Wednesday, June 9, 2010

AnySoldier.com

Just a few days ago, I saw a facebook status from one of the Tesdall cousins that read: "....Hope to connect with a soldier whose anysoldier.com package was returned to me (from Afghanistan). Injured, he was sent to Bethesda and is now rehab'ing at VA hospital in Richmond."  They are literally driving from Jacksonville, FL (with 2 young children) to Richmond, VA to give their soldier the care package that was returned to them in the mail.  Jeff & I just thought that was awesome, and we were inspired to adopt our own soldier.

I was unfamiliar with http://www.anysoldier.com/ and after a bit of research into the program, we discovered that their mission is to distribute care packages all over the world to any soldier in any branch of the military who does not typically recieve a lot of mail from family or friends.  It's not so much about "stuff", but more about "support".  But, of course the "stuff" is helpful & appreciated!  Within minutes of signing up, we were searching through the list of names (over 1500) of soldiers requesting care packages for their units, or for members of their units who hardly ever get mail.  Some even requested items for local Afghani or Iraqi children who didn't have toys, shoes, blankets, etc.  After reading through several of these, I ended up with an address to a group of MP's stationed in Iraq.  (The kids really liked the idea of supporting police officers.)  So basically, our care package will be given to someone in this MP unit who doesn't get a lot of mail from home; this soldier will become our "adopted" soldier.

Alison was instantly inspired to write a letter to our soldier, to be included in our care package.  She is very excited about sending it out with a few of the items we've selected from the list of needs (which we will be buying this weekend).  I'm going to include a self-addressed stamped envelope, paper & a pen, and hopefully we will get a return letter from our "adopted" soldier.  I'll keep you updated....

Here is Alison's letter:

It reads:
"Dear Soldier,

Thank you for all you've done for our wonderful country!  Me and my brother Aidan love playing war but we know that fighting in the real war is really, really dangerous.  I hope you or any of your friends never get harmed.

Let me tell you a little bit about myself.  I'm 10 years old going into 5th grade.  I also have a black belt in taekwondo and my favorite sport is basketball.

Maybe if you have time you can write me back and tell me a little bit about yourself.  I hope you stay safe and thanks again for protecting our country.

Sincerely,
Alison T."


2 comments:

April Westerhold said...

How sweet is that letter? That is really awesome. Maybe we will loo into it, too. I've never heard of this program, either.

Debbi Hendrix said...

Such a great idea. This is a good thing for all involved, the soldier of course, but it is great for the kids too.