Fire department honors veterans with breakfast at Kirkwood

Details: Lance Martin; News; 05 May 2023; 2822

User Rating: 5 / 5

Veterans were the honored guests of the Roanoke Rapids Fire Department as firefighters, sponsors and volunteers treated them to a breakfast at Kirkwood Adams Community Center this morning.

The first veterans breakfast last year was held at Station 1 on Roanoke Avenue. This year’s event had to be moved to Kirkwood as the event gained traction.

“All of this couldn’t happen if it wasn’t for these sponsors,” Chief Jason Patrick said. “We appreciate them and some of them are here volunteering.”

Patrick also recognized the firefighters who were cooking the breakfast for their guests. “If it wasn’t for them helping out we couldn’t make this happen. We want to thank you all for serving our country and everything you’ve done for us and everything you continue to do for us.”

View the embedded image gallery online at:
https://rrspin.com/news/7340-fire-department-honors-veterans-with-breakfast-at-kirkwood.html#sigProIdd430d55b8c

Mayor Emery Doughtie said, “Today is for our veterans. We thank you for the service. I’m proud to come from a family (that served). My dad served in Korea and two older brothers that served in the second world war. One served in Vietnam and the other went overseas. God took them all over there and brought them home safely.”

Jason Yeatts, who serves as the chaplain of the fire department, said, “In the letter to the Romans, the Apostle Paul says that God puts in place agents of the state to protect and to push back evil and you as veterans have served in that way. Thank you from someone who has not served but I have benefited from your protection and from your service.”

Yeatts said his family “gets to live with this kind of freedom in part because of your service. You have served in the way God has instituted for our country.”

Brandon Welch, an Army veteran who was visiting with Nelson Traynham, said to see the outpouring gave him a sense of pride. “It makes you feel good and it lets us know we’re not alone and that there’s a lot of other veterans out here who have served just like us.”

Traynham, an Army veteran who is the brother of City Manager Kelly Traynham, has started a port-a-john business called Freedom Flush in Virginia “to bring veterans together and offer them an opportunity to make decent wages to be able to provide for their families. The business has grown and is growing and growing.”

TAGS: halifaxcountynews, roanokerapidsnews, roanokerapidsfiredepartment

We Are Improving!