Christmas with Our Local Vets

by Garrick Stubblefield

For the past two years I have had the privilege of making a big contribution to the Christmas Party for our local Korean Veterans by donating their main course, fried chicken.

It all started in 2021, when Mrs. Julie Wilson called the Harding’s Market and asked for the deli. The call came over the intercom: “Deli, you have a call on line 1.” It just so happened I was the one to receive the call. I came on the phone and said, “This is the deli. How can I help you this afternoon?” Mrs. Wilson gave me a lengthy description of what she needed and I said let me do some figuring and I will call you back in about 10 minutes. She agreed.

So finally, after I did some calculating, I called Mrs. Wilson back with the results. She answered on the second ring and I proceeded to tell her the news. I first apologized for the chicken being so high-priced, but unfortunately the best I could do for her was still beyond the budget they had. I said ok let me do a little more figuring and I will call you back with a reply.

After considering their chicken order I said to myself I’m a vet and I’m going to help my fellow vets out in the best way I possibly can. So, I called Mrs. Wilson, who picked up and asked right away, “Are we getting chicken?” and I replied back, “Yep, all 100 pieces.” Mrs. Wilson said, “But you said that much chicken was out of our budget.” I replied, “Yes, I know it is but I have some news for you, and that is that I’m a vet myself and I’m going to pay it forward to my fellow vets.” Mrs. Wilson was a little taken aback by what I had said so she called her husband over to the phone for me to tell him what I told her, and he said thank you so many times along with “you don’t need to do that.”

Well I did it anyway and have done it now for the past two years, including this year when I was invited to the Korean Vets Christmas Party and brought with me all the chicken they could eat.

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Thank You to ALL our Veterans, we are ever grateful!

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