Christmas arrived early for a quartet of Amarillo College student veterans and their families thanks to the unanticipated generosity of Unit 6 of Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1475.

Five members of Unit 6, the Amarillo post’s motorcycle contingent, surprised AC student veterans Monica Chavez, Luis Juarez, Austin Post and Rochelle Spencer by handing each a check for $250 on Friday, Dec. 13 at AC.

“What a wonderful surprise,” said Spencer, whose service in the U.S. Army spanned four years. “It can be really tough sometimes making ends meet. Now I can get my car fixed and still buy a Christmas present for my daughter.”

This marks the fourth consecutive year that Unit 6 has contacted Kelly Murphy, AC veterans’ coordinator, and told her they had some extra money in their scholarship fund that they hoped to distribute at Christmastime among some student veterans in particular need.

Murphy nominated the four students, and VFW’s scholarship committee personally delivered four checks totaling $1,000 to the unsuspecting recipients, who did not know exactly why they had been summoned to Murphy’s office.“This will make a really big difference for the Christmas we’ll be able to give our little boy,” said Post, father of a 3-year-old and active in the Army Reserve. “We can’t thank the VFW enough.”

-Amarillo College