FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — For the next few days, the American Legion Auxiliary has a store open at the Fayetteville VA, giving veterans the opportunity to shop for their loved ones free of charge. The Public Affairs Officer at the VA April Eilers said they just want to make sure veterans can get gifts for their families.
The Fayetteville VA is located at 1100 North College Ave. in Fayetteville. You can call the Fayetteville VA Medical Center at (479) 443-4301.
“We want to make sure that our veterans know that they're supported and they can pick out whatever they want for their family and walk away with pride and respect at a time when maybe they wouldn't be able to otherwise," said Eilers.
But how are they able to afford all of this? They said it was through the generosity of this community.
"[This area] has the most giving community I've ever seen. You don't have to go in and beg. You can go in and say, 'I want the American Legion Auxiliary. And we have a Christmas store once a year at a state hospital. And we're just asking our co-founders for donations.' .... come back later, and they load up a truck," said JoAnne Cobb with Unit 100 of the American Legion Auxiliary.
This store means a lot to the veterans who shop there.
"There are tons of homeless veterans out there. So just keep an eye out for anything. Not only are we getting gifts here, but they're also feeding us as we come through the line. In this specific time, where we have huge amounts of inflation in our economy, it's so important to have people out there volunteering their time to help out veterans,” said Veteran Thascia Steelman, who works as a nurse at the VA.
U.S. Army Veteran Dale Terven said, "Veterans, we're all out and about doing different things. So we really ain't got a lot of time to go shop ... [this] means a lot."
The store is open Monday and Tuesday 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and Wednesday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
To donate to the store, you can contact the American Legion Auxiliary at (201) 417-5552.
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