The Missouri Veterans Home Assistance League is accepting sponsors for its annual Adopt-A-Vet Holiday program.

Each $50 donation funds holiday activities, family meals, and Christmas gifts for a veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces living in the St. James Veterans Home.

Missouri Veterans Home Assistance League Board of Directors President Keith Livingstone said that the annual program “makes sure that every one of those veterans has a super holiday season.”

The program is accepting donors now, and will cover events and gifts for the entirety of the holiday season — from Halloween until New Year’s Day. Along with an annual golf tournament, the Adopt-A-Vet program is one of the Assistance League’s largest annual fundraisers.

The program will fund one of the organization’s biggest holiday events — an annual family Christmas dinner and gifts for each veteran.

The Assistance League works with the Veterans Home to purchase fun and useful items as Christmas gifts for resident veterans. Last year, the program was able to purchase zip-up sweaters as Christmas gifts. Previous years’ gifts included mechanical clocks and calendars.

  The Assistance League also pays for dozens of events, activities and pieces of equipment for the Veterans Home each year, including iPads and computer systems, a television for every veteran, musical entertainment and monthly birthday parties.

Last year, the group bought and donated two ice cream machines to the Veterans Home, letting residents get free ice cream at their leisure.

“They can get ice cream anytime they want instead of having to send somebody up with a cart, you know,” Livingstone said.

For the veterans the Assistance League serves, it’s about making the Veterans Home a great place to live.

Livingstone said that money donated through the Assistance League is crucial in supplementing state funds to create real quality of life for residents at the Veterans Home.

“The state doesn’t pay for it. If we didn’t do what we did, the Veterans Home would be like any other nursing home,” Livingstone said. “They wouldn’t have any activities. They wouldn’t have Christmas lights around the building, because the state is not going to pay for that. Every penny we make goes to the Veterans Home.”

Through the Adopt-A-Vet fundraiser, the Assistance League works to bring joy and holiday cheer to veterans–something Livingstone said helps them feel at home.

Those interested in donating to the Adopt-A-Vet Holiday Program can do so at moveteransassistanceleague.regfox.com.