- “Continuing our children’s service and memory by serving our veterans, active-duty personnel, and the community.”
- In the last year, Nebraska Gold Star Mothers have completed more than 5,000 volunteer hours.
- Nebraska Gold Star Mothers stretches across the entire state.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT
Wednesday is pantry day at the Victory Apartments in Omaha.
“We love all our men and women here at the pantry. We’re very attached to them,” Nebraska Gold Star Mothers President Barb Yllescas-Vorthmann.
The apartments are home to more than 280 low-income or previously homeless veterans.
Now, a few things are always the same on pantry day.
One, it gets a bit chaotic in the pantry room.
Two, the line of veterans picking up essentials is long.
“There’s no supermarkets around here and most don’t have transportation, so there became a need for a food pantry,” Yllescas-Vorthmann explained.
And three, the Nebraska Gold Star Mothers are running the show.
“We’ve got it down to a science now, it’s kind of an assembly program,” she said.
“They’re cool, yeah, they’re cool,” One resident in line for some pantry goods told us. “They help a lot.”
“It’s a great program and they’re great people,” Omaha’s Victory Apartments Maintenance Director Aaron Swanson shared.
While the moms have made this a bi-weekly tradition, it's just one of the many things they volunteer their time for.
“Do you want to see one of our quilts? Pull it out, Ms. Monica! We’re proud of those quilts because they’re made with a lot of tears,” Yllescas-Vorthmann said as they showed us the quilt they’ve been working on.
Gold Star Mother Monica Alexander added, “And a lot of love.”
They’ve made about 70 quilts to donate to veterans and active military personnel.
Again, just another one of the many things they do., In fact, in the last year, they’ve completed more than 5,000 volunteer hours.
“Can’t do enough for our veterans. You know, they give their lives for us,” Alexander said.
Something these women have all experienced.
“He goes everywhere with me,” Yllescas-Vorthmann said as showing us a picture of her son in a locket on her neck. “I know our kids are looking down on us, happy that we’re continuing their service.”
“Pretty extraordinary people,” Swanson said. “They lost a child in the service of our country, but then they turn around and do what they can to help others in the service of their country.”
Only they know what it’s like to not have your child return home.
“Well, we have each other. We are now family — a family we kind of don’t want to belong to as gold stars — but we’re a family now,” Yllescas-Vorthmann said. “We support each other. All you have to do is pick up the phone, even in the middle of the night if you want and call each other.”
Giving back to our nation’s heroes, together, is what helps them cope and heal.
“It’s a family and the military is a family,” Alexander said. “Our son isn’t here, but we can still give love to the veterans who were doing what he was doing.”
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