Volunteering: Soldiers Angels

There is a great pleasure about volunteering but with me one thing is for sure: I prefer to do it at my own rithem.  I'm not a fan of having to be at one place at a certain time; I'm a free spirit so I've always been more attracted to volunteering from home.  

I learned about Soldiers Angels during a very sad (love related) trip, at a Fisher House in Cincinnati.  I remember I saw a book called "May No Soldier Go Unloved" by Jeff Bader.  I look through the book and read something about an organization where people could volunteer at, it was Soldier's Angels.  I made a menthal note to look that up once I get home...

...and I did. Now let me tell you about this site/organization, which I love. 

Soldier's Angels is a volunteer-led public charity that provides aid and comfort to the men and women of the United States Army, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and their families. It is an international organization with members in  U.S. states and several friendly countries who support America's men and women in uniform.  We are hundreds of thousands of volunteers in over 20 different teams and programs operating internationally to provide letters, care packages, and comfort items to the deployed, and support for their families at home. We also provide assistance to the wounded, continuing support for veterans, remembrances and comfort for families of the fallen, and immediate response to unique difficulties that military individuals and families can encounter. 

They don't discriminate, you don't have to be an American or live there to support them.  I'm not American and live in Europe!  They welcome everybody and they don't expect you to support with money, everything you can give is well received.  To be a member, I did a small donation of 1 dollar!

Soldiers' Angels began with a mother of two American soldiers, Patti Patton-Bader. Her eldest son, Staff Sergeant Brandon, deployed to Iraq from 2003-2004 and her youngest was deployed to Iraq from 2007-2008. In the summer of his deployment, Brandon expressed concern that some soldiers in his unit did not receive any mail or support from home. Patti quickly contacted a handful of friends and extended family and asked if they would support a soldier or two. Within just a few months Soldiers' Angels went from a mother sending a few extra care packages and letters to an Internet community with thousands of Angels worldwide. 

These are some of the things you can do:

• Adopt a Soldier:  they assign you an adopted soldier, and after you receive an email with information about him or her you can then begin sending your letters and care packages.
• Join the Craft Team: Operation Top Knot is a network of service clubs and individuals who sew, knit and shop to create gift baskets for infants and expectant mothers in military families. They also assemble and deliver gift baskets full of goodies such as bottles, diapers, onesies, pacifiers, washcloths, grooming kits, and more.  They also make sure to remember Dad by sending "It's a Boy!" or "It's a Girl!" bubblegum cigars to wherever he is stationed.
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Family Support: Operation Outreach supports the homefront. Deployment isn't just hard on a hero, it's extraordinarily difficult for their family as well. Military families worry, struggle, and sacrifice, and Operation Outreach says “Thank You” to these unsung home-front heroes. 
  The request is for cards and letters of support for family members but also provides gifts to help make a birthday or holiday special, coordinates with Angels in local areas to provide ongoing support, links military families with e-pals or pen pals who know what they're going through, and provides limited financial assistance. 

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Sewing Teams: The Sewing Team supports the troops through sewing skills. 
• Wounded Team: lend support during the difficult time when a hero is ill or wounded. Team members send cards and letters of support to service members who are sometimes suffering catastrophic injuries and need to know they are not forgotten. 
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Writing Teams:
 The Cards Plus Team is dedicated to supporting service members, their families and even other Angels through encouraging cards and notes at special times. The Letter Writing Team is a group of Soldiers' Angels who enjoy writing to service members and who know how important it is for a deployed service member to hear his or her name called at mail call. This is the team I'm at!

I'm doing my PHD and money is scare so my contributions are not money based.  They don't care! What ever you can do is valuable for them.   I'm currently at the Letter Writing Team and the Wounded Team.  They also have a forum where the Angels talk about different things and some times give some more names of military personnel in need of a letter or other Angels needing a postcard from your state or country for their soldier's scrap book :) You'll be hooked!

There are more different things you can do through them.  Please, go check their site and read a bit more, I assure you will fall in love with their cause as I did.  

Proud to be an Angel, from wing tip  to wing tip,

Honey

May No Soldier Go Unloved

May No Soldier Walk Alone

May No Soldier Be Forgotten

'Til they All Come Home.

References: 

https://soldiersangels.org/