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Well Girls, we have heard from the troops over in Iraq again!!! The following is the email I recieved!!! It is in Italics.
Mrs Sereika,
I’m , First Sergeant for the 447 Air Expeditionary Group, currently stationed in Iraq. I received the awesome package of handmade greeting cards you sent and wanted to take a quick moment to let you know that your very thoughtful items will be distributed to the troops. I received the majority of the packages that are sent to troops, open them (for security reasons), and then either give the package as a whole or in part to the troops. You cards are fantastic and I’m sure by the end of the day, once the word gets out, the box will be empty!
I want you to know, from a First Sergeant’s perspective; it is an honor to serve the people of our great nation. I’m especially grateful to serve with spouses like you who remember there are many young men and women serving far from the land and families they love. Your contributions will put a smile on a face, make the time pass a little faster, and warm the hearts of those who receive it. Thanks again for taking the time and remembering those Americas who consider it a privilege to serve. I hope this letter finds your family blessed with health and happiness.
Very Respectfully,
First Sergeant
Edited for name and exact place for security reasons KLS
Oh, my heart feels all warm and happy and I have happy tears in my eyes!
And now I've got to get off my duff and send you this box of cards I've had ready for over a month!
Hey! Maybe I'll have my stampcamp ladies make an extra card Friday and write a note in it to send. Well, THAT'S why I haven't sent these yet!
Thanks, Keri, for doing this for us.
__________________ Emily B
"I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received. Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love." Ephesians 4: 1-2
O.kay - I'm dedicating a portion of my day to make cards for the troops. Keri - when do you expect the next box to ship? Guess Christmas cards aren't really going to make it, huh? So we can make New Year cards, Valentines? Of course the general ones, too.
Thanks for doing such an awesome job and thanks for the update!
__________________ "Nothin' could be finer than to be in Carolina in the mornin'!"
I'll be printing the letter out to share with a bunch of us who will be making cards on friday. We will be sending them to you. Keri do you need money for postage to send the package out?
__________________ "In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." Abraham Lincoln
Keri, That was a wonderful letter! Very touching. I just flew with a few of the wonderful Airforce Gentlemen/Women this past weekend on a couple of Space A flights and everyone was very kind. This was my first experience with them.
Oh my goodness, that gave me cold chills! What a perfect start to the day. It truly humbles me to know that these men and women are putting themselves on the line for us and they feel the need to thank us. It is also amazing that something we find so easy to do is met with such appreciation.
Thanks for doing this, Keri. Are you ready for more?
Keri ;
You are so awesome to be doing this. Do you mind if I post this project on another board? I'm sure I could get some more craters involved. Thanks for posting the letter. I am spending the day making some more for our troops - I'll pass the word along for MORE cards
Wow!! That is so great! Now I have to go and reapply the mascara and recompose myself!
Thanks to your idea Keri, the Officers Spouses Club recently decided to send cards to all of our troops that are serving abroad and their spouses. I designed them and with the help of 3 others we put them together all 120 of them! The base commanders wife thought it was an awesome idea and I hope it is something that they will continue to do as time goes on.
Thanks Keri for all you do to keep those cards moving!
__________________
Shelley
The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.
Hey All just me again, I will be amending the ORIGINAL post about this project as well but just wanted to chime in real quick....
When sending BLANK cards... EACH CARD & ENVELOPE must be in it's OWN BAGGIE and SEALED to protect the card...be sure the entire card front is VISIBLE so that the troops can see when they look through the cards what it is that they are choosing....
When sending WRITTEN CARDS TO THE TROOPS....leave the cards unsealed so that I can monitor what is being sent...believe it or not there are those who would spoil this type of thing by not following the guidelines
I do not send anything other than cards. I must admit I have been tempted to call the entire project to a halt because I am getting SO MANY cards that are not following the simple guidelines. It is not that the baggies are expensive, but MY TIME is of great demand being at home with two little ones, running my business and living my life. I am able to keep up with the sorting, counting, packaging, and shipping of the cards but when I have to take my precious quiet time while my boys are asleep to stuff them each into their own baggie, well lets just say this, IT SLOWS THE ENTIRE PROCESS DOWN... As happy as I am with the results of how many cards we are sending and knowing that we are touching the lives of the troops...I will not be able to continue the project if these few simple guidelines are met and followed.
As for Christmas cards... if they are not already in the mail to me, I will not be sending them unless they are written to the troops...those I will send throught he third week in December. So if you have lots of blank Christmas cards you were going to send, don't send them unless you were going to include a word of love and encouragement to the troops...They will not have time to first recieve the cards and then write in them and then send them back to their loved ones.
Thanks to each person who has made this awesome project such a HUGE SUCCESS!!! Hats off to you!
you are awesome Serieka, i have to get busy and send you some cards! you are soooo admired by the rest of us for the idea to do this! no problem with the baggies and i may include some cards for Christmas with a note to the troop member that gets it rather than a blank one like you said. i'm so glad this touches their hearts!
My Great Grandfathers name is Earl Southard, since reading this soldiers response I am contacting relatives as I type to find out if this soldier is connected to my family somehow, it just seemed to be too coincidental to have the same name.
How wonderful it is to hear from our guys over there and how much they appreciate what Keri is doing.
Thanks Keri!! You are 1 in a million girl!
Keri
I'm new to this group. Well done on your part!! What a great thing you are doing. I have a Marine I send to. I have never heard back. I keep sending. It would be wonderful to hear from him.
As a ex- Navy wife it does make a difference(the cards) you are a shinning example of an American!! I'm proud to be an American and I can tell you are too.
I was going to send all my old cards to my mother Nursing Home as there is a need there too, but I have decided to send half of them to you.
I package will soon be on it's way to you.
Thanks for all you do.
Cindy Washington State
My Great grandparents are from Nebraska, I still have a lot of family there and in South Dakota, I have a cousin in Rapid City checking into this I will post what I find out.
I think I read somewhere that because of the tremendous volume of mail for the holidays, all Christmas stuff had to be postmarked by somewhere around the end of October.
Keri, I SO wish I had more time to stamp so I could also participate in this wonderful endeavor of yours -- if I were just a little bit closer to Charleston I'd even come by on a weekend to help you sort and package them! Keep up the great work!
__________________ Rachel Proud SU! demo and Sci-Fi Geek!
My Stampin' Up! blog "I'm a time traveler -- I point and laugh at archaeologists." 10th Doctor, "Silence in the Library"
from a fellow scraphead Army wife...THANK YOU everybody!! the support and the way those cards help those soldiers over there, is amazing!! Again, thank you and keep up the great work!!
Thank you Keri, for the time and efforts you have put into this project. I'm sure we all feel warmed by the 1st Sargeant's response, but without your efforts, none of this would be possible. I thought I had completed my Christmas cards, but knowing they are so appreciated encourages me to continue. How large is the group our cards are going to? Let's see if every man and woman in that group gets at least one card with words of thanks and encouragement for Christmas.
Hi, I read all the time that you send cards and I would like to do this, but I don't know where to send them. Could you please let me know? Thanks, Audrey
Keri-
I stuck a big envelope in the mail on Monday - hope you get it soon. It went first class, but still has to go all the way from Oregon to you. I did include a few blank Christmas cards (hoping it wouldn't be too late) so if it is, there are also lots of general cards, too.
I made sure all the cards are in their own little plastic pouches!
You are doing a wonderful thing, and it's especially great hearing back from the soldiers. How gratifying.
Hey Lynne,
I was coming in here to post to you that your package arrived!!! Wonderful cards! Thanks so mcuh!
I also have a list of thankyous to add, Parsnip, Crazy4stampin, Pat, Kimberly, and Debby!!!! You all are GREAT! I dropped off the batch to the Air Base today and the Sgt there told me they are going over on the 20th to Iraq!!! So that was great to hear...and I told him there were a few more packages that I knew of that were coming so I will bring those by on Friday or so...Lynne yours is one of those! Thanks again to you all!
Hi Keri -
As the wife of a soldier who just returned from Iraq in August, i must say many, many thanks!!!! That really will help the soldiers morale! I'm working on some - I am brand spankin' new at this, so am going very slow, but will try to get some out. Also, the Sr. high group at my church is wanting to get involved with something like this, so I'll bring it to their attention.
Hi Keri -
As the wife of a soldier who just returned from Iraq in August, i must say many, many thanks!!!! That really will help the soldiers morale! I'm working on some - I am brand spankin' new at this, so am going very slow, but will try to get some out. Also, the Sr. high group at my church is wanting to get involved with something like this, so I'll bring it to their attention.
hi Keri
I am afraid I need to apologize! I mailed off a box of cards to
you last Sat - they were in baggies, but I had the envelope flaps over the fronts of the cards. I am sorry I didn't realize they needed to be fully visible. This next batch I am bagging up will be done PropeRly !
:oops: :oops: :oops:
Thanks again for all your time devoted to this project
TROOPS CARDS NEWS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
