Coronavirus hasn’t kept a La Salle family from helping at the Vets Home

If you drive by the Illinois Veterans Home at La Salle and see some kids writing on the windows, don’t call the police to report vandalism. They’re playing tic-tac-toe with the veterans inside.

Since Illinois enacted hunker-down orders, the Znaniecki family of La Salle has logged hours at the veterans home trying out creative ways to keep the veterans entertained.

To buoy the veterans’ spirits, the Znanieckis have affixed Easter-themed window clings and used dry-erase markers to challenge the veterans to a few rounds of Xs and Os.

Nicole Znaniecki said her two children asked how they could support the Illinois Veterans Home, where Catherine and Zach had done service projects in previous years. Nicole’s initial reaction was they couldn’t do anything – not with visits restricted amid the pandemic – but when they put their heads together they conceived of ways to beautify the grounds and give the residents some pleasant sights to view through the windows.

“I’m very proud,” Nicole said. “My kids always want to make other people happy and like to do things that put a smile on people’s faces.”

The family lives just blocks from the Veterans Home and has worked with activities coordinator Susan Scully to do outdoor and window projects when weather permits. With Scully’s blessing, they’ve filled the bird feeders to ensure the winged creatures flap around for residents’ entertainment and spruced up some of the garden ornaments.

And while direct interaction with the veterans is off the table, they’ve found ways to engage them indirectly. The children have looked up trivia from the World War II era and prepared poster boards with fun facts and trivia questions to hold up for veterans looking on through the glass.

Scully, director of volunteer services, said the veterans have responded enthusiastically.

“When they see the kids standing at the windows, they perk right up,” Scully said. “It’s 100% positive. They get to do something fun.”

Catherine Znaniecki is a 15-year-old sophomore at La Salle-Peru Township High School. She said she wishes they could do more for the veterans, but their options were limited with the novel coronavirus.

“My brother and I wanted to go into the Veterans Home but because of the quarantine we couldn’t. My mom came up with the idea of doing games through the windows and my brother came up with the idea of filling the bird feeders.”

Their efforts have been received warmly. Speaking of warmth, they would gladly log more hours if the temperature rises from where it was late last week. Catherine said they typically spend three hours a week when the weather is cooperative, but chilly temperatures have sometimes cut their efforts to two hours or fewer.

“I feel just really happy that I was able to make somebody else happy,” Catherine said, “because the veterans can’t get any visits from their families.”

Zach Zaniecki, an eighth-grader at Holy Family School, said he was glad for a project to help him stave off cabin fever, as well as a chance to give back to the greatest generation.

“It’s better for me to do something to cheer up our veterans because they served our country and we need to serve them,” Zach said. “And it really helps me cope with the quarantine.”

And if anybody can figure out a way to help the Znaniecki family participate in bingo, let them know. They haven’t yet devised a way to do bingo with the doors shut.