NORWICH – Over the last four years, the American Legion Riders of Norwich’s Warren Eaton Post 189 have raised more than $3,700 for the Landstuhl Hospital Care Poject, which supports American soldiers wounded in combat overseas.
Saturday, May 15 – rain or shine – the local veterans group will host their fifth annual Poker Run in support of this cause, to which they are so committed.
“This ride and event is for our combat veterans and the Landstuhl Hospital Care Project,” said ALR Post 189 President Paul Russo.
According Russo, combat veterans wounded in Iraq or Afghanistan are sent to the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, the largest American hospital located outside of the United States. There they receive treatment and rehabilitation for their injuries before returning home for further treatment. Often their injuries are severe and their stays at the hospital lengthy.
LHCP was founded in 2004 by Karen Grimord, a woman Russo describes as a “living angel.” The non-profit provides comfort and relief items which “enhance the morale and welfare” of the wounded soldiers while they are hospitalized, according to the organization’s website.
Grimord, who lives in the DC area, has attended all but one of the poker runs hosted by the local American Legion Riders to date, Russo said. She and her husband Brian are planning to make the trip again this year.
Last year, some 140 riders participated in the run, and organizers are hoping to have as least as many this year for the “scenic and leisurely” 80-plus mile tour of the area’s paved country roads.
