When ALA member Terry Rose Lena’s phone rang at work one morning in February 2025, she didn’t know it would be the beginning of a 24-hour sprint to ensure a veteran would get the farewell he deserved.
 
That effort would reveal the power of quick action — and serve as a testament to the importance of being ready to support veterans and their sacrifice.
 
“You never know what kind of call you’re going to get,” Lena said. “But you want to help with any call that comes in for a veteran.”
 
When she answered that call at work, there was a hospital chaplain on the other line. 
 
A 22-year-old patient was near death, and he was an organ donor. He also was a U.S. Air Force veteran.
 
UCHealth Highlands Ranch Hospital was organizing an honor walk for the following morning to salute the patient’s generosity and sacrifice in choosing to donate his organs. The chaplain asked Lena —  as someone from an organization that supports veterans and their families — if she and others from the ALA could join the patient’s loved ones at the hospital. They would line the halls as medical professionals walked by with him at the end of his life.
 
Though she didn’t know the patient or his family, Lena quickly answered yes. 
 
“The fact is that someone is at the last of their life and giving what they have left to other people to create life and go on,” said Lena, whose own niece is a kidney transplant recipient. 
 
She knew that she and her partner — Bruce Occhipinti, a U.S. Navy veteran and member of American Legion Post 23 in Aurora — would attend. Now it was a matter of finding others from The American Legion Family who could also be there. 
 
Lena started by calling and sending emails to people she knew were likely to help. Among those contacts was Diane Erickson, a Past Department President of Colorado and a member of Unit 1 in Denver, who Lena knew could find additional volunteers. Soon, six ALA members were lined up to attend the ceremony the next morning.
 
Joining the patient’s loved ones at the event were the ALA representatives, active-duty Airmen, and members of other veterans organizations. What Lena experienced at the honor walk — from the passing by of the flag-draped patient to the whir of his life support machines to the cries of family members — made a lasting impression.
 
“It shook me to my core,” she said. “This was the final tribute to this veteran, and it was important that the family knew they had backing beyond just themselves.”
 
Lena credits community connections and response systems for the ALA units’ quick action to address medical professionals’ and family members’ needs in support of the veteran. That’s why — for other ALA units looking to prepare for unexpected requests like this one — she recommended a set process for providing last-minute help.
 
“Be hypervigilant about it and notice everything,” she said. “And have a list of people to call.”