The Veterans Project
Over this past weekend I spent my Saturday morning volunteering with TAPS and ALA. TAPS, or Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors is a non-profit group that reaches out to the families of fallen military personnel. Their mission is to provide immediate and long-term emotional help, hope and healing to all who are grieving the loss of a loved one who served in America’s armed forces. ALA, the American Legion Auxiliary, recruited me and three other students through the Washington Center. We arrived in Arlington Virginia at the TAPS headquarters bright and early. We were greeted by Victoria and Jerome, who quickly gave us the run down of what we would be doing. We all worked together as a team to create Survivor Resource Kits. Survivor Resource kits are boxes that are immediately sent out to the families who are suffering the loss of a loved one. The kits contain resources like magazines and informational pamphlets that inform those in grieving of the services that TAPS provides. In the short time we were there we created over 100! While it seems like a menial task, doing what I can to help people through the grieving process hits home for me, a year and a half ago I abruptly lost someone very important to me, and so I am familiar with how hard the process can be. It is a good feeling to know that I was able to not only aid TAPS, but that I was also able to put together something that will hopefully inspire and help people even when they are in their most vulnerable states.
-Meg
