When the members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Sgt. Peter Colleran, Jr. Post No. 7763, decided to befriend a veteran in a Suffolk County nursing home, they had one problem. It would be inconvenient for the veteran to travel the over 50 miles and then make it up a flight of stairs to visit the post's Park Blvd. headquarters. So since he could not come to Massapequa, the VFW went to him.

Paralyzed from the waist down, Joe Caruso has been the at Northport Veterans Medical Center Nursing Home since about 1990. His sister, Nancy Scrivano tries to bring him home for a visit about once a month, but she said her family responsibilities including raising her teenage children prevent her from seeing her brother as often as she'd like.

Meanwhile, Post Commander John Ronga, having heard so much about hospitalized vets who do not get too many visitors, said he thought it would be a good idea for the VFW to "adopt" a veteran to be the recipient of some friendly support. Nurse Karen Kogel at the nursing home suggested Caruso might be the perfect candidate for an "adoptee" when Ronga contacted the home with the idea.

The post began their visits to Caruso, an Army veteran, in September with a barbeque held on nursing home grounds for the veteran and a group of other patients. Ronga and several other VFW members cooked and served up hamburgers, hot dogs and other barbeque favorites. For Caruso's 54th birthday, said Ronga, 14 VFW members cooked lunch for him and 30 of his fellow home-mates. They brought him a birthday cake and gave him clothing as a present, as well.

"We aim to make him feel he is not forgotten," said Ronga.

VFW members also made a special trip to the nursing home for the holidays. After assembling 40 gift packages filled with socks, soap, toothbrushes and other toiletries and packing a special gift of clothes for Caruso, Ronga, along with fellow VFW members, Charles Pace, Roy Solvang and Louis Pasano paid Caruso a visit and delivered the gifts. And if that wasn't special enough, Ronga said keyboard player Jerry Crockett, the son of VFW member Bill Crockett, was planning a trip to the nursing home on Christmas day to provide some holiday music for the patients.

Caruso's sister Nancy Scrivano said both she and her brother appreciate the VFW's visits.

"They've been a blessing and they fill in the gaps," said Scrivano. "When life is so busy and you don't have time for things you want to have time for, it's nice to know that they are filling in . . . It's like having someone else watch over him and knowing that he's okay"