One veteran in Big Lake and his 12-year old son had a Merry Christmas this year thanks to a very generous family.

 

Last week, a family from the Monticello-Big Lake area decided to help out a veteran by giving up their Christmas shopping and donating $1,000 to a veteran or veteran’s family in need.

 

The idea came to them after reading a story in the West Sherburne Tribune two weeks ago about the plight of some veterans who have had trouble getting their benefits.

 

“The family saw the article and that prompted them to do this,” said Sherburne County Veterans Service Officer Bruce Price. “They’ve got adult kids and they don’t need anything  themselves. They said instead of exchanging gifts with each other, they decided to pool their money together and donate it to a veteran in need.”

 

But Price said there wasn’t much time to find someone to receive the donation.

 

“We had a short window,” said Price. “They saw that article, called here and wanted to donate it for Christmas.”

 

Price said the veterans service office was already working with a Big Lake veteran, Jason Butkevicius, who had served in the U.S. Navy in the Persian Gulf from 1990 to 1993 and was deployed on the USS Okinawa.

 

Jason is a single father raising his son. He graduated from Anoka High School in 1990.

 

Wednesday, Price and fellow Veterans Service Officer were giving Butkevicius information about the Big Lake Yellow Ribbon Program, which assists local veterans and their families. It wasn’t until they had finished their meeting that Price told Butkevicius about the anonymous donor and the check for $1,000.

 

At first, Butkevicius was speechless when he saw the check. He simply said, “this is awesome,” and thanked Price and the anonymous donor’s family