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The Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs has put together
Operation Rising Spirit to encourage people to remember vets
with cards and notes of appreciation during the holidays.
IDVA Director Terry Prince is himself a veteran with 31 years of
service and said getting a piece of mail on the ship when he was
deployed was something that made his day.
"A lot of our veterans grew up in that world, where getting a
letter was a big deal," Prince told The Center Square. "Vets
enjoy having real mail to open up every day. They put the cards
up in their rooms and in their common rooms. Operation Rising
Spirit really brightens things up for the vets in Illinois state
veterans' homes."
Life in a veterans' home can be difficult, Prince said.
"None of these men and women asked to live in the veterans'
home. So it's on us to make it as home-like as possible,
especially around the holidays," he said. "Whether they were
combat veterans or not, every single one of them raised their
hand and said, 'I swear an oath to the Constitution.' As a
nation, we owe it to them to lift their spirits in any way that
we can."
Prince hopes schools and groups will set aside an hour for a
card- or letter-writing group event.
There are five state veterans homes in Illinois: Anna, Chicago,
LaSalle, Manteno, and Quincy. People can designate which home
they want their card to go to, Prince said. The department makes
sure that all the homes get mail.
"We need to be checking on our veterans just to see how they are
doing," he said. "Holidays can be difficult for vets. This is
one way to kind of get that going."
People can send cards, notes and letters to the Illinois
Department of Veterans Affairs Central Office at P.O. Box 19432,
Springfield, IL 62794-9432. People can also go to a website and
fill out an electronic note. The department staff will print out
the emails and get them to the veterans.
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