What
began with a simple email: "Mom, we are rebuilding schools for the
children, but they only have a blackboard and the entire class has to
share one pencil..."
Helen Kyle, wife of shipmate Bill Kyle, has been involved in supporting our troops since the beginning of the war in Iraq.
With the support of her company and friends, they have sent over a
thousand care packages, including web cams, Christmas trees and
stockings for two battalions, school supplies, toys, and ping pong
tables. They even provided an airline tickets for a mother to be
by the side of her injured son. She knows from experience how important
a care package means to our service men and women. She says, "I
have been humbled by their simple words and gestures of thanks.
This is one of many emails and letters I received:"
"Hello,
I'm one of the soldiers you and your workers sent us some
goodies. Thank you so much for that. I've been here since
March and getting goodies from people I don't even know keeps my morale
up. Thank you so much for the packages."
Helen's
philosophy is simple. "No matter what your political views on
this war, these are our sons and daughters, who have volunteered and
taken an oath to defend our freedom. They believe in their
mission and we need to believe in them and express our love and
support. The news media has made us immune to our young
servicemen and women who die each and everyday, by reporting "5
soldiers killed." They are more than a number and they deserve
our support. The biggest casualty of war is being forgotten."
Here's
an opportunity to be proactive and provide our military personnel who
are in harm's way with items that you and I have readily available.
For those who would like to do something for our service men and women
on a personal level, this site offers you the opportunity to contact
and send care packages. You can choose by branch of service,
rank, gender, etc.
All military personnel on this site are in harm's way and each one
provides a list of needed items. The items are usually disbursed
to a service member who receives little or no mail or packages, so note
on the address: ANY SOLDIER.
If you would like to donate to a very worthy cause , you might consider The Wounded Warrior Project (WWP).
The mission of the WWP is to raise public awareness and enlist the
public's aid for the needs of severely injured service men and women
and to help them aid and assist each other and provide a unique
programs and services to meet their needs.
Another
very worthy cause is Fisher House. Because members of the
military and their families are stationed worldwide and must often
travel great distances for specialized medical care, Fisher House™
Foundation donates "comfort homes," built on the grounds of major
military and VA medical centers. These homes enable family members to
be close to a loved one at the most stressful time - during the
hospitalization for an unexpected illness, disease, or injury
If you really want to know what is going on in Iraq, check out http://www.mnf-iraq.com/.
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