As we editorialized in this past weekend’s edition, veterans deserve our appreciation to a degree that we truthfully can probably never reach.

A group of veterans in eastern Lycoming County and surrounding communities somehow went above and beyond the tremendous sacrifices they already have made for our communities.

As featured on the front page of this weekend’s Sun-Gazette, this group worked together to renovate a new home for one of their comrades, a Navy veteran whose home was not in the condition he deserved.

Their efforts to continually give to the communities goes beyond one home for one veteran — in the past year, the VFW Riders group has logged over 8,000 volunteer hours.

“We’re off to a good start this year,” Ann Russell of the VFW Riders told the Sun-Gazette, in what we can only describe as an understatement borne of modesty.

As much as we appreciate the impressive and unparalleled sense of service the VFW Riders have displayed, we must ask: Is it perhaps a little unfair that a group of men and women who have already bore so much to serve their nation and their communities continues to shoulder these burdens?

Can other community groups step up to be of greater assistance to our veterans — to do more to help those willing to risk sacrificing everything for their country?

As we continue to hope that our communities find ways to show their gratitude for our veterans, we further hope families in neighborhoods and communities across our region can be inspired by the unrelenting service of this group to volunteer more themselves and to find more ways of committing to public service.