SAYBROOK TOWNSHIP —
For a few hours early Wednesday evening, Saybrook Township’s lakefront park was the scene of live music, games and plenty of food — all for the pleasure of patients at a Cleveland-area veterans hospital.
Three times each year, members of Blue Star Mothers’ Geneva Chapter 57 bring patients of the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Louis Stokes Medical Center to Ashtabula County for fun and a change of scenery, said Janet Juncker, Chapter 57 officer and spokeswoman. The schedule always includes a July picnic along the lakeshore, she said.
Normally, the picnic is held at Geneva-on-the-Lake, but this year the affair had to a move a few miles to the east after a spring storm damaged the village’s pavilion, Juncker said.
“We had about two weeks to make a change,” she said.
The patients didn’t seem to mind. The sky was a brilliant blue, the band was playing rock ’n’ roll, and food sizzled on grills. Hungry patients, clutching plates, stood in a serving line that stretched the length of the park’s pavilion.
Lending a big hand to the event were members of the Military Order of Cootie Pup Tent 68. The Cooties are hand-picked members of Veterans of Foreign Wars posts who take on special projects that assist veterans, said Danny Knepper of Geneva.
“Our job is to keep (veterans) smiling in their beds of white,” Knepper said.
Another big picnic booster is Betty Sickinger of the High Tide Tavern in Geneva-on-the-Lake, who provided 400 chicken wings and cooked 180 pieces of chicken for Wednesday’s event, Juncker said.
More than 150 patients made the trip aboard two Greyhound-style buses, along with a smaller transport vehicle, Juncker said.
“It’s the biggest group we’ve ever had,” Juncker said. “The guys love to be on the lake.”
Fundraisers and donations help the Blue Star Mothers’ Geneva chapter make the patients’ trips to Ashtabula County a reality for a long time.
“This has been our baby for more than 25 years,” Juncker said. “We love our veterans. We would do anything for these guys.”
Local News
Cleveland veterans enjoy picnic, games in Saybrook
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