St. John, Veterans Team Up For Blood Drive

St. John Lutheran Church, in Danielson, is partnering with the Danielson Veterans’ Coffeehouse for a blood drive, on Oct. 30.

The church serves as a summer meeting location for the veterans group because of its location, size, and accessibility. The church and the veterans organization have developed an ongoing partnership over the last three years.

“We’ve done different projects with St. John Lutheran Church,” said DVC President Fred Ruhlemann. “They really are a community church. They’re always thinking of ways to reach out and help the community.”

The church and veterans group have joined forces with Staples to provide school supplies to needy students in the region. They have sponsored food drives and collected monetary donations for Friends of Assisi and Project PIN food pantries in Danielson and Plainfield, respectively. They have collected toiletries for needy veterans.

“I always tell people that the men and women veterans who come to the coffeehouse were those who stood up for the country when they were young,” Ruhlemann said. “It didn’t matter what branch of service they were in - Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, or Navy. Now, they are standing up for their community.”

St. John Administrative Assistant Cathy Nurmi said the church was only too happy to help.

“We felt this was a worthy undertaking,” Nurmi said. “We have the handicapped accessible space and there is always a need for blood.”

The church will hold a Veterans Day interfaith worship service, at 8:30 a.m. on Nov. 10, to honor all veterans. The congregation will be collecting and accepting donations for toiletry bags to be blessed at the Nov. 10 service. Ruhlemann asked for donations of socks, hats, gloves, toiletries, toilet paper, handkerchiefs, deodorant, toothbrushes, and toothpaste for the bags.

Rev. Lisa Anderson will bless the donations at the service and veterans will distribute the bags to homeless and needy veterans. You can drop off toiletries at the St. John Lutheran Church, at 160 Wauregan Road in Danielson.

To schedule an appointment to give blood on Oct. 30, call the American Red Cross at 800-733-2767 or go to https://www.redcross.org/ and use the sponsor code: DVC. Walk-ins are acceptable as well.

The Danielson Veterans Coffeehouse holds meetings every Tuesday at 9 a.m., at the Killingly Community Center on Broad Street. The DVC holds an evening coffeehouse on the first Wednesday of every month at St. John Lutheran Church. It starts at 6:30 p.m.

For more information, go to https://dvcoffeehouse.com/.

Denise Coffey can be reached at dcoffey@courant.com.

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