Following the Donut Dolly spirit: Women of faith serve with heart

An American G.I., weary from battle, walks up to a van marked with the Red Cross logo. A young lady greets him with a smile and serves him a steaming-hot cup of coffee and a donut. It’s not much, but it is a reminder of home and the kindness that sticks with him as he moves on to the next battle.

Later, this G.I. relays the story to a reporter, saying, “They made us less lonely. Less abandoned. Less cut off from everything we held dear. You made life a little easier for us.”

That was the job of the Donut Dollies, volunteers who operated “clubmobiles” equipped with record players, coffee and built-in donut machines to serve troops in Great Britain and across Europe. A practice that continued through both the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

Today, those American G.I.’s are older, and instead of getting their donuts from a Clubmobile, they get them at their monthly Honoring Veteran Legacies meeting at Hope Church in Madison. The Dollies are not Red Cross volunteers, but ladies from the Madison Methodist Church who volunteer each month to serve coffee and donuts on the first Tuesday of the month meetings.

“We got kind of hooked into it,” president of Madison Methodist Women, Carol Moats, said. “We thought, ‘Oh, that’s a way we can serve,’ an easy way, and it blesses us more than it does them, really.”

By “kind of hooked into it”, Moats means the group of ladies meant serving coffee to the veterans to be a one-time gig, suggested by one of the group, Deena McPhereson.

“Deena was interested in working with veterans in some capacity after she retired. She brought the idea of helping serve coffee with the HVL group after attending a meeting,” Moats said. “Many of us have ties to veterans in our past, so we were eager to help.”

And then, they returned. This time with donuts.

“We have such an amazing time meeting with veterans and spending time with them that we decided as a group that we would continue to attend the monthly meetings and serve coffee and donuts,” McPhereson said. “Our volunteer group has grown from four to 12 ladies over the last year.”

It was McPhereson who associated the group with the moniker “Donut Dollies.” She read a few books about the ladies in WWII and made the connection between what the Madison Methodist Women were doing and the role of the Donut Dollies.

“From a military hospital bedside, holding the hand of a dying soldier and writing letters home to their families or serving donuts and coffee close to the front lines during the Battle of the Bulge during WWII, they served voluntarily with honor. With smiling faces and encouraging words, they brought a ‘little bit of home’ to weary, tired, and homesick soldiers, which ended up being great for morale,” McPhereson said. “Unfortunately, many today have not heard their stories, so it is very exciting and humbling that through our little group we can bring attention to their service.”

Besides the refreshments, the ladies serve up conversation and gratitude. They greet each veteran as they enter the dining area, wait on them at the tables if needed, always offering a smile and a hug.

“Those ladies are fantastic. They go out of their way each month to treat us,” Korean War veteran, Mario Ventura said. “They just show us a lot of respect.”

The more the Donut Dollies spend time with the veterans and their spouses, the closer the relationships, allowing for special celebrations. Recently, WWII veteran, Howard Polin, turned 102-years-old, the oldest member of the group. He requested a birthday cake with his coffee to celebrate.

“We look for Mr. Polin every month. He and his sweet wife are such a blessing,” Moats said. “But we love each and every one of them. We make sure to give them a hug, a smile, and of course, plenty of donuts.”

Unlike the “real” Donut Dollies, the Honoring Veteran Legacies’ Donut Dollies garnered some media attention. Channel 31 featured them in a short feature earlier this year. This press resulted in Connie Popel, a Dollie from the Vietnam War, contacting Moats, leading to Popel attending the April meeting to help serve coffee and donuts.

“The first words that come to mind when I think about meeting and knowing a ‘real’ Donut Dollies is ‘wow, I know a woman that served our country in such a unique way and she, along with the others, deserves so much more recognition,” McPhereson said.

Now that the ladies’ group has included veterans as a part of their ministry, they are doing more to honor veterans in the area. For the last two years, the ladies have made Honoring Veteran Legacies a beneficiary of their annual craft festival, and they also host a Veterans’ Appreciation Dinner at Madison Methodist Church yearly. This year’s dinner will be held on Sept. 26.

“Any veteran is welcome to attend,” Moats said. “We have live music, lots of good food and interesting guest speakers. And it is completely free to veterans and their families.”

It’s not just the veterans that appreciate the hospitality the Donut Dollies offer; co-founder and president of Honoring Veteran Legacies, Elaine Oakes, cannot imagine a meeting without their presence.

“They have enabled the veterans to have a chance to socialize before our official meeting program begins. Before they started volunteering, veterans might arrive early and chat out in the hallway or as they were waiting for the meeting to start, but I did not personally have the capacity to offer them hospitality like the Donut Dollies have been able to offer,” Oakes said. “Without them, it’s ‘just’ a meeting, pretty much, so they have really enriched the morning and made it way more meaningful outing for our heroes than it used to be.”

Although it is the Donut Dollies dolling out the service and the gratitude, it is the veterans who are truly gifting.

“The veterans are so loving and thankful, which is incredibly humbling, and they go above and beyond to THANK US for the “sacrifices” we make. We’re doing something so easy that doesn’t separate us from our families, it doesn’t put our lives on the line, and it’s just a few hours a month, but they feel compelled to thank us for our “sacrifice” and service,” McPhereson said. “What we do is so simple compared to the sacrifices these men and women, along with their spouses and families, have made; it is an absolute honor to serve them and to get to know them. The relationships that are being built by serving coffee and donuts to these heroes are priceless and an absolute honor of a lifetime for me.”

Go to www.honoringveteranlegacies.org for more about Honoring Veteran Legacies