04/20/2026
On Friday, April 17, 2026, I had the absolute pleasure and joy of delivering all of the donated items collected by both St. Mary (Pickerel) and Holy Family (Elcho) Catholic Churches to the Veterans Home at King located in Waupaca, Wisconsin.
I was warmly greeted by Mary Dulske, Volunteer Services Coordinator and she was pleasantly surprised by our large donation of items. Mary showed me around Marden Recreation Center and enlightened me to all the special opportunities available to our veterans including a local post office, banking services, canteen, bowling alley, movie theater and library.
Currently, there are over 280 long-term care veterans housed at King. King not only provides care for veterans (Priority 1), but also for the spouses of veterans requiring long-term care (Priority 2) as well as two other Priority Categories. Due to large construction projects all veterans are currently housed in Moses Hall. Rooms are about the size of a hospital room with a hospital type bed, a chair, restroom facilities, and a place for personal items/crafts. Each resident can decorate their room and door – making it their “home.”
However, one of the biggest highlights was the VX (Veterans Exchange) guarded by none other than King, a black mixed breed service dog of an Air Force veteran.
The VX allows veterans and those who are residents of Moses Hall (all connected by a tunnel system, transported via a wheelchair accessible tugger) an opportunity to “shop” for items FREE OF CHARGE! This is where your donations come into play and help support the daily lives of our housed and long-term care veterans and their spouses.
It also helps those residents who may come to King after having emergency surgery and have no place to go for long-term recovery care. Nurses/Staff can come in to “shop” for those veterans and take a bag of goods up to their room to help clothe them and provide them with necessary everyday sundries.
As a veteran myself, I must say, I was not only truly impressed, but I was extremely humbled by the experience.
Thank you to both St. Mary’s and Holy Family for your generous donations and your desire to take this on as a Lenten project. I know how important this is to our veterans and hearing the joy in the voices of those with whom I spoke, brought joy to my heart.
Many of God’s Blessings to you all!