Merry Christmas!

Wishing each and everyone of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I look forward to working with you next year in saying thanks to our Veterans!
Susan

Durham VA Team Leader

Due to illness we are in need of a Team Leader for the Durham VA. Please email me asap if interested - vactlnc@gmail.com Thanks!

PGR Christmas and Army Family Adoption

The Patriot Guard Riders (PGR) is having their 2nd annual Christmas party on Dec 8th in Spring Lake (close to Ft Bragg). We are adopting an Army family with 10 children with ages ranging from 1-16. We are also in hopes of having a few local wounded heroes join us for dinner.

We are extending a welcome to any Soldiers' Angel who would like to join us for some fun and helping a few heroes at the same time. If you are interested in attending or donating presents or money for our family, please email me at vactlnc@gmail.com Thanks, Susan

Help Needed for Asheville VA

The Asheville VA is honoring 150 veterans on Saturday, December 1st. They are giving each honoree a single red rose. Thanks to Kevin's hard work, our Team Leader, the cost of the roses has been taken care of. They will be providing meat, cheese and cracker trays also. If you would like to donate to help make this a great event for our veterans, please send Kevin an email at keving3858@yahoo.com asap. If your company would like to sponsor a food tray, it will be advertised during the event. Help us let the veterans know they have NOT been forgotten!

A Poem by Fonda Brewington

As angels hover above waiting for you to awake,

Watching and guiding every step you make.

Shielding you with their radiant wings never allowing anyone to take,

Surrounding you with Gods love to help you come home to all the love ones who wait.

Quilters Wanted!

We have an Angel, Rabbit, who is located in the Hope Mills area. She is currently making quilts for Walter Reed and our local heroes. She was able to get some scrap material donated and is looking for some quilting friends.

If you are a quilter or would like to learn and want to help keep our heroes warm, please send Rabbit an email at thomasrabbit5@gmail.com.

2007 Fundraising Competition

http://soldiersangels.org/index.php?page=fundraiser

Operation Christmas Tree

Operation Christmas Tree wants our troops to have a little bit of home during the holidays so they are planning to send 5,000 2 foot tall Christmas trees with lights and decorations to service members in Iraq and Afghanistan. The cost of a tree including lights, decorations, and shipping is $20. Please go to their website and make a donation. You can donate $20 to provide one tree or you can donate any amount that you choose. All donations, regardless of amount, are greatly appreciated. This will help make the holiday season brighter for those who are away from home serving our country.

http://www.operationchristmastree.com/

Wanted: 10,000 Cotton Panties

We're trying to raise 10,000 pair of new cotton panties for our service women. All sizes, colors, & styles, but no leopard print or thongs, please. They don't have to be from Victoria Secret's, go to Wal-Mart, K-Mart, the Dollar Stores....please help!

PLEASE, if you can help let me know. (Disneymagicmama@aol.com)

You can send them directly to:
Soldiers' Angels (Panty Drive)
914 Tourmaline Drive
Newbury Park, CA 91320.

Please EMAIL me with the number of panties you plan to send. Yes, this is an URGENT need! Come on Angels......panty alert!!

What is a Veteran?

I know Veteran's Day has passed but honoring them is a daily event. Below is an email I received that I think everyone, everywhere should read:

Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye.

Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity.

Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem.

You can't tell a vet just by looking.

He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.

He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.

She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.

He is the POW who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come back AT ALL.

He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never seen combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.

He is the parade - riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.

He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.

He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.

He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravating slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.

He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.

He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest, greatest nation ever known.

So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say Thank You. That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.

Two little words that mean a lot, "THANK YOU".

"It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press. It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech. It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate. It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag, and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protestor to burn the flag."

Father Denis Edward O'Brien/USMC

VA Team Angels

Responsibilities: Support your VA Contact Angel whenever possible by helping with donation drives, fundraising drives and ideas of how to meet the needs of the VA in your area.

Assist with functions at the VA as you can, such as bingo, ice cream socials, BBQ’s that Soldiers’ Angels are sponsoring. Your support will be needed to make these events possible.

Please email me at vactlnc@gmail.com if you are interested in being a Team Angel and which facility. Thanks, Susan

Hug A Hero!

We are trying to collect 20,000 blankets for the VAs across the country. These blankets can be crocheted, knitted, loomed, quilted or the fleece tie blankets. The measurements are: 36 x 45 for afghans/lap blankets. And 45 x 60 for larger. The blankets should be individually wrapped in Christmas paper and a note should be attached stating who created the blanket and that they are a member of Soldiers' Angels.

Once you are finished with the blanket you should email Terri Hansen at: shansenfamily @ embarqmail.com.In the email please include the size of the item and the quantities, if it is gender specific. Once Terri receives your email she will send you an address of a VA facility. Or to confirm the mailing address of the VAMC of your choice. Mail out day will be Dec. 1st.

Vote in the Above & Beyond Awards

Microsoft Corporation, in partnership with the United Service Organizations (USO), is recognizing the contributions of the military community - the friends, family, and other individuals who help brighten the lives of U.S. troops throughout the world - with the creation of the first annual Above and Beyond Awards.

Soldiers' Angels founder Patti Patton-Bader has been nominated in the "Effort Award" category. This award recognizes an individual who:

• Offers outstanding support and comfort to our troops.
• Helps enhance morale and personal welfare of our troops.
• Through their mentorship, inspires other groups/individuals to create new and unique ways to show their support of the troops.
• Has impacted the lives of many through their leadership and guidance.

Patti has been doing all of the above, and doing it very well, for a number of years now. Please VOTE HERE!

Other categories include: Medical Attention Award, USO Promotion and Success Award, Everyday Difference Award, and Youth Leadership Award

Military Appreciation Monday

Military Appreciation Monday - November 12, 2007
For the past 6 years, Golden Corral has been honoring the US Military with a free “thank you” dinner and beverage at any Golden Corral restaurant on Military Appreciation Monday (first Monday after Veteran’s Day). This year, Golden Corral has designated Monday, November 12, 2007, from 5 to 9 pm, to honor any person who has ever served in the United States Military.

Seeking VA Community Team Leaders!

We have four VA Hospitals in North Carolina. We are still in need of Community Team Leaders for three facilities: Ashville, Durham, and Fayetteville.

Below is a list of some of the responsibilities of a Community Team Leader (CTL), if you are interested in learning more about the position please e-mail me at vactlnc@gmail.com!

• Greet facility contact, obtain a wish list, offer assistance and provide the facility with your contact information as well as your State Leaders contact information.
• Make your contact information available for people who want to help.
• Maintain data base of Angels who are working at the facility; names, addresses, phone and email addresses.
• Forward information to area Angels helping at the facility, including Soldiers’ Angels Newsletters, PR Alerts, special projects information, Team notices, and state/area activities.
• Provide Angels with information and support on organizing VA presentations and activities.
• Abide by each facilities application and approval process to volunteer at the facility.
• Prepare monthly reports summarizing efforts for each facility, activities held, visits to the facility and their results.
• Visit the facility at least once a month or at minimum make 1 telephone contact to check for new wish list items, or see if there are any urgent needs. (personal visit is preferred)