Marine Riders of Michiana Spent Thanksgiving with "Family"

Local Marines open doors for homeless vets on Thanksgiving
WNDU 16 News
Shaun Gallagher
November 24, 2016

"A lot of us when we were in the service, a lot of us couldn't go home, couldn't afford to go home or couldn't make a drive," Castillo said. "We all got together and that was Thanksgiving. It was as good as being with family without being with your family."

ELKHART, Ind. --- Thanksgiving is a day to enjoy time with family and some great food but for some local veterans, they don't have that option. Some homeless veterans from Miller's Vets had the opportunity to experience Thanksgiving with a family of a different kind; their extended military family.

"We've all had our Thanksgiving with our families," Paul "Goose" Patillo, Squad Leader of Marine Riders of Michiana said. "Every year, it's the same thing. Well, we'd like to start taking care of the veterans on Thanksgiving Day to have the full effect of Thanksgiving."

Patillo is a member of Marine Riders of Michiana, a local motorcycle club of marines. Patillo says many times people hold dinners for veterans down on their luck a week or two after Thanksgiving but it loses its luster. So he wanted to hold something day of to give them the full effect of the holiday.

For the veterans in attendance, they're familiar with missing holidays like Thanksgiving while serving overseas. So they depend on each other as family to enjoy Thanksgiving.
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