Sierra Nevada Chapter, NSDAR, patriotism shines through with our numerous activities which honor and aid our veterans, support our active troops, encourage our Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) cadets, celebrate our national holidays, and recognize outstanding community nonprofit organizations with community service awards, donations of goods, and financial assistance.
It was a great privilege to donate fifty $25 Trader Joe gift cards on December 7, 2022 to the Reno VA Caregiver Support Program, via the Director of Public Affairs.
These gift cards will be distributed to disabled veteran family caregivers who are enrolled in the Reno Veterans Hospital formal and general Caregiver Support Program.
Our chapter has hosted several Vietnam veterans dinners to celebrate and honor our Vietnam veterans on National Vietnam War Veterans Day in March. Veterans have been treated to delicious catered dinners, participated in raffle drawings with many exciting prizes, and enjoyed the camaraderie of fellow veterans.
Our chapter has also participated in other Vietnam War Veterans Day events in which we presented notes of appreciation to the veterans and presented special pins to the Vietnam War veterans.
We welcome home our veterans when they return from their Honor Flight trips to Washington, D.C.; we present them with handmade Quilts of Valor thanking them for their service and sacrifice in serving our nation; we give them handwritten notes of appreciation; donate items for the Veterans Affairs (VA) annual Stand Down assisting local homeless veterans, donate clothing to the VA Hospital Emergency Room and baby items for the VA’s annual Veterans Baby Shower.
We honor and celebrate our veterans by participating in Veterans Day parades; we tend to neglected gravesites, and we honor those veterans who have passed with memorial wreaths in Wreaths Across America’s yearly wreath-laying ceremony.
We also supply our active troops overseas with several care packages over the holiday season. These gifts of love include snacks, toiletries, reading material, games, and handwritten thank you notes for their dedication and personal sacrifice in defending our freedoms and keeping us safe. We owe them a deep debt of gratitude and we let them know how much they are appreciated by members of our chapter.
We help out various nonprofit organizations in our community. We have donated clothing to both Safe Embrace, a domestic violence shelter, and Awaken, an organization that aids victims of sex trafficking; we have donated thousands of books to Spread the Word Nevada which provides books to elementary children in Title 1 schools to promote early childhood literacy; we provide the Reno Sparks Indian Colony with hygiene gift bags; and we assist Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful by participating in several clean-up projects in our community.
We have honored the following with Community Service Awards:
