Veterans Appreciation Lunch

By Cynthia Drummond for BRVCA
November 2nd 2023

RICHMOND – The annual Veterans Appreciation Luncheon will take place on Saturday, Nov. 11 this year, coinciding with Veterans Day.

The event, which first took place in 2010, has become an annual tradition in Richmond.

Senior Center Director and Army veteran Dennis McGinity explained that the event usually attracts about 35 veterans and their families.

“We don’t get an awful lot of people come, but we have a good group, so I have to make sure I have enough food,” he said.

McGinity and Senior Center volunteers began planning the event in September.

“Around the middle of September, we start getting things organized,” he said. “We start looking at volunteers and all the display items and flags. We get everything assembled and we have it here, ready to go.”

In addition to a light lunch, there will be a flag display and a display of photographs of veterans. The United States Department of Veterans Affairs will also have an information booth, and participating for the first time will be Operation Made, a Warwick-based business that markets veteran-made handcrafted products.

“It’s a nice, social event, where people can come in and see, not only the flag display that we put up, but meet some of the seniors, who are ex-military, who are veterans that will be here,” McGinity said. “When we first started this, we said ‘let’s not forget anybody, because every person who served in the service deserves to have a display flag,’ so we have put all the display flags in that we could get – regular Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard. We also have a POW flag.”

A particularly poignant component of the event is the Missing Man Table, which is set for those who served and never came home.

“It can be an emotional thing, especially to some of us older people,” McGinity said. “People who’ve been in the service, we’ve lost fellow soldiers and sailors and Marines and WACs and WAVEs, you know, there are so many people that are lost and it’s very important for us to remember that not all of them came back to flags and parades. A lot of them are still missing, have never been recovered.”

The volunteers organizing the event are determined, McGinity said, that veterans are never forgotten.

“We all feel the same way, that it’s very, very important for the Town of Richmond and the surrounding communities not to forget. It’s so important not to forget our veterans, people who have lost their lives and those who served honorably for a couple of years, or many years…I know from experience that they really appreciate it. They really do.”

Town Council President Mark Trimmer commended McGinity for his commitment to organizing the event.

“I think Dennis is really an asset to the town and the fact that he does that for the people who served our town is really important,” he said.

McGinity added,

“We know that people have seen a lot of this display before, [but] a lot of people haven’t. Our point is, we’re a representative of the Town of Richmond, and we are making sure that this celebration of veterans does not go away, not in the Town of Richmond or the surrounding areas. I know we have a lot of people come from Hopkinton and Charlestown and Exeter. … We’re not forgetting. If only one person comes, we’re not forgetting, and that’s the important thing.”

The open house and luncheon will take place from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. at the Richmond Senior Center, 1168 Main Street. (Above the Police Department)

The event is free and open to everyone.