Hey there everyone! been a while.... hasnt it????

I would like to have a few suggestions on scrapbook project recipients to take to Marty to see if he will allow another project. Also this next project will be run slightly differently. Basically we ironed out most of the wrinkles on the first project. Such as absolutely no religious messages,(Bless you is ok You are in our thoughts and prayer ok.....convert to christianity is not as well as other specifics  this time if there are ANY they will not be included they will be thrown out. *We must consider this is probably being sent to a muslim country, religious messages could be considered propaganda* Also late pages will be disallowed as this entails changing plans for the assemblers and I can not ask them to spend more money to wait for last minute pages.

Secondly a monetary contribution will be expected for each book( to be determined when we know which page protector we are using as well as how many books will be going out). Last time we were blessed to have someone donate the books and a good portion of the money and can not expect that person to do this again.

Also no personal informartion on the front of the pages(full names, addresses, email adys) as there will be a website with all pages displayed for the community to see. If you don't want your page displayed please don't send any, it got far too confusing last time as to who wanted theirs included and who didn't. No glitter etc...Also...any pages that are detrimental to the morale of the troops or disrespectful to the culture of the country(s) they are deployed to will not be included. Discretion is left to the coordinator. There are many other things that this will entail but I do know one thing it will need to go to someone AFTER the holidays as I can not picture going through a mailing fiasco again. So as for right now any ideas on recipients would be helpful, then I will take them to Marty once I make a decision!  I know we can do this we had a HUGE pouring out of support last project we can totally eclipse this one I think!

So basically think of this... this person/persons/groups will not even be receiving the books until sometime in the beginning of the year. Will they be at their current position then? What does their job entail(without breaking OPSEC please)? How many in a group? How many books will they be able to do? And finally as always I have a little trick up my sleeve for someone special! But thats to be determined later!Throw it at me people... I am waiting..... patiently as always!

PS. As a disclaimer from previous experience..Any disrespectful or inappropriate emails or private messages or snail mail will be referred to AS "management". Also requested email copies of pictures will not be honored as it entails hours of sending messages and being looked at and flagged as a spammer! I like my email and still want to be able to access it when needed!

Hey Amy!

Great to see the next scrapbook project has been opened for ideas!

Just a thought at this point but what about the USO's? I haven't been able to locate any current AS contacts for any of them. TSGT Cutlip had requested for the USO in Kuwait but she has redeployed.....I will continue to search for a contact. Does anyone out there know of any?

Looking forward to this next project!

Bonnie

Welcome back Amy!    Good to see your face, and hear your voice again in the forums.  

The above rules that you have noted, sounds all good and fair.  You've been through it, you know what needs to be followed.

As for ideas for scrapbook recipients,   I am between connecting with deployed troops.  Most of mine have or are heading home, which is a good thing.    I'm looking for email responses from some new contacts.  

I'm sure you'll get some good ideas from some other junkies, like what Bonnie has suggested.  

Keep us posted! 

Hola, amigas!!!!  I miss you guys!!!!

I am utterly swamped (as you know LOL) but just in thinking about this, I wonder if there aren't a couple of chaplains that might be a good "recipient?"  They probably have a "place" where the book(s) could be kept and a revolving door of troops who would have the chance to see it... those coming to the chaplain might be the ones who need to see it the most.  Of course, I have done no research and haven't a clue who the current chaplain contacts are (though I do remember umm... Andrew Kemp in A'stan? being an assistant chaplain and having like 300 served or something?)

I think after the holidays I will be needing another "assembly" weekend... only this time rule #1=SHOP FIRST, assemble later.  LOL

 HI Amy, I was just thinking about you the other day. Welcome back.

I think a USO club is a great idea for a scrapbook! That way many people who pass through there could enjoy it! 

Wow......another project..........I'm ready!!!     I agree with everyone above........a Chaplain, USO, etc.    I have a suggestion with that.......Major (CH) Yvonne Hudson who had the scrapbooking idea and later the "God's Grounds" coffee house for everyone to come and sit and have a cup of tea, coffee, cocoa and rest and chat a bit with others.......if even for a minute.    I know even when she leaves, the efforts will be continued for the next person coming in.    Don't mean for you to get toooo many ideas........but whatever you decided, you know I'll be with you on it all.    Glad you set down the rules and guidelines.    Looking forward to seeing what happens.........

Love peace and blessings......Anne Marie

Amy, put me on any list, but I am going to have a ton of questions as I am way new to scrapbooking.  I will read through your other projects to see the ideas, the rules sound fine to me, infact "no brainers"...Wow, I wish you had passed on to management before, you should never have had to go through that.  Hugs sweetie, glad you are back.

OMG, the Coffee House!  We could each take a photo of our favorite coffee house in our local area and do a little layout about why we love it and of course how we think of them whenever we're enjoying our cup and it's like sharing a moment across the miles... that could be a cute no-nonsense project!  8x8 even!

I don't drink coffee...how about our local zoo, or any event where there are people and kids, lots of kids, zoo, museum, imaginarium, picnic, baseball/football game. The theme could be "a day out in our town".  It would cover a lot of things for a lot of different people.

I don't drink coffee...how about our local zoo, or any event where there are people and kids, lots of kids, zoo, museum, imaginarium, picnic, baseball/football game. The theme could be "a day out in our town".  It would cover a lot of things for a lot of different people.

Hmmm...coffee house. I guess I will have to clean my coffee pot at work.  That is the only coffee that I can stand. Hmmm....I can do a layout of the lab I work in, and then the site surrounding it.  It isn't a coffee house, more like a coffee cart, but it is ours and very well used.We designed our kitchen area around the coffee cart when we built the new lab.  No joke!  Would that be ok if we choose to do a coffee theme?

thanks

Heidi

AS for right now I am not so sure about the coffee house idea. While its a great one and may work for someone, I dont think this is the one for me to spearhead. Considering I am not a coffee drinker and totally not even remotely close to be interested in drinking the stuff. As for right now all I was curious about was recipients. But the USOs are starting to sound better and better to me, and I think the overall feel should be a great big THANK YOU!

Amy

Okay...weird Jetakai, off in left field...again.

But what about some sort of "game" book, based on the old board games we used to play as kids.  The one I was thinking of, was Chutes and Ladders (but there are others like Life and Clue and Candy Land or we could make up our own, even like the Alaskan Adventure or a Conneticate Soldier in King Arthur's court.  We could include a set of dice with each book.)

We would use our own lives and our own pictures to make trails and paths, so like for C&L you might have a laddar that says head for the local coffee shop, or a Chute that says out of coffee, go back three spaces.  A laddar that says drop kids off at school, and a chute that says rush hour, go back 5 spaces.

Maybe they could all end with a Hug your favorite Soldier and it could have a hero "medal" or star or something.  This is just a thought, but I think the juices might flow.  What do you think Amy?

Not sure I understand what you mean by a USO club scrapbook. Could you expand on that for this clueless one? My dad got to see Bob Hope and some other folks I can't remember now at a USO show during vietnam. He said he was awesome, and the girls were bee-u-ti-ful! as he puts it!

Heidi

Hi Heidi!

I'll give information as much as I know.....

You can go to the USO website to get some information. This URL http://www.uso.org/whoweare/findyourlocaluso/usooverseaslocations/ shows a map of the overseas USO locations. If you scroll down, you will see some information on each such as location, what amenities are available, etc. One of my contacts is at the Joint Base in Balad, Iraq. He told me that the USO there is where he goes to relax, watch tv, etc. on his half-day off. He also takes any items he receives that he does not need or want to the USO and leaves them for soldiers who "come in from the war for a little bit of down time" (as he put it). Also, TSGT Jen Cutlip used to post about the USO in Qatar. (She is now in old  contacts.) You could go to her posts to get an idea of the USO facility there where soldiers in theater go for their 4 days of R+R.

The reason I suggested the USOs was because there is a lot of Soldiers that pass through them. Our messages of support would reach a wide audience.

Again, it is just a suggestion. We would have to identify contacts where the USOs are located and so on. But we could cross that bridge if and when we get there.

Bonnie