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/

Cup of Joe: Green Beens Coffee Military- How to Do It

Does your loved one in the military loves coffee? Or maybe you just want to be a great fairy Godmother and gift away some coffee? Then Green Been Coffee is your wizard.  This guys have been serving coffee at bases overseas since 1996!

This is how it works:

It’s a pre-paid deal called the Green Beans Coffee Card.   They can be purchased at their web page Green Beans Coffee by clicking the Coffee Card tab. The cards start at $20 and they will add an additional 10% to your Coffee Card's face value.  How great is that?! One thing, you need to know the person you are sending the card to because they will ask you for his/her email address.  It will take some hours for your friend or loved one to be notified via email to pick up the card at his or her local Green Beans café for use in purchase of coffees, teas, smoothies or snacks.

If you cant spend that much but still want to support a service member, you could go to Cup of Joe to a Joe which is the program they have that supports the troops and allows your to send coffee for less money.

This is how it works:

Step 1: Choose your gift: each $2 provides a different Service Member with a Cup Of Joe gift. Here you choose the amount you want to spend.


Step 2: Write Your Message

After you push the BUY button, you'll see a form where you can write your message that will be delivered with each of your Cup Of Joe gifts.

Step 3: Enter your payment information.   You can use a major credit card or PayPal!

Step 4: They'll deliver your gift.

The message you write is delivered to our Troops by email and the freshly brewed cups of coffee are served at Green Beans Coffee cafes on the bases where they're deployed. They'll also give each Service Member a chance to respond - and most of them do, so watch your email for their letters!

The only difference between these two options is that by buying a card you can send the coffee to a specific serviceman (or woman), by using the program your destinatary will be selected randomly.

And then there is the Box of Joe for a Joe…I know I would like to receive a box of coffee!

Each $7 Box Of Joe (BOJ) gift delivers 6 cups of 100% pure freeze dried Colombian Coffee to one Service Member on the front lines plus a fresh Cup Of Joe (COJ) gift to one Service Member at a Green Beans café.

As they say its "an opportunity to connect with and express our support for our men and women in uniform through the simple act of buying a cup of premium coffee and having it delivered along with our own personalized message of thanks to an anonymous Soldier, Airman, Marine or Sailor serving overseas". 

My bf doesn't like coffee or tea (yeah, crazy right?) but anyways is a good option for those there that have loved ones that are crazy about his precious liquid.

Hope it helps!

Honey