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| Firefighters and other volunteers work on a house in the Broyhill Crest neighborhood in Annandale. |
Decorate-A-Vet was founded 10 years ago by Jeff Jones, owner of Classic Stonescaping and Gardens.
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| Firefighters with Station 23, West Annandale, volunteer at a Decorate-A-Vet house. [FCFRD] |
Every December, Jones and a large crew of volunteers put up Christmas decorations and do yardwork and light repairs at the homes of veterans or military widows who can no longer handle the work themselves. The volunteers tackle anywhere from three to six homes on a single day.
Firefighters from the Jefferson Fire Station in Falls Church and the Annandale Fire Station; Justice High School students, including the entire wrestling team; about 15 employees from Evoke Research and Consulting; and three members of Chapter 27-2 of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association worked on a house on Howard Street in Annandale.
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| Members of the Combat Veterans Motorcycle Association (from the left): Eric "Angry" Honneffer, Angela "Klutz" Myers, and John "Nutz" Myers. |
They put up wreaths and lights, pruned the ivy, raked leaves, and put down mulch. Home Depot donated the decorations. The homeowner, the widow of a Navy man, had lived in the house for 50 years.
Another house fixed up on Dec. 7, in Annandale, was the home of a highly decorated Army man who served in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. He met his future wife on VE Day on the Avenue des Champs-Elysees in Paris.
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| Justice High School students Natalie Given (left) and Brooke Waldack. |
Other homeowners helped out by Decorate-A-Vet volunteers include an Air Force lieutenant who served in Vietnam and later became a Foreign Service officer and a Marine stationed in Vietnam, Okinawa, and the Panama Canal Zone, among other places.
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| This house, in Sleepy Hollow Woods, is ready for the holidays. |
Nominations for next year can be made on the Decorate-A-Vet website.