William S. Middleton Memorial Veterans Hospital

Growing up in a military family, Danielle (Dani) Seeger knows very well the struggles that many military families face. Through her volunteer work at the Madison VA hospital, where she’s been volunteering with her mother since 2008, Ms. Seeger became aware of some of the unmet needs of female Veterans.  In order to help, Ms. Seeger decided to devote her Girl Scout Gold Award project to help pregnant veterans, many of whom have just returned from serving overseas. Through this innovative project, called “Duffle to Diaper Bags,” Ms. Seeger has created fully stocked diaper bags to provide some of the necessary supplies pregnant Veterans need for the upcoming birth of their babies.

Ms. Seeger’s goal is to complete at least 25 diaper bags for the pregnant veterans. In order to fill the diaper bags, Ms. Seeger has collected donated items, as well as funds, from military organizations, stores, family and friends. She has also asked a variety of groups if they can make some of the items to go in the bags and she has reached out to fellow military youth and younger Girl Scouts and asked them to write encouraging notes to go into the diaper bags.

Once complete, the diaper bags are given to the Women Veterans Health Program at the Madison VA hospital to distribute to pregnant Veterans as appropriate.  Throughout this endeavor, Ms. Seeger feels that not only has she helped others, she has gained important leadership skills that will carry her into the next chapter of her life.  According to Ms. Seeger, she has “educated others about how the face of our military is changing and, as a result, the needs of our Veterans are different today.”

The Women Veterans Health Program wishes to acknowledge and thank Dani Seeger for her dedication and hard work to help women Veterans!

By Ann McCall, MSW and Gail Hunt, LCSW