Lonely disabled veteran wrote emotional ad asking stranger to join him for dinner—he couldn't believe the response he got
Having a friend or a support system might mean a lot to a person as they grow older. A veteran also found himself in a situation where he needed a friend or a support system to be with him during dinner on Veterans Day. The man, Lyndon Dale Flowers, had no one to go to dinner with him. So he reached out to people with a handwritten note on social media. However, he hadn't expected the amount of support he got from people, per WMTV ABC 8.
"I wasn't gonna have anyone available to go to lunch with on Veterans Day," Flowers explained. The man wrote a note and left it at the barber shop owned by Judy and Heather, who put it on social media. "Would someone like to take a local disabled veteran to dinner on Veterans Day? No car. My treat." The picture was shared on Facebook and the man got quite a few calls from far and wide. "I've been getting calls from all across the country. Even people just wish me well." People from Florida to California contacted the man to make sure he was feeling appreciated on the special day, even if they couldn't be there for him.
A family from Maine eventually reached out to the man and agreed to take him out for a meal on Veterans Day. A woman called Sandy Washer had seen the message and wanted to take the man out for lunch. She drove from Norway to Lewiston with her family to be with the man. "I went on Facebook for a minute and that just happened to pop up and I said, 'I can't take you to dinner, but I can take you to lunch,'" Washer recalled. "Well, veterans have a soft spot in my heart. My dad was in the Army for 20 years," she said, explaining her reasoning behind accepting the request and driving all the way to the location.
Flowers was very grateful for the gesture and felt that the incident reflected the needs of many veterans in the community. "Warms my heart to hear that there are people out there who care." The man hoped that he would get some support for other festive meals too. "I've already got eyes on Thanksgiving and Christmas for dinner, ya know." The woman, Heather Jeselskis Swift, the owner of the barber shop, explained in the Facebook post, "This gentleman left this note at the barber shop. I would love for someone with a car to take him up on his offer! I would love to flood his phone with caring phone calls from all of us." Her call for help was answered in a spectacular way back in 2019.
"I didn't mean to make a big uproar out of it, I just wanted to go to dinner," Flowers told the outlet at that time, as he chuckled. Many veterans struggle as they transition from military life back to civilian life, according to a study. They often feel social exclusion and loneliness. Social integration, as they start living like civilians once again, was considered an important factor for a smooth transition, according to the research. Flowers served in the Navy before he retired. He passed away in May 2020, at the age of 63, per an obituary.