Surrounded by friends, 13-year-old Lily Dorsch carefully composed a handwritten message on a folded piece of pink paper Monday afternoon.
But the pretty note isn’t destined for her valentine at school. It and other Valentine’s Day cards are headed to veterans participating in the Road Home program at Rush University Medical Center.
Seventh- and eighth-grade students from St. Cajetan School in Chicago’s Beverly neighborhood walked across the street to join residents at the Smith Village retirement community to write the cards and put together gift boxes for 30 veterans who served after 9/11.
“It feels good to give back because I know they give up so much,” Dorsch said. “We’re all strangers, really, but they’re still doing it.”
On Monday, Dorsch made a new friend in 96-year-old Joan Schechner, a World War II Army veteran from Evergreen Park. Schechner said she enlisted after high school and served as nurse in Okinawa.
Although she did get letters from home, Schechner said she never received any kind of care package while serving and liked the idea of sending something nice to her fellow veterans.
“It’s neat. I’m sure they’ll enjoy everything we send them, especially food,” she said.
The gift packages included personal items and candy.
Gold Star mom and Beverly resident Modie Lavin, an outreach coordinator for The Center for Veterans and Their Families at Rush, will deliver the cards and gifts to veterans on Valentine’s Day.
“To see this gap in generations come together and do a project like this for veterans is heartwarming,” Lavin said.
The students and residents told her they felt great that they could help make a veteran’s day with the cards and gifts, Lavin said.
“It’s a nice little nod to them to say, ‘We love you and thank you for your service,'” Lavin said.
The Road Home program treats veterans for post-traumatic stress disorder, brain injuries and military sexual trauma.
Lavin’s son, Cpl. Conner T. Lowry, died during combat operations on March 1, 2012, while serving in Afghanistan. He was a lifelong resident of Beverly, where a bronze sculpture was built and a street was renamed in his honor.
Southside Alderman Matt O’Shea helped bring Lavin, the school children and residents at Smith Village together. He said it sends a positive message that two generations, in this case the children of St. Cajetan School and the seniors at Smith Village, can come together to support veterans.
Nick Swedberg is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
