Uncle Vito’s Christmas Parties Were A Huge Success

The Yellow Ribbon Funds’s generous donors filled Santa’s pack with presents and delicious holiday treats for hundreds and hundreds of wounded service members and their families, like 10-month-old Gabriel Kurtz. Then our hard-working volunteers helped Santa deliver it all to no less than five holiday parties at Walter Reed and Fort Belvoir — including our signature holiday event, Uncle Vito’s Christmas Party.

YRF board member Vito Pampalona celebrated his eighth year of bringing holiday cheer to the injured by throwing not one, but TWO parties — at the new Walter Reed in Bethesda, Md., and (for the first time!) at Fort Belvoir Community Hospital in Virginia. Those two parties alone drew more than 300 patients, 200 family members and caregivers, and 100-plus children.