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Whether you have an adopted soldier for the holiday season or have chosen other ways to support the troops, there’s still time to make a difference!
For tips on favorite care package items for the troops, check out the list here. You can’t go wrong with candy and—believe it or not—clean socks are just about the “best thing ever” as far as a remotely-posted infantryman is concerned. Small decorations and holiday-themed treats of all kinds are also welcome for their ability to make a hero smile. Remember to choose things that can survive rough handling and won’t be damaged by extreme heat or cold. Whatever you send, the most important thing is that it comes from your heart. As one deployed hero recently told an Angel, “your warm thoughts and support provide us with the motivation and inspiration to make it through the day.”
Be sure to check deadlines for shipping holiday packages overseas if you want to make sure your package arrives in time (dates range from November 25-December 9). The post office has some good packing tips here. Don’t give up if you miss the deadline, though. It might still make it in time—and even if it doesn’t, your adopted soldier will be thrilled to experience an extension of his or her Holiday Season.
If you haven’t adopted a hero, you can still support the troops this Holiday Season simply by doing what millions of other people do this time of year—shopping online!
When you do your online Holiday shopping or planning, use the search engines that give money to Soldiers' Angels for each search or purchase you make. You still get the same great online prices, but a percentage of the money you spend goes to Soldiers’ Angels to support the troops. Just sign up for iGive or GoodSearch / GoodShop and choose Soldiers' Angels as your charity, then sign in to their sites when you go online and use the Web just like you normally do ( Don't forget to choose your fine holiday wines through CellarAngels and select Soldiers' Angels as recipient of 10% of your purchase!).
Also, consider doing your Holiday shopping through other companies that support Soldiers’ Angels and the troops. Some of them offer discounts to Angels and servicemembers, while others donate a percentage of their sales to Soldiers’ Angels.
The ultimate in shopping and supporting the troops is the Angels Store. From clothing to collectibles, care packages and more, you’ll find the perfect gift for veterans, active duty and supporters alike, and the proceeds go right back into the many projects and activities of Soldiers’ Angels in support of the troops and their families.
Whichever method you choose, you can effortlessly support the troops just by shopping and checking off your Holiday list!
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Sending Cards to the Wounded
How to Send Cards to the Wounded
11/16/11
As the winter Holidays near, many Americans are looking for ways to help America’s wounded military heroes have a happy Holiday Season. Unfortunately, some bad information is making the rounds!
Cards sent to “A Recovering American Soldier” at Walter Reed will be REJECTED and will not reach a wounded hero. In fact, Walter Reed recently combined facilities with the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda and doesn’t even exist at the address often associated with messages telling you to send cards to "A Recovering American Soldier."
Don't give up, though! If you would like to reach out to a wounded hero this Holiday Season, there are two great options that will ensure your card makes it to a wounded warrior who needs to know someone cares.
Send your cards to Soldiers’ Angels. They will be included in Holiday gifts for wounded warriors and hand-delivered at major military medical centers and VA facilities across the country:
Soldiers' AngelsCards for Wounded1792 E Washington BlvdPasadena, CA 91104
-or-
Soldiers' AngelsCards for Wounded4408 N PanAm ExprwySan Antonio, TX 78218
Join the Soldiers' Angels Wounded TLC Team. This group of Angel volunteers regularly sends cards to heroes recovering from illnesses and wounds at military hospitals and veterans’ centers.
Please help spread the word about the right way to send a card to a hero—share this story to help us cut down on the waste of time and money from cards erroneously sent to Walter Reed--let's make sure that ALL our holiday wishes get to the heroes who need them!
11/16/11
As the winter Holidays near, many Americans are looking for ways to help America’s wounded military heroes have a happy Holiday Season. Unfortunately, some bad information is making the rounds!
Cards sent to “A Recovering American Soldier” at Walter Reed will be REJECTED and will not reach a wounded hero. In fact, Walter Reed recently combined facilities with the National Naval Medical Center at Bethesda and doesn’t even exist at the address often associated with messages telling you to send cards to "A Recovering American Soldier."
Don't give up, though! If you would like to reach out to a wounded hero this Holiday Season, there are two great options that will ensure your card makes it to a wounded warrior who needs to know someone cares.
Send your cards to Soldiers’ Angels. They will be included in Holiday gifts for wounded warriors and hand-delivered at major military medical centers and VA facilities across the country:
Soldiers' AngelsCards for Wounded1792 E Washington BlvdPasadena, CA 91104
-or-
Soldiers' AngelsCards for Wounded4408 N PanAm ExprwySan Antonio, TX 78218
Join the Soldiers' Angels Wounded TLC Team. This group of Angel volunteers regularly sends cards to heroes recovering from illnesses and wounds at military hospitals and veterans’ centers.
Please help spread the word about the right way to send a card to a hero—share this story to help us cut down on the waste of time and money from cards erroneously sent to Walter Reed--let's make sure that ALL our holiday wishes get to the heroes who need them!
Monday, November 14, 2011
Laptop Contest Winner from New York!
Laptop Contest Winner
11/10/11
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The winner of the Soldiers’ Angels laptop essay competition, Denise Ruiz, is a medically-retired veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan now living in New York state who is working hard to build a second career. The laptop she receives will benefit a total of four people—Ruiz and her three* children.
Ruiz is enrolled in college as a fulltime student, but is without any kind of computer of her own. She has been relying on computer labs at school and the library near her home to complete classwork, but will now be able to save time by using her new laptop at home. Thanks to her winning essay, Ruiz’s children—16, 13 and 6 years old—now will have easy access to a computer for their own schoolwork.
Joining the Army three days before 9-11, Ruiz served in Iraq (2003-2004) and Afghanistan (2006), driving 18-wheelers full of fuel for military vehicles. She retired in 2008 after fighting a recurring injury and has been focusing on building a new career in criminal justice for herself and her children.
Last week after noticing the announcement on Facebook that Soldiers’ Angels was giving away a laptop to a veteran, Ruiz mentioned the contest to her English teacher who urged her to nominate herself. “I’m not gonna win,” Ruiz insisted, but her teacher continued to push. “Just try it,” he said. “It never hurts to try!” He encouraged her to view it as a class assignment.
When Ruiz first discovered she was the winner of a new laptop, she was incredulous. She saw the initial notification pop up on her cell phone during one of her classes, but didn’t believe it until she had time to reread the email several times after class concluded. “It never hurts to try something for the first time,” she now says, “because you never know…”
Though Ruiz didn’t receive Soldiers’ Angels support during her own deployments, she has long been aware of the organization and appreciates what Angels do. She maintains contact with an email group based out of Ft. Drum in order to stay informed about ways her friends still in the military can receive assistance and has seen Soldiers’ Angels mentioned many times as a resource. She has even signed up her deployed friends for Angel adoption in order to ensure their morale stays up. “When you’re deployed, a care package is everything,” she exclaims.
Ruiz herself no longer has to deal with deployment like her friends do, but she is now experiencing for herself the Soldiers’ Angels motto: “May No Soldier Go Unloved.”
Congratulations to SGT (ret) Ruiz!
11/10/11
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The winner of the Soldiers’ Angels laptop essay competition, Denise Ruiz, is a medically-retired veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan now living in New York state who is working hard to build a second career. The laptop she receives will benefit a total of four people—Ruiz and her three* children.
Ruiz is enrolled in college as a fulltime student, but is without any kind of computer of her own. She has been relying on computer labs at school and the library near her home to complete classwork, but will now be able to save time by using her new laptop at home. Thanks to her winning essay, Ruiz’s children—16, 13 and 6 years old—now will have easy access to a computer for their own schoolwork.
Joining the Army three days before 9-11, Ruiz served in Iraq (2003-2004) and Afghanistan (2006), driving 18-wheelers full of fuel for military vehicles. She retired in 2008 after fighting a recurring injury and has been focusing on building a new career in criminal justice for herself and her children.
Last week after noticing the announcement on Facebook that Soldiers’ Angels was giving away a laptop to a veteran, Ruiz mentioned the contest to her English teacher who urged her to nominate herself. “I’m not gonna win,” Ruiz insisted, but her teacher continued to push. “Just try it,” he said. “It never hurts to try!” He encouraged her to view it as a class assignment.
When Ruiz first discovered she was the winner of a new laptop, she was incredulous. She saw the initial notification pop up on her cell phone during one of her classes, but didn’t believe it until she had time to reread the email several times after class concluded. “It never hurts to try something for the first time,” she now says, “because you never know…”
Though Ruiz didn’t receive Soldiers’ Angels support during her own deployments, she has long been aware of the organization and appreciates what Angels do. She maintains contact with an email group based out of Ft. Drum in order to stay informed about ways her friends still in the military can receive assistance and has seen Soldiers’ Angels mentioned many times as a resource. She has even signed up her deployed friends for Angel adoption in order to ensure their morale stays up. “When you’re deployed, a care package is everything,” she exclaims.
Ruiz herself no longer has to deal with deployment like her friends do, but she is now experiencing for herself the Soldiers’ Angels motto: “May No Soldier Go Unloved.”
Congratulations to SGT (ret) Ruiz!
Friday, November 11, 2011
E-Bay Auction - Project Valour-IT is LIVE!
The eBay auction with items donated to Soldiers' Angels in support of Project Valour-IT is now LIVE! There are 23 items up for bid, with auctions ending anywhere between early Sunday morning and mid-day Monday. Auction items handcrafted jewelry, a handmade camo-print purse and consumer electronics. Go check it out!
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Project Valour-IT
11/01/11
To honor America’s veterans and support Project Valour-IT, Soldiers’ Angels is holding an eBay auction on Veterans Day Weekend and your donations are needed to make it happen!From patriotic to practical and beyond, your gift will help a severely-wounded hero receive an adaptive laptop from Soldiers' Angels. We need to move quickly, but Angels have an amazing way of coming through under pressure!
To submit your item for auction or ask any questions, emailbeths@soldiersangels.org with subject line “Auction.” Be sure to include ALL of the following in your email:
- Quality photos of the item you are donating for auction
- Full description of the item, appropriate for posting on eBay
- The minimum amount for which you want your item to sell
Items must be mailed to Soldiers’ Angels as soon as possible (in most cases, before the auction is complete—shipping details will be provided when you email).
Saturday, November 5, 2011
Bowling Green Kiwanis Kids Club and Soldiers Angels team up to collect candy for our troops!
It's been said that everyone can do something to support our troops. This was definitely the case as today I was fortunate enough to meet some pretty amazing ladies that were spending their Saturday collecting holiday candy to send to our troops. Bowling Green Kids Kiwanis and Soldiers Angels teamed up and stationed themselves in four different locations in Levittown to help collect holiday candy to send to our troops. Not only did these ambitious ladies have an amazing turn out but, all in all they collected more then 200 pds of candy! How great is that!? Did I mention these sweethearts were all in the age range of 9 and 10! Take a peek of all their work below and remember "supporting our troops" doesn't know your age and this is a perfect example on how being creative and sweet, one can do so. Thanks again ladies!
The set up of the Holiday Candy Drive for our Troops
by Bowling Green Kiwanis Kids Club and Soldiers Angels
Sweethearts collecting sweets for the troops!
The Candy Troop!
Thanks so much Bowling Green Kawanis Kids Club, you ladies are just great!
Soldiers Angels Social Media Coordinator
10/11/11
Veteran Kelli Harmon knows what the support of Soldiers’ Angels means to troops and their families, so she jumped at the chance to join the team in September. Kelli is the Soldiers’ Angels Social Media Coordinator, a position in which she will focus on spreading the message of Soldiers’ Angels through mediums like Facebook, Twitter and other online avenues.
Soldiers’ Angels and Kelli have been partners for several years already. She initially encountered the organization in 2008 when Toby Nunn stopped in at the Fort Hood BOSS (Better Opportunities for Single Soldiers) office while she was the BOSS President for Ft Hood. As a previous Fort Hood BOSS President himself, Toby was interested in supporting Kelli’s efforts in the position. Toby and Kelli worked together on a number of large-scale events that Soldiers’ Angels supported. “During my two years as BOSS President, Soldiers’ Angels was the most supportive organization and they truly showed that they do care about Soldiers,” Kelli recalls.
In April 2010, Kelli was deployed to Camp Marmal, in Regional Command-North, Afghanistan with the 4th Infantry Division, 4th Combat Aviation Brigade and soon became the Brigade’s BOSS Representative. The Camp had no morale facilities when she arrived, so she set to work gathering resources to change that, including Soldiers’ Angels. Her efforts brought about MWR opportunities that included a gym, USO facility, basketball and volleyball courts, a movie theatre and a number of special events. Kelli’s tremendous work during her deployment garnered her two Army Commendation Medals and a Bronze Star.
Giving back to those around her has always been a part of Kelli’s life. Before spending 6.5 years in the military, she chose a career as a firefighter before discovering that she felt as though she still was not contributing enough to her country. “I loved it and will go back at some point,” she says, “but I wasn’t giving back enough as a firefighter.”
With her background and experience, working with Soldiers’ Angels after her military service was a natural fit. “The dedication of Soldiers’ Angels to the average Soldier and Veteran led me to choose Soldiers’ Angels as my next place of employment,” Kelli says. “I’m really excited to be working with Soldiers’ Angels.”
Soldiers’ Angels is excited to have Kelli on the team! Thank you to Kelli for her service—past, present and certainly future!
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