In 2013, Walmart began a new national campaign to welcome home veterans and show appreciation called Greenlight A Vet, where people could purchase green light bulbs and install them on their homes’ exterior to show support for our military during November and May. In addition, people could take pictures of their porch with the green light and submit them to #greenlightavet
In a collaboration with the National Walmart effort to “Greenlight a Vet,” a small display was presented in the library. During the event we had patrons express their appreciation and thanks on a form and placed the form on the display window. Patrons also participated by obtaining a free green light bulb to replace & shine at their own office or residence.
The small display consisted of a few flyers and green light bulbs that participants got to take, thank you forms, a green lamp on, some green plants, some American flags, Thank you forms, pens, and some green balloons.
Students, faculty and staff, veterans, active-duty military and military guests to our campus.
Decorations cost about $55.00 which included the purchase of:
We didn’t have any food or other enticements, and that may be considered if we do this again when it’s safe to congregate, and that would be an additional cost. (Sample Budget Template provided)
We did it on Veterans Day, November 11th.
We publicized the event for a week prior to the setup. It took about an hour to set up, and we left the display up for one day. We had a scheduled time for people to come in and post their appreciation forms on our library display windows (about 2 hours), and let the display stay up for an additional day.
It may have been beneficial to put up posters to explain what Greenlight a Vet meant. Since our event, I have found a PowerPoint Presentation with a list of resources that I have not vetted, but I can share.
Contact your veteran's affairs office and see if things can be coordinated better, and close the communication gap and share the positive notes with them for the publications to which they submit.
Use the number of lightbulbs taken and the number of forms filled out to assess engagement, and a sample event evaluation form was attached below by link – CT Library provided.
In the future I would list the following as assessment: Participation measured by the number of lightbulbs taken and thank you forms filled out. Student engagement is measured by observation as well as by the number of photos of greenlights on porches submitted to the library. Increased communication measured by posts to the TV monitors throughout the campus and stories shared in the student newspaper. Student engagement could also be measured by nonlibrary participation which could include new partnerships with the Veterans’ Affairs office and Student Organizations.
Recommend partnering with your Veteran’s Affairs office on the main campus. Since our program we have found the following:
Fig.1 Example of display
Fig. Advertising example
Dede Rios, UIW Libraries, School of Optometry
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (LG-12-19-0114).
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