We are so excited to tell our story of adopting a soldier. I know some of you may not agree with what is going on in Afghanistan but the men and women that are over there fighting to keep us safe here at home, believe in what they are doing and so do I and my family. I have been wanting to do something for our soldiers for a long time but I really wanted my son to be involved, so I held off a bit until he got a little older and could appreciate what we were going to do. Not that he is 5 1/2 and a smart cookie I might add, I thought it was time. I 1st tried to get some names from my cousin who is in the Navy but that didn't work out the way I wanted it to. I looked all over for some different organizations that you can get involved with helping our heros overseas. There are many great organizations out there but the one that I kept going back to was Soldiers Angels.
Soldiers Angels has many different parts to it, if that is how I would say it. One of the best parts (I think) is that you can actually "adopt" a soldier! You sign up for a donation of as little as $1 or any amount you see fit and you become a verified Angel. When you become verified you can then adopt a soldier. I kept watching and reading all about Soldiers Angels for a few months and decided this was the perfect place for my son and I to join. We became verified angels and received the name of our soldier within 24hrs. I am not allowed to give out specific details of our soldier so all I will say is she is a female and we will refer to her as "D". When you adopt a soldier you are responsible to write your soldier once a week and send out 1 care package a month. Not hard, is it? Nope! We received D's name and address about a month ago and have sent letters and our 1st care package, which she should have received the end of last week or sometime this week. We had no idea what to get her so we sent candy, toothbrushes, toothpaste and a whole bunch of other little things! We are hoping she finds a few minutes to write us back but we are not expecting to hear from her since we are doing this because we want to and believe in them and we also understand that she is working and is really busy with being in a warzone.
Soldiers Angels is also a place for you to join different groups like "Blankets of Hope" which if you sew or knit you can make blankets for our wounded soldiers being flown into Germany, or "First Response Backpacks" which makes up backpacks of items that the soldiers may "loose" while being transported with an injury. Sometimes their items never make it back to them since the transportation process is fast for their safety or how about "OperationBirthday Cake" This group gets birthday cakes over to our soldiers on their birthday. These are just a small portion of what SA does. You can go to SoldiersAngels.org to look around and possibly join to help. To join one or more of these groups I believe (don't hold me to it) that you do not have to make a donation...I'm almost sure of that. As I am writing this there are currently 1387 soldiers waiting to be adopted. I have gotten some of my family and friends to help me and join so even if you can't join right now maybe you know someone that may want to...so pass the word on!! Some of the people that I know that haven't joined but did help me send a 34lb package to the SA warehouse in TX filled with snacks and many, many boxes of toothpaste and at least 75 toothbrushes and other little goodies!! I thank them all for their help!!
I know the economy is tough right now and a lot of people don't have a lot of money to be sending care packages and stuff but if you join you can do a 1 time care package. There are addresses you can send items to that they are in desperate need of like the call out right now is for toothbrushes and toothpaste and floss. If you go to the dollar store you can get big things of toothpaste for $1 and a package of 4-5 toothbrushes for a $1. And if you go to your local Post Office they can give you a box ahead of time that you can fill for as little as $4.95. Fill it and send it! It felt really good to send out that first box but now it is a little more personal with having our adopted soldier.
Just remember, what they are fighting for and that they are protecting us. Some of them don't get mail and have families that don't support them (yes I have seen this posted on SA about family not supporting their son or daughter!). Each and every one of them deserve to get mail on mail call days, each and everyone of them deserve to know that there are people at home that do care and do support them! Do this with your child, do it in the name of a family member who is a Vet, just do it because you care about the men and women's moral and well being!
If I can help anyone get started or answer any questions feel free to leave a comment or email me and I will gladly help you out.
God Bless our soldiers and bring them home safe!!
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