Warm gesture for ailing veterans

Groups collect sweat suits to provide some comfort during holidays

Groups across Loudoun County are aiming to collect hundreds of sweat suits for ailing veterans before the holiday season.

After the principal of Hamilton Elementary School encouraged staff members to wear sweats last week to raise awareness about the drive, nearly all participated. Principal Robert Marple, a former physical education teacher, said that sweat suits are one of the things he misses most since becoming an administrator and that he wants to make sure veterans undergoing treatments have the same kind of comfort.

"Nobody knows how nice and comfortable it is to wear a sweat suit better than I do," he said.

The Sweats for Vets program has proved successful across the country. This is the third year that the Leesburg post of the Veterans of Foreign Wars has collected the garments. American Legion Post 293 is also involved.

The VFW has worked with the Knights of Columbus Fourth Degree Assemblies in Sterling and Potomac Falls to distribute the sweats. Last year, they gave out about 250 sweat suits around Christmas.

Most of what is collected will go to patients at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Martinsburg, W.Va. If enough are left, the veterans groups will deliver them to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the District.

"No one wants to hang around in a hospital gown or pajamas," said Jim McQuary, 63, of Leesburg, immediate past commander of the Loudoun County VFW post at 401 Old Waterford Rd. "It's just a way of showing we still care."

Hamilton, which has fewer than 200 students, has collected more than 60 sweat shirts and sweat pants. School officials said they might have twice that many by the week before Veterans Day.

Kenneth W. Culbert, Emerick and Mountain View elementary schools -- in addition to Blue Ridge Middle School -- have joined the drive. The Veterans Club at Loudoun Valley High School has put a drop box in the school's main office.

Purcellville Town Hall, on East Main Street, is accepting drop-offs on weekdays. More than 100 pairs have been boxed up.

"It's cold," said Purcellville Mayor Bob Lazaro. "They need something warm to go from building to building."

Lazaro said the drive reminded him of a collection the town led after Hurricane Katrina for veterans forced to evacuate their homes in Mississippi.

Local businesses have been helping the drive. The Mosby Outlet Center in Hamilton is offering deals for people who buy sweat pants and sweat shirts for donation.

McQuary, a Vietnam War veteran, said the collection is intended to help the veterans of World War II, Korea and Vietnam as much as those who have returned from Afghanistan and Iraq.

"The kids that are coming back now -- I call 'em kids, but they're young men and women -- are cared for like nobody's business," he said. "Twenty to 30 years from now, are they still going to be embraced and loved as much as they are now?"