SALEM, Va. (WFXR) – When you walk into the Veterans Medical Center in Salem this month on Tuesdays, you’ll hear the jingling of bells, and see Santa greeting every veteran that walks in.
For the third year in a row, Bill Price, a Navy veteran himself, braces the cold to thank other veterans for their service and wish them a Merry Christmas.
“Its the least I could do to thank our veterans over the holidays,” said Bill Price, the founder of Sirens and Salutes, a non-profit created to honor our veterans, “I’ve had some veterans tell me that this is only Christmas card they get all year. So that means it is an important mission to me and I wanna make sure it gets done.”
The Christmas cards are decorated by elementary students in Buchanan.
“As part of their Veterans Day service the elementary school kids get Christmas cards, they decorate them all of the veterans and then they give them back to me and I bring them up here and hand them out,” said Price, “So it makes it very nice because it’s a card from a child, and it’s also educating the child as to appreciate our veterans, especially during the holidays.”
After word got out about Price spreading the Christmas cheer last year, he got a call from the director of the New York Veterans Center.
“He thought this was a fantastic idea, and he said next year we’re gonna do the same thing at all our VA centers across New York City. So I think that’s great, I hope it spreads all over the place,” said Price.
But to price, this was never about the recognition.
“Oh, it means the world ya know? Some of them wouldn’t get cards if I wasn’t standing here, some of them just wanna say thank you and a merry Christmas’ ya know? So, It means a lot that I’m able to do this,” said Price.