GFWC Lutz-Land O’Lakes Woman’s Club members visited the Lutz Cemetery and another cemetery in Land O’Lakes over Memorial Day Weekend to pay their respects and to place fresh flags at the gravesites of veterans. This is a longstanding tradition of the Woman’s Club and while there, members quietly reflected and said a silent prayer in memory of their own deceased family members and friends who were veterans.

GFWC Lutz-Land O’Lakes Woman’s Club has for many years strongly supported “Support the Troops”, (a non-profit) which collects, packs and ships tons of necessary items donated by corporations to our troops in remote overseas areas where there is little access to a PX or commissary. It consistently finds itself short of the hefty postage funds needed to mail these gift packages. Each month, Chair Donna Losch organizes a team of Woman’s Club members and some spouses who volunteer and pack these items at the Wesley Chapel warehouse. Recently Ms. Losch presented Support the Troops Director, Mark Van Trees, with a club donation check of $400 to be applied toward postage. Club member Lonna Vizzari very generously chose to forego her own birthday gifts and instead asked her family to donate to this worthy cause.

GFWC Lutz-Land O’Lakes Woman’s Club longtime member, Gloria Dale, was recently honored by Mark Van Trees, Director of the Wesley Chapel-based “Support the Troops” organization for her work on behalf of our military men and women. Club and community members gathered recently for a surprise presentation to honor her work over the last decade.

Ms. Dale, 80, has personally prepared handwritten greetings and messages in over 20,000 Christmas and thank you cards sent to military serving overseas expressing appreciation for their service. The framed plaque which was presented contained a flag flown over the USAF Base in Bagram, Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom on February 14 in honor of her commitment to our troops. Ms. Dale is already working on this year’s batch of Christmas cards for our troops serving abroad.

Photos submitted by Patricia Serio