Ellenton-Parrish Lions bring holiday gifts to Manatee Veterans Village

MANATEE -- Members of the Ellenton-Parrish Lions Club came bearing gifts Tuesday to Manatee Veterans Village, which serves as a bridge between homelessness and permanent housing and a paying job.

The gifts, including wallets, coffee makers, notepads, snacks and clothing, nearly filled the dining room.

It was a big effort for a club with fewer than 50 members.

"As a club, we voted to do this as a project for the holidays," said President Sandra Levesque.

Lions Club members learned about Manatee Veterans Village from Ellenton VFW Post 9226 and from a Bradenton Herald story, Levesque said.

Levesque reached out to Fritz Potter, program specialist for Volunteers of America, which operates Manatee Veterans Village, and asked what the 20 residents could use.

Almost anything, Potter replied.

And that's what Lions Club members brought: calendars, sweat shirts, pots and pans, you name it.

Each of the 10 apartments at the residential home will get a full set of pots and pans, and a 12-cup capacity coffee maker with coffee, creamer and filters, said Debbie Carnes, Lions Club second vice president.

Each vet gets a set of Rubber Maid and a bag of personal items, too.

Carnes' daughter, Samantha Somers, although not a Lion, helped wrangle some of the supplies through her business contacts, including the wallets and coffee.

"I was just helping my mom," Somers said.

Manatee Veterans Village opened in April 2013, and has since served about 70 vets with an average stay of six months each.

The Christmas gift from the Ellenton-Parrish Lions Club will help veterans recognize the tremendous community support here, Potter said.

"The encouragement is a wonderful thank you from the community to the veterans for serving the country," he said.

Homeless veterans are often referred to Manatee Veterans Village from other agencies.

"The hardest thing for a veteran to understand is that they need the help, and to accept the help," Potter said.

For more information on Manatee Veterans Village, call 941-896-9714.

James A. Jones Jr., Herald reporter, can be contacted at 941-745-7053 or on Twitter@jajones1.

This story was originally published December 22, 2015 at 7:29 PM with the headline "Ellenton-Parrish Lions bring holiday gifts to Manatee Veterans Village ."