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Fifty-six residents at the Silver Bay Veterans Home were tickled to receive monogrammed winter vests last week, courtesy of Cloquet VFW Post 3979. During a previous visit, veteran and VFW junior vice commander Carl Schenk, at right with a resident, said he noticed how happy one of the nursing home residents was to have a visitor call him by name, and how another resident asked for a blanket during bingo. Warm winter vests with their first name seemed like a useful gift, he said. VFW officers made the trip north with the vests on Thursday, Jan. 25.

Silver Bay photos by Kitty Mayo / Lake County Press

"They took care of us, now it's time we take care of them," Schenk said of the residents. "Being an old vet myself, you take care of your comrades and friends. And it's very rewarding."

Schenk himself was surprised to receive his own monogrammed vest, above. Randall Walz, public relations coordinator at the home, and Cloquet VFW Post 3979 commander Ron Stigers presented the gift.

American Legion member Lisa Karulak and her father, Bernie Karulak, at right, delivered 62 gift bags to the veterans in Silver Bay in December, filled with all donated blankets. "We purchased bags and wrote up Christmas cards for every gift bag and delivered them for their Christmas day celebration," Lisa said. "I'd like to thank everybody that helped me."