My husband told me about this story that ran on memorial day. I thought I would pass it on. It was touching. An 11 year old boy marched in a parade to collect items for our troops.

http://www.wkyc.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=68572

Hi TopazMary,

I seen this and it was so nice. You must be close to me. I am in Cleveland and I recognized the WKYC call letters in your link. and I thought wow someone close to me. So I guess it's a hello to a neighbor

That is indeed sweet yet I feel like an idiot. An 11 yr old boy figured out what to do or took the initiative, yet I am an so worried about a politics of doing something, I just do something from my house.

Do you think the newspaper is a good way to start? I cannot believe I contacted a local radio station that is the biggest around and they never responded.. I guess I should go read any updated notes on the fundraising section.. but I would really like to do something in Raleigh like a big drive.. would welcome ideas on how to start it-- I don't think a gal like me would get as much of an "aww" factor as a boy whose father is serving, but there has got to be something I can do.

 

 

I got some AnySoldier business cards from this site, they are really beautiful cards- much nicer than I expected given the reasonable cost.  I put them up wherever I see a bulliten board.  I always keep some with me so if the topic comes up I can give the person a card.

When we went to our town Memorial Day ceremony, I gave some out afterwards to people who were on their way over to the VFW buffet.  They were very well recieved.

 

That's a great article. You might want to check this one out as well. This is from my hometown newspaper and gives details on something President Bush mentioned in his Memorial Day speech. The picture with the article is incredible as is the copy of the email this Marine had sent to his family.

http://www.dnj.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007705290312

oh .. that brought tears to my eyes.. but it makes me appreciate all of them even more and know that what we are doing is worthwhile. My neighbor, the Marine, told me yesterday that there is no way for us to really know how much they appreciate it when they get something from home.. he said even if it is old newspapers to read... he actually got excited telling me all about what they are like when they get packages and letters and telling me what to send:) HE was even appreciative,, anyway

thanks for sharing

This eleven year old has the right idea! I'm sure that many people were glad to help out once they knew what he was doing; I know I would! I wonder if I could do something like this in my town...

I think I will print that article and put it in our local newspaper. Show them this child did more than anyone in this town.

 I went to our local ladies auxillary and ask about doing something. They said sure we would be willing.  So I went around to our businessess and put boxes with signs saying what it is for.  After one week we had enough stuff to send maybe 4 boxes. Thats pretty darn sad if you ask me.

I got very angry.  So now I just do stuff myself.

Ok sorry I am on a rant.

That is why I don't try to ask for donations from anyone.  People who we tell about sending to military groups ask if we are doing it as members of a church.  When I tell them we are doing it independently, I feel like they aren't as trusting as they would be if we doing it with a group of people, so we don't want to embarrass ourselves or them by asking directly.  We would rather just direct them to AnySoldier.com.  Also, some people aren't as quick to have their hearts "pricked" on short notice.  They would rather give it some thought if it is new to them.  Like someone else said, they don't want to be seen or thought of as supporting the conflict, and feel that contributing to the military would be condoning the war.

Gran

What I have found since doing this for the past two years is that a most people want to help but it is easier for them to give me postage money or items than to do it themselves.     So they donate to me and now my family and friends are helping me make up the packages.  My sister said that of all the volunteer work she has ever done that this was the most rewarding.   I always email or copy any letter we receive from the soldiers and I mark out their names for opsec reasons.

I typed a fairly lengthy reply to this yesterday, I was just about done and trying to make it shorter when I accidentally killed the power to my computer and lost it all

On 9/11 my daughter was sent home from school and watched much of what went on that day. She was only 9 so I tried to sheild her from much of what was going on, but on the other hand I am glad she was home that day and we could talk about what was happening.  She was (is) a bright kid and was pretty mature for her age.  I talked about how helpless I felt because there was nothing I could do and I really wanted to do SOMETHING.  We discussed this and she decided to ask if she could have a penny drive at her school and she decided to have a lemon-AID stand in our front yard and give all the money to the redcross.  That kid sat out there everyday after school and sold lemonade.  We had only moved to the neighbor hood on Sept. 8, so we didn't really know anyone but boy what an experience that was. Everyone was still emotional, many people stopped to chat. I cannot remember how much she made, but it was a fairly substantial amount for selling lemonade.  After that we had a lemonade stand on 9/11 every year and gave all the money to the redcross. Kids are amazing they come up with the simplest things that work.  Last year was the 1st year we didn't have one because everyone was sick.

Last summer my boys decided to try their hand at selling lemonade just for fun, not to donate to anyone.  I live on a pretty busy corner and they did amazingly well, in 3 days selling for about an hour and a half a day those 2 made well over $100.  I don't know about you, but when I was kid and tried this I was lucky to make enough to buy something from the icecream man that day.

 They even managed to get their picture in not one, but 2 local papers.  I talked to both reporters and told them about our annual redcross stand and both of them told me to contact them at least a week ahead of time if we do it again and they will be sure something gets printed in the paper about it ahead of time so that people know what we are doing.  I think it is time to make a couple of calls and make some lemonade :)  My daughter is almost 15 now and has lost her "cuteness factor" but my boys are 6 and 9 and they still have it!

I however would like to take it one step further and I am not sure how to go about it.  We have a local festival coming up in August. I would love to get a booth, spread the word and get donations. I know I can't do this alone so I think I will start by talking to a Vietnam vet I know that is very active with the VFW.  As it looks right now I am going to be busy with something else that weekend so I have to think about a few other options before I approach him, or figure out how to change my schedule. 

I only found this site about 2 weeks ago but it has grabbed me in a way that I can't explain.  There has to be a way to send more and I am going to figure out how.

 

Mary,

Great post!! I am not far from you at all. I think I may be a half hour or 45 minutes away. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you. I don't know if I can leave my email addy here but I think it is in my profile. I'd be glad to help you in any way I can.

Diana

Diana,

I sent you a pm and an email, let me know if you got them.

Mary

I got em Mary will be emailing you shortly.