Photograph by Linda KC ReynoldsSchool children from a local elementary school made a painting of the
American flag and sent it to the Veterans Home as a gift to the residents. Pictured holding flag resident veteran Ed Dobrzanski (left) and resident veteran Robert Phillips (right). Standing (from left) are Tech. Sgt. Michael Burd; Senior Master Sgt. Adam Pawelek, AMR team member Chana Alexader and her 9-year-old son Connor who often volenteers his services to veteran causes.
The Air Force Sergeants Association Chapter 1328 from Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., along with the American Medical Response, an Antelope Valley emergency medical team, treated resident veterans at the William J. “Pete” Knight Veterans’ Home in Lancaster to a fun afternoon of wine tasting and a palate-pleasing snack of cheese and crackers.
It was a bittersweet event for AFSA’s outgoing president, Senior Master Sgt. Adam Pawelek who was overseeing his last official AFSA activity as president of the organization.
Chana Alexander, representing the AMR, Pawelek and Tech. Sgt. Michael Burd, senior adviser for AFSA’s Chapter 1328, took advantage of the social event and made a special monetary presentation to the home and to the families of two local fallen heroes.
“We collected $8,300 from our third annual Hits for Heroes softball tournament played last October,” Alexander offered, and during Thursday’s wine tasting event the teams divided a percentage of those proceeds between the local veterans’ home and the families of the two fallen heroes.
Photograph by Linda KC ReynoldsAlex Ballentine, an AMR volunteer; Ken Fowler, a resident veteran and Tech. Sgt. Michael Burd open the wine-tasting event.
The AMR is known for hosting charitable events and often shares the monies raised with the local AFSA which, in turn, spreads the wealth with many other veteran projects in need.
“Our goal is to help support fun projects for the resident veterans,” Burd said. He said the government doesn’t support certain quality of life projects for vets, so AFSA targets those areas to pitch in and help with.
During the Hits for Heroes event AMR also sold t-shirts honoring each fallen hero, one for Sgt. Steve Owen of the LA County Sheriff’s Department who was killed while responding to a domestic dispute, and the other for EMP Christopher “Chris” Parry, an AMR team member who was killed in a traffic accident, the goal is to not let these heroes be forgotten.
Lawrence Hawkins, supervising rehabilitation therapist for the local veterans’ home accepted the home’s share of donations and said receiving such a gift is “awesome!”
“Our veterans appreciate everything that AFSA and the AMR does for us, they are part of our family,” he said.
“We love our veterans past and current,” Burd said.
Photograph by Linda KC ReynoldsMembers of AFSA Chapter 1328, along with representatives of American
Medical Response, visit resident veterans at the William J. “Pete” Knight
Veterans Home in Lancaster, Calif. The groups presented the veterans’ home with a check for $2,700 to help fund quality of life projects. From left: Outgoing AFSA Chapter 1328 President Senior Master Sgt. Adam Pawelek; Veterans home Supervising Rehabilitation Therapist Lawrence Hawkins; Nine-year-old Connor Alexander; AMR Community Service Specialist Chana Alexander; Senior Adviser, AFSA Chapter 1328 Tech. Sgt. Michael Burd and volunteer Alex Ballentine.
