I just wanted to take a moment and draw readers’ attention to a wonderful organization called; Soldiers’ Angels. A wonderful group of people across the country have worked together to create a vast network of programs that citizens can participate in to support our troops, and their mission in Iraq and elsewhere.

Soldiers’ Angels
Let no soldier go unloved
May no soldier walk alone.
May no soldier be forgotten.
Until they all come home.

Their motto is; “May No Soldier Go Unloved” and this group of people helps make sure that doesn’t happen. Their programs bring love an warmth into the lives of many around the globe… Please spend a moment looking over the list below at some of the programs and efforts that are underway, and that you can take part in! Or, click on the banner below the list, or on the side of this page to visit the Soldiers’ Angels website to find out how to become a member, or make a donation!

Teams & Programs at Soldiers’ Angels:

Angel Bakers
“The Angel Bakers are a group of highly dedicated Soldiers’ Angels who bake homemade treats for our deployed military heroes. Each month the Angel Bakers send specially-made cookies, brownies, and other treats to units identified by Soldiers’ Angels as needing extra Angel love. They may have been through an especially difficult experience during their deployment, living in especially trying conditions, or in need of a morale boost for a job well done. Our aim is to show our heroes how much people back home appreciate and care about them.”

 

Blankets of Hope
“Angels are needed to sew blankets for the wounded, blankets that have brought hope to many of our wounded heroes. Please help by joining our sewing circle or donating today!” Soldiers’ Angels has a number of ways that you can help provide blankets to our wounded heroes. Whether you would like to purchase a “Blanket of Hope” Kit, make a “no-sew” blanket, join a sewing circle, or make a donation, this is a worthwhile project bringing love to those who have sacrificed a lot for our Freedom.

Above: Blankets of Hope from the people at Soldiers’ Angels“When his parents arrived, the first thing he showed them was his Purple Heart. The second was his Blanket of Hope from Soldiers Angels !!!! I cannot tell you the emotional thank you we received from this young soldier’s mother!! Truly grateful for the Angels, I am!!! Way to go!!” Michel

Cards Plus Team
The Cards Plus Team is dedicated to helping soldiers, soldiers’ families and even angels receive support through cards. Cards can be requested for deployed soldiers for events such as:

• Birthdays
  
• Encouragement
  
• Thinking of you Get well
  
• Anniversary
  
• New baby
  
• Welcome home

Chaplain Support Team
The goal of the Chaplains Support Team is to provide direct support to the Chaplains, as they provide their assistance and comfort to the soldiers. The Chaplains perform most of their duties in a non-denominational capacity. We supply Chaplains with requested items related to their mission. We also provide them with requested numbers of hand-out letters and gifts that can be easily distributed to the many soldiers that Soldiers’ Angels may otherwise not be able to locate and support.

First Response Backpacks
In an effort to provide comfort to these wounded heros, the First Response Backpack was developed by a nonprofit organization named Soldiers’ Angels. The First Response Backpack is a backpack stuffed with personal items which are necessary and vital to the physical comfort of the soldiers. A typical First Response Backpack contains a toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, shampoo, soap and other hygiene products. It also contains articles of clothing and undergarments to provide the soldier some relief from the airy hospital gowns. A phone card is included so that the soldiers can call their family members while they recover. Each pack also contains a blanket. The blanket, dubbed a “Blanket of Hope” is handmade by Soldiers’ Angels volunteers and is accompanied by a note of well wishes for each soldier.

On May 10, 2006 Soldiers Angels shipped the 5,000th First Response Backpack The packs have been shipped to Combat Support Hospitals in Iraq and to all of the United States Military hospitals worldwide. The work of Soldiers’ Angels has been recognized by the Department of Defense and Patti Patton-Bader, the group’s founder and the niece of General George S. Patton, has been awarded the Civilian Award for Humanitarian Service by the Department of the Army.

Guardian Angels for Soldier’s Pet
Supporting our military service members, veterans, and their beloved
to ensure pets are reunited with their owners following deployment or emergency hardship.
What They Do:
Recruiting potential foster home caregivers (all states) interested in opening their homes to care for a beloved pet(s) of a military service member deploying in harm’s way and to help our military service members, military families, and veterans in emergency hardship situations. And, to work with military service members and veterans on a case-by-case basis with an emergency hardship.

Holidays for Heroes
“In homes across America, there will be an empty chair this holiday season. The man or woman usually sitting in that chair is in the military, serving overseas. There is no family Christmas or Chanukah for those brave soldiers. The Soldiers’ Angels family wants every deployed hero to know they are remembered and appreciated during the holidays. Please help Soldiers’ Angels deliver a gift and personal holiday message into the hands of all the deployed men or women this December. We are committed to providing Holiday Gift Bags for every soldier, Marine, airman and sailor deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as those working or recuperating in a Combat Support Hospital. That’s around 140,000 gifts to purchase, assemble, and ship around the world. This is a big challenge but with your support and our wonderful group of hard-working volunteers, it’s possible. Each Christmas gift bag contains either a Soldiers’ Angels stainless steel mug or a Christmas stocking, with white socks, a 150 minute International Pre-Paid phone card, hot cocoa mix, hot cider mix, power bar, Christmas candy, and a hand-written Christmas card. The cost is $10 per mug or stocking, or $25 with goodies and overseas shipping included. For our Jewish soldiers, we will also be sending Chanukah gifts, kosher goodies and hand-written Chanukah cards.“

Living Legends
“Living Legends began in May 2005 with a very small team of seven dedicated angels. The team’s mission was to let the families and friends of fallen heroes know that we were here to support them and to honor their loved one. At the same time, we had to make sure that we were sensitive to what the family was going through. While this team has grown tremendously, we have worked very hard to maintain that same level of dedication and sensitivity. This team is staffed with trained volunteers who carry out a very difficult mission for Soldiers’ Angels. Due to their dedication, Soldiers’ Angels is able to honor those heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation and to pay our respects and offer our deepest sympathies to the families and loved ones grieving the painful loss of their son or daughter; husband or wife; brother or sister; mom or dad; aunt or uncle; their friend. Members of this special team send sympathy cards to convey our compassion and our heavy hearts to the families who have lost their loved one. We reach out and wrap our “Angel Wings” around the families who have lost so much. We offer each family a wreath or live memorial tree to be planted as a symbol of our deepest sympathies and respect for their loss. Our hope is that this tree will grow and flourish, giving the family and friends a living monument to the bravery and heroism of their loved one. The Living Legends team does a remarkable job representing every member of Soldiers’ Angels as they contact the families on our behalf.”

Operation Outreach
“ The purpose of Operation Outreach is to offer support to military families at home. We have had many requests from our Heroes asking for items not for themselves, but for their families at home. Deployment isn’t just hard on a Hero, it’s extraordinarily difficult for their family as well. Families worry, and struggle, and sacrifice, and Operation Outreach seeks to say “Thank You” to these unsung hometown Heroes. We are working to let our Heroes know that while they protect us over there, we will help look out for their families here at home.”

Operation Phone Home
Help soldiers and their loved ones stay in touch!

I work in the chapel here in Kuwait where many thousands of Soldiers come and go to catch flights either to go up north to Iraq or to go home back to the States. My request is for phone cards to give to these Soldiers, many of whom come in the Chapel asking for them. It would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

–U.S. Army Chaplain

Operation Top Knot
Do you enjoy making or shopping for baby gifts? Do you want to show your support for our troops and their families? If so, join us by participating in our virtual baby showers for the babies born to our deployed military personnel. Operation Top Knot is a group of Soldiers’ Angels volunteers established in November 2003 from a desire to do more to support the wives and children of U.S. soldiers. Deployments are difficult on the entire family unit, and more so when the family is expecting a child. Our mission is to commend the women and children at home for their strength, let them know we are proud of their sacrifices as well as their husband’s, and most importantly to do what we can to support them during such an emotionally difficult time. Our dedicated volunteers knit, crochet, sew, quilt, and design blankets, booties, hats, onesies, bibs, and many more homemade gifts.

Scarves
The Sand/Cooling Scarves team is a group of Angels who make Sand and Cooling scarves for our troops out in the sand box. The Sand Scarves are made of 100% knit cotton for comfort and is used to protect our brave soldiers from the elements of the deserts of the Middle East. Designed to keep sand from the nostrils and mouths and when tucked into the shirt, prevent the sand from getting inside the clothing.

SOS:Kids
We have had many requests from our soldiers asking for items to help them in their humanitarian missions to local towns and villages. Many of these soldiers are parents or have brothers and sisters, and their hearts go out to these children who have so much less than many other children. (Say Our Soldiers: Kids In-theater Deserve Support) The purpose of Operation SOS: KIDS is to send humanitarian relief through shipments to American soldiers for distribution to children in Iraq and Afghanistan, and other areas where our Heroes are deployed.

Valour-IT
Project Valour-IT, in memory of SFC William V. Ziegenfuss, helps provide voice-controlled and adaptive laptop computers to wounded Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines recovering from hand wounds and other severe injuries at major military medical centers. Operating laptops by speaking into a microphone or using other adaptive technologies, our wounded heroes are able to send and receive messages from friends and loved ones, surf the ‘Net, and communicate with buddies still in the field. The experience of MAJ Charles “Chuck” Ziegenfuss, a partner in the project who suffered serious hand wounds while serving in Iraq, illustrates how important these laptops can be to a wounded service member’s recovery.

Veterans Support
The Soldiers Angels Veteran Affairs Support Team assists patients at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs medical centers, nursing homes and Stand Downs. This support can range from visiting patients to providing comfort items and clothing, to sponsoring special events like BBQs or assisting VA facilities with large-scale efforts to improve in-patients’ quality of life.
The VA Team was formed in 2007, in the aftermath of news stories about Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. Reports had highlighted the poor living conditions some of the patients faced at the hospital, and Soldiers’ Angels Founder Patti Bader immediately looked for how Soldiers’ Angels could do to help. In response, the VA Team was formed. We are now a nationally-recognized VSO (Veterans Service Organization), which means we are included in VA facility meetings that help us stay informed on the needs of facilities and patients.

Wounded TLC
The Wounded TLC Team is made up of registered Soldiers Angels who want to make a difference and lend support during the difficult time when a hero is ill or wounded. Team members are asked to send cards/letters of support to these members of our military who after sometimes suffering catastrophic injuries need to know they are not forgotten. To learn more about the WTLC Team click here.