It was a beautiful fall day, sunny and warm and just a hint of a breeze. It was time for Indiana Day 2014! Several hundred visitors from the VFW Department of Indiana and its Ladies Auxiliary converged upon the National Home, touring the beautiful homes and grounds and learning more about the work that is done here. Many of our visitors had been here before, and it was like a homecoming for them. But for several people, this was their very first visit to the National Home. They talk about their first impressions and their thoughts below. Cynthia Atterson Cynthia Atterson is a member of the West Terre Haute Ladies Auxiliary Post 6564. She only recently learned about the National Home. Her mother, Carol Silva, told her about the work done here. “What I’ve heard is really, really neat,” she said. “What [you] do for families.” Soon Cynthia had a chance to see the National Home community, and she liked what what she saw. “It is maintained really nice,” she said. “Really beautiful homes.” Cynthia said she would be sure to tell all of her fellow auxiliary members about the National Home. Carol Sliva Carol Silva told her daughter, Cynthia Atterson, all about the National Home. However, she didn’t have the opportunity to see the community until now. “I think it’s great that we have a home like this,” she said. Carol is a member of the Milton, Florida Ladies Auxiliary Post 4833. “I think it’s fantastic!” she said after touring the campus. Delores Soto Delores Soto’s first impression of the National Home was that “it’s so clean.” “I think it’s very good,” she said of the Home. Delores was one of a group of people who toured the community via the People Mover. The first stop, of course, was the Indiana House. “The home is beautiful,” she said. “I like the way the home was arranged, and it was so clean.” She also enjoyed visiting the Home’s preschool and child care center. “They had it fixed so pretty,” she said. Penny Burke “I’m overwhelmed,” Penny Burke said about her initial impression of the National Home. Penny soon got to see the vastness of the National Home community. “It’s amazing!” she said. “I was just so amazed by all of it.” Penny is eager to go back and tell others about the National Home. “Oh, yes. I’m going to [say], ‘It’s so amazing,’” she said. Anna Mauk Anna Mauk’s reaction to her first sights of the National Home was physical. “When I came in here, it gave me goosebumps,” she said. “I can’t wait to go on the tour.” Soon Anna and a large group of VFW and Ladies Auxiliary members were on the People Mover and touring the community. “I don’t know if there’s a word to describe it,” she said afterward. “I was so amazed.” Anna said her visit made her want to work harder on behalf of the National Home. “I was touched in the heart,” she said. See more photos from Indiana Day 2014 on our Flickr!