Mentoring single moms through Generation Hope
Had to share this story in the Washington Post since I know the mentor featured in the article. She’s the mother of a friend of mine. Love what Ms. K is doing and knowing that she’s making such a great impact on this young woman and her son’s lives!
With help from mentoring program, Fairfax teen juggles college, 3 jobs and 3 year-old
Interested in donating to Generation Hope or becoming a sponsor? Check out their website for more info. Know a single mom who had a child in her teens that could benefit from an organization like this? Generation Hope is also accepting applications for the 2012/2013 school year. More details including apps are available online.
Sending care packages to troops overseas for the holidays
Last year, my boyfriend and I surprised each other on Christmas with donations to charities as part of our gift exchange. This year, we decided to do something special together for others for the holidays. He came up with a great suggestion: Any Soldier.
AnySoldier.com is a site that coordinates sending care packages to specific Soldiers overseas. Pretty cool that you get to decide who to support. We’ve both donated money to various military charities over the years, but it’s usually to a nonprofit and their overall efforts. This organization is great because you get to reach a specific individual or group with very specific needs.
S kindly left the selecting to me and I chose two Soldiers, one in Kuwait and another in Afghanistan. I based my choices on the length of time left for them serving as well as the number of times an address had been “requested.” Technically, no one is supposed to request an address unless they are actually sending a package, so you have a pretty good idea of how many packages the person has received. I went with two that had been sent less than 10.
One troop was looking for entertainment items such as books and dvds and the other was looking for snacks and products for female troops such as hair things. After signing up to receive the contact information, we were able to take the next step and headed out for shopping and shipping supplies.
We spent a bit more than $100 and were able to comfortably fill two medium flat rate shipping boxes. The site has some fairly specific requirements for shipping through Any Soldier, especially given that the holidays are a time when many more people are likely to want to do something to support the troops overseas. We did our best to read all the details and make sure we met all the requirements so our packages make it through.
Our items have shipped out and we hope they are received soon. We even dropped a quick little note thanking the troops in our packages. The site notes that if you can’t send donations, you’re still welcome to send letters to the troops too. We didn’t include our email for a possible response once the packages are received, but some troops elect to correspond with those who have sent their contact information along with their packages. Note: Soldier’s emails are never directly released to avoid SPAM if you were considering that route.
If you’re thinking of donating to a servicemember in harms way, consider trying Any Soldier. Curious about supporting other branches of the military? Check out Any Airman, Any Marine, Any Sailor or Any Coast Guard on the site too!
Can’t decide who to donate to specifically? They also take financial donations. Wish I had noticed that in time as another option for my CFC contribution. However, there’s always next year!
Happy Holidays all!
Meeting with Fate at Arlington National Cemetery
As I’ve gotten to know my boyfriend better over the years, it always amazes me to know how often we were actually at the same place at the same time and never met until we did. One of those instances is volunteering for Wreaths Across America.
This organization puts together an incredible annual opportunity to honor the men and women who have served our country by laying a wreath at their grave in Arlington National Cemetery. It’s pretty amazing to see the green wreaths and red bows across the white stones. It’s like the Christmas version of laying a flag at every grave for Memorial Day. It’s a simple, but beautiful way to honor our nation’s heroes.
Despite both having volunteered at this event twice in the past (and overlapping), this was the first year we were able to make it since we began dating. And we were blessed to have his father join us as the organization celebrated it’s 20th year and raised enough money to provide 100,000 wreaths for fallen heroes throughout the cemetery. It was a beautiful Saturday morning, and there was an estimated amazing 10,000 volunteers on hand to help! Unbeknownst to me, the day was about to become even more special than I could have imagined.
After laying about a dozen wreathes each, I kept one on hand as we made our way to Section 60 where I was hoping to lay a wreath on the grave of Alex,a Soldier and friend I met at Walter Reed. When we arrived, I was a bit saddened that his grave had been covered by someone else, but it was still nice to visit. As I was telling Scott’s dad the story of how I knew him, this woman approached his grave and straightened up the wreath. I asked her if she knew him…and much to my surprise, she told me she was his mother!
I was floored. I didn’t anticipate his family being there as he was from the Midwest, but they had flown out for the wreath laying. Since I had missed the funeral, I didn’t have the chance to meet them until that moment. I immediately reached out to hug her and told her how sorry I was for her loss. It’s hard to describe how I felt in that moment, but it was pretty emotionally charged for me. It was so special to share a few minutes with her and tell her how much I had enjoyed getting to know Alex at Walter Reed and what a wonderful guy I thought he had been.
It’s kind of a miracle the way things worked out this weekend. I have been meaning to get back to Arlington this year to visit Alex, and it just seems that once again fate intervened. It’s as if I wasn’t meant to go before that time so that I could be there when I was to meet his mother. It’s kind of like meeting my boyfriend when I did. Fate is definitely working my way it seems, and for that I’m so grateful. Just as I am grateful for the men and women who have served our country, including those who made the ultimate sacrifice.
The cemetery looks pretty incredible with all the wreaths! This is where we laid wreaths to honor our the men and women buried here.
It’s Movember!
If things seem a little hairy these days, you’re not going crazy. It’s Movember (formerly the month known as November)! That’s right – men around the world are forgoing shaving again this month and attempting their best Tom Selleck impressions. So no matter how creepy or clownish a ‘stache looks on someone you know and/or love, keep in mind they’re probably growing it out to raise money and awareness for cancers that affect men like prostate cancer. The event started in 1999 and continues to grow each year.
While I’ve done my share of volunteering/donating to support breast cancer awareness, which is important to me as a woman, I never really thought twice about supporting causes specifically for men. However, I thought it was pretty cool that my friend Adam was participating in such a worthy cause for his gender. In my world where I believe in doing small things with great love, he is truly helping change the face of men’s health in a simple (and entertaining) way.
If you don’t know a Mo Bro, follow Adam’s progress as he posts weekly ‘stache updates on Mo Space. Actually, check out the whole team of teachers at Falls Church High School participating and please consider donating to their cause! They definitely deserve some support this month for sporting those silly ‘staches. They might not be as cute as a little pink ribbon, but it’s equally important to get the word out on men’s health.
Just out of curiosity – who tops your list of best mustaches of all time? Mike Ditka? Burt Reynolds? Walter Cronkite? So many possibilities…
Winding down on volunteering with the USO
This year I was really looking forward to volunteering for the USO Casino Night (now referred to as the Stars and Stripes Casino Night) for multiple reasons. The biggest reason? After Walter Reed closed earlier this year, my opportunities to volunteer with my favorite organization (and more specifically, wounded warriors) were greatly decreased. This is due to location basically, it’s almost impossible for me to get to Fort Belvoir and Bethesda Medical Center after work in time to volunteer.
At first, I was pretty sad about this. Afterall, I’d been volunteering with the USO for at least the last five years. But the more I think about it, the more I realize this is the time for me to explore other volunteer opportunities and perhaps find a new organizations to commit to as passionately as I had with the USO.
However, I didn’t want to go out without a bang, and when an email circulated for volunteers at the Casino Night, I jumped right on the chance. This was after all the event that opened the doors to me volunteering hands on with our Wounded Warriors four years ago (I think its been that long!).
The event was held at the Sheraton Hotel in Arlington Oct 28, as it had been for as many years as I had been participating in it. This was the 8th annual casino night, and I was proud to be there again. This time I signed up for supporting the silent auction. In years past I’ve done this job as well as escorting VIPs and selling tickets as a chip girl. I like to change it up each year, helps add the fun of the event!
While monitoring the silent auction items and answering questions for attendees about the event, I couldn’t help but get a few bids on some of the goodies. Unfortunately, both the autographed Stephen Strasburg baseball and the brand-name pots and pans I had my name on went for more than I was budgeting for. Of course, I wasn’t too sad because the money raised went to supporting the troops 
Also, I helped promote writing notes to the troops. I was especially pleased when (ret) GEN Peter Pace (former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) came through and signed a note for them. I hope some lucky Soldier, Airmen, Marine or Sailor realized how cool that is when they read his message! I’ve been coined by a former Chairman before, but it’s always an honor to meet another one.
Anyway, the event was a great success. It raised a ton of money for this organization. Read more about the attendees and the sponsors on the USO Metro DC webpage, which also includes a photo gallery of the event. With any luck, I’ll at least be able to keep volunteering with this event, even if it is only annually.
