Our Holiday Open House
Clear Path for Veterans New England hosted another super successful Holiday Open House at our Devens facility! It was an awesome and festive day, and the building was quite literally overflowing with veterans, families, and volunteers- (We even had a line out the door at one point!) In total, we saw over four hundred people come through our doors that day, and were able to supply nearly TWO HUNDRED holiday food boxes and gift cards to deserving families, plus stocking filled with toys for their children.
In addition to this- because of the generosity of the Mass Military Foundation- we were also able to have each child select one large toy too! Children sat on Santa’s lap for photos, and we had plenty of food on hand to fill families’ bellies. Another added bonus was the table we had set up with coats, hats, gloves and even baby clothes for our veterans to help themselves to. We owe enormous debts of gratitude to the Harvard Lions Club, who helped out tremendously with the food boxes, food drive, gift cards, and packing of the stockings; the Enterprise bank who helped with our food drive; the Parker School on Devens who assisted with the food drive and gift cards; and of course all of our volunteers for their energetic support and time to make it all happen!
The “it takes a village” mantra was in full effect the day of our holiday open house, and our village really came through to ensure that our veterans kicked off their holiday week with community, connection, and family fun. We are already looking forward to next year’s event, which will undoubtedly be even bigger and better!
To see photos from our fun event click here!