan helped veterans get to the party and then cut the birthday cake into several pieces. Nicole has volunteered for the Red Cross for four years.

“I love it. I am mission driven. I believe in giving back. I have been in humanitarian service for over 35 years, so this is my purpose,” she said.

Nicole’s husband is an Army veteran who retired in 2022 after 31 years of dedicated service. Her dad fought in the Vietnam War and died in 2018. So, while she was serving cake to the veterans in Coatesville, she also thought of her own family’s military service and sacrifice.

That was true for Louise Murphy too. Louise has two 18-year-old nephews who are active-duty Marines. Her father served in the Army Air Corps in World War 2.

Louise volunteered for the Red Cross in high school and started volunteering again about a year ago after retiring from her career as a special education teacher to middle school students.

She said it meant “everything” to her to be able to help the veterans at the VA nursing home celebrate.

“They deserve so much. They’ve given so much for this country and I think sometimes we forget about that. We need to acknowledge them as much as we can because we wouldn’t be where we are as a country right now if it weren’t for their service.”

When Nevine Imam moved to the United States she started looking for ways to give back to her community. Volunteering for the Red Cross was a great fit. She enjoyed talking to veterans at the birthday party and said it was her way of supporting them and showing gratitude for all they have done to protect America.

“It was really an honor and a pleasure for me,” she said.

Everyone in the room wanted the day to be special.

The message on the wooden flag summed things up perfectly. It read, “Welcome to the CLC-138 Nursing Home Where the Veterans Are Busy Living, Not Dying.”

The Red Cross has supported veterans and military families for more than 100 years and has a global presence on over 380 military installations and deployment sites worldwide. If you would like to volunteer to help the military and veteran community, visit redcross.org/SAF to sign up.

Get involved

Do you want to know more about what Red Cross volunteers do for Veterans at the VA medical centers? In her own words, Karen Nielsen explains two paths volunteers can take:

• Become a Veterans Affairs Voluntary Service (VAVS) volunteer: Contribute to the quality of life provided by the VA Health Care System through volunteer jobs provided at the local VA Health Care Facility. These jobs may include: Greeter, patient escort, refreshment cart support, lab runner, clinical administrative volunteer, recreation therapy assistant, information desk worker, patient visitor and many other unique positions. Roles are recurring on a weekly or monthly basis.

• Support local Red Cross Service to the Armed Forces (SAF) activities: Join the Southeastern Pennsylvania (SEPA) SAF team to provide support for Veteran related activities including birthday celebrations at the VA, Caregiver Tabling events to discuss preparedness, Homeless Veteran Stand Downs, Veteran Day Parades and Flag Placement at local cemeteries.