Christmas
for Soldiers
“To
see what Fort Carson Christmas for Soldiers is all about, you really need to be
there.” –Ron Lattin,
Post 5061
On Thursday, December 13, members of Post 5061
including Bill Costa and Ron Lattin, with help from five other Posts and
Auxiliaries, delivered Christmas to 12 Gold Star families at Fort Carson. Our
Post donated $1000 and the Auxiliary donated $500 to the project. With the
money and donations from other Posts and organizations, they provided over 121
wrapped presents, 12 holiday food baskets and sent 15 boxes of items to
soldiers in Afghanistan. At the event, each family spent time with Santa at
which time they were given their presents. Each child was allowed to open up 2
presents and had to take the rest home to open on Christmas. One family had to
take an Uber to the party. The mother had to sell the car when her husband died
because she couldn’t afford the car payments. Volunteers loaded up their own
vehicles with the families’ toys and food basket and drove them home. Volunteers
are working with local dealerships to get the family a car. Another family
was thankful for the food basket. Up to that point, they didn’t know what they were going to have for
Christmas dinner.
The project managed mainly by Post
5061 members, coordinates with Charlie Watkins at Fort Carson to make sure the event
is successful. Watkins works with the Gold Star families to gather Christmas
lists and then gives them to Ron Lattin. Lattin and his volunteers than
purchase the toys and food. A local organization wraps all of the toys. Presents
ranged from small toys, to bikes to motorized vehicles that kids could drive.
