From the Soldiers' Angels website:

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Elementary school principal and author Megan Egerton-Graham is donating 5% of her individual book sales to Soldiers’ Angels!

Egerton-Graham is fast becoming widely-known among military families in both Canada and the United States as a great resource for tips, insight and information that helps children and parents cope. Her "While You Were Away" series of books and journals are designed to support families experiencing periods of prolonged absence or deployment, moving, re-integration or just life as a military family

All of the proceeds from Egerton-Graham's books are donated to military support organizations such as Family Readiness Groups. She approached Soldiers’ Angels after she was tapped as a keynote speaker at this summer's Blue Star Mothers (BSM) conference and the president of BSM suggested she reach out to support Soldiers’ Angels and assist military families that way as well.

Besides school principal, Egerton-Graham has been a teacher and guidance counsellor for 15 years, teaching every grade from Kindergarten to 12. In addition, she brings to the table her experience teaching on military base schools and life as a Canadian military wife and mother of two.

For more information, see the While You Were Away webpage or purchase her books on Amazon.

Soldiers' Angels recently received this note from a Staff Sergeant on a PRT (Provincial Reconstruction Team) in Afghanistan.

Dear Soldiers' Angels,

Thank you all very much for the package, especially the movies and MOOSE MUNCH (which was gone in less than a minute).

There are some times we get sad over here and think that people in the States don't really care about us, so when we get something like this it really boosts our morale. So this package, it really means a lot. On behalf of PRT Panjshir, we'd like to say thank you and God bless.

Attached is a picture of us for the greatest organization ever--Soldiers' Angels. You guys are the BEST! Thank you.

--SSgt R., US Air Force

PRTs are military teams that work with local government officials, U.S. government civilians and local military/police personnel to assist people in rebuilding or improving their neighborhoods. They spend a great deal of time away from the main bases and out in the countryside among the locals. This PRT, which is very isolated, received a large package from Soldiers' Angels while waiting to be adopted by individual Angel volunteers.

As of this writing, there are 1106 Heroes waiting to be adopted. You can help.

Drum Hike

Mission Complete!

UPDATE 1/28/2011 -- It is with sincere concern for the health and continued well being of Troy Yokum, that Soldiers’ Angels must withdraw its current sponsorship and support of Hike for our Heroes.

While on his journey Troy has suffered from kidney stones as well as injuries to his feet which have demonstrated potential medical danger and that without a full medical clearance from a Medical Professional its in his best interests to not continue his mission at this time.

Soldiers’ Angels will continue the previous and ongoing mission of supporting our nation's returning heroes and veterans that Troy Yokum’s efforts contributed to in support of veterans and their families.

We at Soldiers’ Angels applaud his efforts to date, as it is truly a remarkable feat, and pledge that we will assist him as he transitions into the next phase or chapter of his life with his wife.

Any donations received by SA in support of this project will be applied directly to veterans support activities.

Over on the Family Matters blog at Defense.gov, guest blogger Megan Just shares her care package experiences - both from the sending and receiving sides:

One of my most vivid memories of my deployment to Iraq is the adrenaline rush of receiving care packages. The arrival of a care package could instantly turn a bad day into a euphoric one. Receiving care packages was so important to me that I often wrote about them in my diary.

At the beginning of the deployment I wrote, "I received Eric's (my boyfriend) package today and I've been waiting all night to open it. I've been so looking forward to it that I don't want the anticipation to be over."

The next day, after opening his package, I wrote, "Eric's box was great. He sent my favorite fig sugarless cookies (which I am finishing as I write), a bunch of Cliff Bars and a variety of dried fruit. He also sent two issues of ‘National Geographic’ and ‘Climbing.’"

In that care package, Eric had also enclosed a small book he made that contained his favorite quotes, photos of us together and a long letter. My reaction to the book tugged at my heartstrings enough to nauseate you, so I'll pass on sharing that section of my diary here, but I can assure you, the book meant a lot more than the fig cookies and it is still a treasured item today.

Toward the end of deployment, even as the recipient of an estimated 50 care packages, I was still raving about them. "I love getting care packages," I wrote. "It is hands-on proof that somebody loves me. Opening them is like being a kid on Christmas morning. Each package contains a surprise and what is inside is additionally valuable because the contents are things that I can't procure myself."

While all care packages are great to receive, I did notice a difference in the emotional impact of a run-of-the-mill care package versus one where the sender put a lot of thought into selecting the contents and packaging them in a creative manner.

A run-of-the-mill care package contains generic items and things servicemembers can easily buy themselves at the Exchange on base or order online. A run-of-the-mill care package is one that might as well have been packed by one of the many web-based care package companies. See, the preparation of an exceptional care package cannot be outsourced. The preparation and thought that goes into a care package is half of its value and the servicemember can perceive this extra effort.

Read the whole thing. Some of her suggestions are better for when you know the recipient personally, but she also shares ideas you can use if you have adopted a service member who may not be able to share with you the things they would be interested in getting. It's always a good idea to be on the look-out for care package suggestions!

In case you missed it, Soldiers' Angels was featured on Hannity on Tuesday, December 28th:



A little background here.

New Angel Project: It's Me!

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Soldiers' Angels proudly announces Operation It's Me!

With the support of Soldiers' Angels, Artist Susie Allen of Colorado is now providing beautiful pencil or charcoal drawings of deployed service members as gifts of love and appreciation for their parents.

Spurred to action when she realized that instead of just sympathizing with the burdens of military families, she could do something to hopefully lift the spirits of parents worried about their deployed child, Susie conceived Operation It's Me. “If I were waiting for the phone to ring and I ran to pick it up,” Susie explains. “I would want to hear, ‘Hi, Momma/Honey, it's me!’ When the package with the deployed hero's portrait comes to the recipient and they open it, that portrait should say, ‘Hi, it's ME!’”

Operation It's Me is truly a gift of the heart from Susie. “When I first began thinking this through,” she says, “I pulled a daily affirmation card out of a pack of 50 and it said, ‘Use your gifts to serve others.’” Thus, Susie's pencil and charcoal portraits of a deployed service member are available to the parents of that service member at no cost.

For more information about Operation It's Me and how to request a portrait of a deployed son or daughter, see the Operation It's Me project page.

AMVETS Life Membership Increase

AMVETS Life membership is $180.00 thru Dec 31, 2010. Effective January 1st, 2011 ~ $200.00 and effective January 1st, 2012 $250.00


Latest Newsletter: Amets of Illinois


Amvets Newsletter link above. AmVets is the only service org that is open to all veterans. They have provided for the homeless thru the shelter in Chicago and provided fire retardant shirts to the troops and calling cards. They help get veterans thru the VA red tape.