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A 'Get Well' Salute To Lonely Veterans

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By PAUL CATALA, Tribune correspondent

Published: October 13, 2007

CROSS CREEK - As a Korean War veteran, Bud Collins gets most of his medical treatment at the James A. Haley VA Medical Center.

During each visit, the retired patient identification systems salesman said he sees some of the 400 to 500 veterans - many from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan - looking down and lonely.

So, Collins decided to do a little something to help brighten their day. He approached his daughter, Sara Argen, and asked her to help him design, make and distribute 500 'Get Well' cards for those veterans.

Argen, co-owner of Stampin' Up Scrapbooking and Cardmaking Supplies, agreed to help her father. Spending about $150 to buy supplies, Collins bought enough construction paper, glue, scissors, markers and other materials to make 500 cards.

From 2 to 5 p.m. Oct. 6 - World Card Making Day is the first Saturday in October - Argen, Collins and others gathered in the Stampin' Up office on Cross Creek Boulevard to make the cards. Once completed, they were taken to the medical center and delivered to patients.

The cards were adorned with 'Get Well' and a stamp that read: 'Bud Collins and His Stamping Buddies.'

Volunteer Lynne Howell, who came in from the West Shore area, had a special reason for joining in the card making.

'This is my beginning for a year of volunteerism. I turn 50 tomorrow, and I said I'd celebrate by volunteering for a whole year, and this is the perfect way to start that,' she said.

Deborah Gottardi, chief of volunteer services at the medical center, has been with the VA for 35 years. She said Collins' effort was one of the largest card deliveries she could remember during a nonholiday time of the year.

'I say kudos to them for thinking of the vets when there isn't a holiday,' she said. 'It's nice to know that people in the community remember these vets and their service to the country and wish them well.'

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