Jackie Knapp has volunteered at the Battle Creek Veterans Affairs Medical Center for nearly 35 years.
Knapp offers her support and time to veterans who need someone to talk to about their emotional, physical and economic problems. She has helped veterans from every war since World War II, right up to veterans of the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Knapp told the Battle Creek Enquirer, “They’re a younger bunch now, but they’re all so appreciative, and they all want some link with family and community. I try to give them that.”
The 72-year-old has strong ties to the military: her late husband, her father, her grandfather, two sons and a brother all served in the military.
Knapp was awarded the 2014 American Association of Retired Persons Andrus Award for Community Service for her work at the VA and the Comstock Community Center. She was presented with the award in an AARP ceremony on November 1 in Grand Rapids.
Over the course of her three-and-a-half decades volunteering at the VA, Knapp has logged 2,426 hours. She is known for planning monthly parties, as well as a Las Vegas Day in February and a Christmas in July party.
Knapp and her husband started volunteering with veterans at the VFW Auxiliary 6252 in Comstock back in 1979, where she was made auxiliary chairman. Two years later, she started volunteering at the Battle Creek VA.
Knapp lives in Kalamazoo. In addition to volunteering once a week at the Battle Creek VA, she raises money for veterans’ programs, teaches Sunday School and coordinates the holiday food basket program at the Comstock Community Center.
Legal Help for Veterans, PLLC fights for veterans rights. We fight to make sure you get the benefits you deserve from the Department of Veterans Affairs. To learn more or contact an attorney about your Post Traumatic Stress, Traumatic Brain Injury, Mental Health, Sexual Assault, Hearing Loss and Tinnitus, Total Disability Based on Individual Unemployability, Medical Malpractice, or Aid and Attendance claim, visit http://www.legalhelpforveterans.com/ or call 800.693.4800
