In order to provide a place for veterans to talk and bond, the Interact Club and the Support Our Troops Club hosted a Veterans Brunch on November 2.
Several years ago, former Interact advisor and retired Souderton math teacher Kathy Perricone was speaking with her dental hygienist when the topic of her children’s’ elementary school hosting a veterans brunch came up.
Perricone’s hygienist “raved about the positive impact the brunch had on the students.”
This made Perricone think it would be a “nice service” for Souderton to also host an event for veterans.
The Interact Club has hosted a Veterans Brunch ever since.
The first veterans who saw the flyers for the brunch were either veterans connected to Souderton Area High School staff or veterans who were Rotarians.
Around 70 veterans from Peter Becker Community and the Souderton American Legion attended this year, which Interact Club advisor Alison Kircher believes was the most they have ever had.
For some veterans at the brunch, it was their first time. For others they have been going since it first started.
Veteran Mike Taylor, who has been going to the event since it started, said he enjoys the brunch each time.
“[Interact] always puts on a good show for us,” Taylor said.
For veteran Gordon Bell, he feels it is a “really great thing” for students and veterans to be together in this type of environment.
Bell also said it is nice to “find out what the service people, men and women, really go through and how they contribute to the country.”
Support Our Troops Advisor Maria Souchet feels that when most veterans get older their favorite thing to do is talk about their experiences in the military.
“For a lot of them, what they did in the military was either the most honorable thing they did or the thing that they appreciate and have the most pride in,” Souchet said.
Many of the veterans that have attended the brunch in recent years come from senior homes. Souchet said they like the chance to talk to younger people about their experiences in addition to people their age.
This is the case for veterans and two ex-baseball buddies Tom Frame and Douglas Thomas.
According to Thomas, he had the chance to talk with Frame at the brunch after not seeing him for 65 years, which was what made him enjoy his experience at the event.
He also liked the food and believed that Interact did a “great job” running the brunch.
For Frame, he also appreciated the veteran’s brunch. “I am very honored to be here, in a room full of heroes,” Frame said.
Support our Troops also hosts several other events to help honor veterans’ service, too.
Souchet said they also do a flag planting Memorial Day event where they “plant” flags on veterans’ gravestones.

Souchet believes that is the biggest event that Support Our Troops does by themselves. Throughout the year they also do fundraisers. “We donate all our money to The Veterans Organization,” Souchet said.