Senior Center honors veterans every day with new mural
The Saratoga Area Senior Center Adult Care Center, celebrating its 30th anniversary this month, is enjoying a spruced up Veteran’s Wall.
Local Girl Scout and Redwood Middle School eighthgrader Morgan Bettinger painted a new mural on the existing wall during spring break while in seventh grade, investing about 50 hours for her Silver Award project.
In the mural, local veterans are honored with a framed photo surrounding the American flag next to the words: “Land of the Free, because of the Brave.”
“I knew that I wanted to help the Saratoga Adult Care Center,” Bettinger explained. “I talked to division manager Renee Hampton and asked her what she wanted me to help her with. I told her that I liked to paint and she asked me if I could paint the flag mural to honor the veterans.”
The mural had been a dream of Hampton’s since she began working at the center 18 years ago.
“It was a total fluke that Morgan came in with her mom and wanted to know if she could do something,” Hampton said. “When she said she was an artist and I told her my vision, she said, ‘I think I can totally do that.’ She drew up about 10 different flags and we all agreed on this flag that’s now on the wall.”
More than half of the center’s 30 members are veterans, a recent development after the adult care portion of the Veterans Affairs San Jose Clinic closed service earlier this year.
“Thank goodness,” Hampton said, “we got 98 percent of their veterans when they closed.”
In celebration of Veterans Day, the Saratoga Area Senior Center hosted a special lunch for veterans and their families on Wednesday.
Thanks to Bettinger, their photographs will remain on the wall next to the flag yearround. In many of the photos, veterans are wearing hats from the war they served in.
Albert Gusman, a marine veteran who served in the Korean War as an infantryman, said having his photo on the wall is nice for when his family comes around.
“It feels great,” Gusman said. “When my children come and bring my grandchildren, they look at it and say, ‘That’s grandpa!’”
Having family members in the military, Bettinger found herself reflecting on what the project meant to her in light of Veterans Day.
“I think that it is very important to honor these brave men and women that have served our country,” she said. “We honor them every year on Veterans Day, but I wanted to do this so that we can honor these people on a regular basis.”
Most members at the Adult Care Center spend at least three days a week there, but some spend five. The program entails socializing with their peers, making arts and crafts, singing, entertainment and homemade healthy lunches and snacks.
For more information, contact Hampton at 408-8681262 or rhampton@sascc.org.