- A Heart for
Vets
- Claymont,
Delaware
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- When it comes to
helping people, Linda Klingler has a big heart …
though it has often failed her. "I’ve had six
heart operations," she said. "I’ve been
given a second chance at life. Hopefully, I can do
something with it."
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- Many would say she
has. Five years ago she joined Chapter 83 of Vietnam
Veterans of America, volunteering much of her free time
to the hospital patients and to nursing home residents of
the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Medical and
Regional Office Center in Elsmere.
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- Klingler, 46, of
Newark has done everything from organize a farm picnic to
induce schools to make holiday greeting cards for vets.
But one of her most rewarding efforts has been
"sensory-touch therapy," in which she tries to
stimulate comatose patients with the scent of spices and
the warm comfort of a rose quartz nassage.
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- "I’ve had
eye contact from patients who don’t give eye
contact," she said, speaking in the cahpter’s
office in the Claymont Community Center. "I’ve
had tears. It’s important to let somebody know there
is someone there. If I only get 30 seconds from them,
maybe I’ve made their day a little easier. "I
think I recognize the value of life, how important it is
that we use everyday. Your life can be gone in a split
second."
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- The loss of her
brother, an avid volunteer, led her to join the chapter.
"My brother was in the Marines during the Vietnam
War, and he has since passed away. He worked with
underprivileged kids from the time he was 14 years old.
When I hear a comment made …’What do you expect
? That’s just another Vietnam Vet’ … that
goes through me like a knife."
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- Klingler, who
recently organized a drive that sent five truckloads of
clothes and other items to the homeless at the Sunday
Breakfast Mission in Wilmington, also is a good
recruiter. In two years the chapter’s roster of
regular volunteers has grown from three to 63. Among them
are her husband, mother, five children, two stepchildren,
and 11 grandchildren.
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- "In fact, my
youngest grandson is the youngest volunteer in the United
States. He started when he was two and a half years old.
He holds his own little tray with his cookies and his
doughnuts and he passes them out to the residents of the
nursing home."
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- Edward L. Kenny
- Copyright 1992, The
News Journal, Wilmington, DE
- Posted for Non-Profit
Educational use under the Fair Use Provisons of the
InterNational Copyright Laws.
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