Memorial Day is a time to remember military members who lost their lives while serving their country.
It’s also a three-day weekend at Tampa’s James A. Haley VA Hospital that staff try to make special for the hospitalized veterans who also sacrificed for their country.
Yet, Memorial Day for Haley veterans had to be scaled back this year.
For want of $500, the 150 veterans at the Haley VA Hospital will not have a Memorial Day barbecue according to Cathy Williams, head of recreational therapy.
“We actually, normally do a barbecue on Monday,” Williams said. “We would have like Lupton’s BBQ and we lost our sponsorship. So there was nobody that stepped forward this year to fund that. So, we had to down scale a little bit. But that’s okay.”
So without a sponsor, this Saturday, it’s karaoke, a cookout for the balloon volleyball team and baseball for the 55 veterans who can travel to the Rays-Yankees game.
On Monday, the highlight will be a visit by the Buccaneer cheerleaders and a bingo game.
