The holidays can be a lonely and stressful time for a lot of people, and America’s veterans can have it particularly tough, especially when dealing with health issues.

“My father is an ex-Navy man and has been hospitalized during the holidays a lot of times,” said Miami University Hamilton accounting major Sierra Barnett. “I’ve seen how devastating it can be.”

That’s why she turned up one evening last week as the campus’ Center for Community Engagement held an event to make Christmas cards that will be turned over to the Veterans Administration for distribution at its hospitals.

“I’ve seen how much difference a simple Christmas card can make,” Barnett said. “People may not realize the kind of gratitude veterans have for those kinds of expressions, for people to just be saying, ‘Hey, I’m thinking about you.’”

According to event coordinator Ashley Hampton, the card-making party was part of the Center for Community Engagement’s monthly “day of service” program.

“Many of our non-traditional students have families and a lot of responsibilities, so it’s difficult for them to take time away to do service projects,” she said. “So the idea here was to do something that could involve their kids, involve their families.”

Through the course of the evening, about 27 people came to the event, resulting in over 60 cards to be put into admissions packages at veterans hospitals, which include of personal care items such as shaving cream, razors, deodorant, and small bottles of shampoo and soap, and were also collected throughout the evening.

Refreshments were provided by Heaven Sent, which operates the coffee shop in Schwarm Commons, where the event was held, and the youth group TASC Force — Teens Actively Seeking Christ — from the Lindenwald United Methodist Church.