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Retired Navy officer, wife help veterans in nursing homes
AUSTINTOWN — Louis and Marie LaCava are making sure military veterans in Austintown nursing homes are not forgotten.
With the help of members of American Legion Austintown Memorial Post 301, they send cards and deliver cookies, cupcakes and lap robes to veterans in nursing homes.
“We send 130 to 140 cards a year,” said LaCava, a retired Navy chief warrant officer 4.
It was the cards that started their project, which Mrs. LaCava said has “snowballed.” “It seemed like every time we turned around, something new was added,” she said.
It all started in 2004 when the LaCavas went to a Post 301 board meeting to discuss what could be done for the community and veterans.
Mrs. LaCava said she knew from her experience of working 20 years as a licensed practical nurse at Shepherd of the Valley Nursing Home in Niles that a lot of residents didn’t have visitors or receive cards.
As a result, she suggested that the post do something for veterans in nursing homes.
They started out sending birthday and Veterans Day and Christmas cards made by post members on their computers.
When Christmas arrived that first year, they decided something more than cards was needed: So they started delivering cupcakes they and other post members baked.
“It took us two days to deliver them,” LaCava said.
In May 2005, they added cookies for Memorial Day to the growing list of gifts for the veterans.