You Served Spouse and Family Radio Guest Honored for Volunteerism
Back in May, I had the pleasure of interviewing Ruth. Ruth is a recent recipient of President Bush’s Volunteer Service Award. She is a life long volunteer and troop supporter extraordinaire. In the interview linked above, Ruth shares her memories of being a little girl during World War II, and watching the changes in culture through the years.
Ruth’s love for our soldiers is contagious and inspiring.
Ruth received her service award in a ceremony where she had asked some Vietnam Vetearns to participate. Below is an excerpt of her award ceremony and some pictures:
Local volunteer honored
By Dustin Pangonis
Monday, June 22, 2009 9:27 AMEDTSCHUYLKILL HAVEN — When Ruth Ray, 71, of Port Carbon, was given the President’s Volunteer Service Award on Sunday, she held it for just a few seconds before changing the focus and presenting a gift of her own.
“Thank you for serving, Vietnam vets,” Ray said as she handed a statuette of an American flag and a bald eagle to the Veterans of the Vietnam War Post 29.
Ray, whose history of volunteer work on behalf of U.S. troops stretches back to World War II, was honored in a short ceremony at the Schuylkill County Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
She said her first priority, even when accepting the award, was to thank the troops. Her second priority: to spread the message of volunteerism.
Most recently, Ray has been sending small care packages to soldiers. She gave a “shout-out” to the Pottsville and Port Carbon post offices, which must fill out five pages of customs paperwork for each package.
David Fessler, of both the Veterans and the Schuylkill County Veterans Affairs Office, presented Ray with the award, which is given through the President’s Council on Service and Civic Participation established by President George W. Bush.
“One of the reasons we’re having it at the Vietnam Memorial is because this leads to what we’ve been saying all along,” Fessler said. “We’re not going to let the troops go through what we did. We’re going to take care of them.” LINK to entire story
Here are a few pictures:
