The Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3830 delivered donated American flags to Yukio Okutsu Veterans State Home on Monday afternoon.
Traditionally, a flag is draped over a deceased veteran’s bed. After the facility ran out of flags this year, Chaplain John Hiduchick and VFW leadership brought flags donated by the Hilo Exchange Club to the home. Hiduchick and volunteers cleaned, folded and secured the flags in bags.
Recreation director Stacyn Sakuma has been working with the VFW to communicate the needs of the Hilo veterans home during the ongoing outbreak of COVID-19.
“Stacyn and all the staff have been so great and have worked tirelessly through this,” Hiduchick said. “The staff cares deeply for the veterans and I know this has been hard for them.”
While donations have been helpful to the veterans home, Hiduchick has also offered virtual, spiritual guidance to residents, especially those in the COVID-19 unit.
“It has been so wonderful and I think it’s helpful to residents, especially those who can’t be visited in-person,” Hiduchick said.
All three VFW locations in Hawaii County have accumulated about $1,000 in monetary donations for the veterans home. Some of the money will be used to purchase Kindle Fire tablets, which is a device used for reading electronic books.
To further help the home, the Penn Hawaii Youth Foundation also donated food for residents and staff.