VA Manchester celebrates babies born in 2020

The third annual Manchester VA 2020 baby shower may have looked a little different this year, but the Veterans were showered all the same.

Twenty-five Veteran families were provided with an array of baby essentials, clothes, car seats and bedding. This event would not have been possible without our community of donors.

Boxes of donated baby essentials await parents to be.

The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and several auxiliaries and posts around the state, the General Federation of Women’s Clubs – New Hampshire and many others rallied the community for donations.

Madeline Dreusicke, NH VFW Auxiliary member, played a pivotal role in organizing the community donations and logistics for donations sites. She worked closely with our Women Veterans Program manager, Laura Caisse, to coordinate the individual requests from Veteran families.

Baby shower gifts ready for distribution in drive thru

The baby shower was Oct. 31 in a drive-thru style. In the spirit of Halloween, the baby shower coordinators dressed up as superheroes (as pictured above). Staff greeted the Veterans who participated, asking them to remain in their cars.

Staff loaded the items into Veterans’ cars, and offered the Veterans essentials, from diapers to handmade quilts. The Veterans received a bag loaded with small baby basics like clothing, bathing kits, books, grooming kits, bottle brushes and more.

The Manchester VA Healthcare System would like to thank our amazing community partners for their donations: the VFW, NH State VFW Auxiliaries, Susan Dietz, Keeping Vets in Threads, Cyrilla Prescott, our VA employees and many VA friends.

Annie J. Duquette, RN, BSN, is the Health Promotion Disease Prevention program manager and Veteran health education coordinator at the Manchester VAMC.