Cedar Park Christian School Brings the Spirit of Christmas to our Military Families here at home
Stocking Blessing
Nov. 10, 2011
WOW! What an amazing morning we experienced today at Cedar Park Chapel. My heart was filled with joy as I watched the elementary school children fill the church with white mailing boxes proudly held in their arms, containing the personally packed Christmas stocking for our military families. Sergeant Joshua B. Chiasson of the US Army proudly represented our Armed Forces at this morning’s blessing. Pastor Joe Fuiten was at the helm to welcome and interview Sgt. Chaisson. The children learned how to properly salute a soldier and when it is appropriate to do so. The school children were led grade by grade to the front of the church where Sgt. Chiasson stood, setting their boxes around him and saluting. All this while the Cedar Park Chapel music team sang “America The Beautiful.” We are truly blessed and it is with warm hearts, Ruth Ann Young and all of us at Operation Iraq-Afghanistan thank the Cedar Park Community! Ruth Ann Young and Sherra Grasser were there to thank everyone throughout Cedar Park who has lended helping hand and prayer in making this 9th year so successful! Great Job Kids!!!
Cedar Park Christian School Kick Off for Operation Iraq 2011
Oct. 20, 2011
Thursday morning (Oct.20) at Cedar Park Christian School, our own Archie Wabschall, spoke to the children at their chapel service. Archie shared his medals from serving in the Army, the history of his family being in the military and medals received from prior generations. The first had knowledge was so appreciated and certainly gave 500+ children a first hand look of what military family life was like from one of them. One of many….
Each Cedar Park student this year is packing a Christmas stocking with what “they would like to receive this Christmas” for a military child.
A great way to bring “The Spirit of Christmas” to a child that has a mom or dad serving our country on the front lines of Afghanistan this year.
Something to think about…. Together we can show the families how much we appreciate their sacrifices both there and at home.
THANK YOU CEDAR PARK CHRISTIAN SCHOOL!
INSPIRATION OPERATION IRAQ-AFGHANISTAN 2011
BY JAN MINAR, VOLUNTEER
Tuesday morning Ruthann and I were talking about getting some fabric for the Christmas stockings we are making and filling for the children of the troops this year and I just felt that I needed to call and start finding some fabric as soon as we got off the phone. I told Ruthann I would check around for the amount of fabric and the best price and get back to her—-I called a fabric outlet in Seattle and the manager said they had 60 yards of red felt but the price point was higher than we had wanted to pay so she said if we took 40 yards of that fabric that she could lower the price 50%. This sounded like it would work so I thought I would check with Ruthann to see if we shouldn’t get all 60 yards. Ruthann agreed, so I called the manager back and she said someone had just purchased the 40 yards, so I said we would take the other 20 yards and then get 40 yards of another color. The manager then told me that the person that had purchased the 40 yards had purchased it for us! A customer had overheard our conversation and said she wanted to purchase the fabric for Operation Irag and wanted to remain anonymous…I was able to talk to her as she was still in the store and personally thank her for her generosity.
This was all orchestrated by a hand bigger than any of ours don’t you think?
2011 Blog – Keeping You “In The Loop!”
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Greetings to all of our supporters of Operation Iraq-Afghanistan.
I hope this finds everyone doing well and looking forward to another season of stepping up to the plate for our troops.
The feedback we have received from our authorities in Washington DC is as follows:
There was a real surplus of packages that were received on the frontlines last year.
The good news is there appears to be some hope and this war is headed in the right direction.
With the president down sizing our presence in Afghanistan I have decided as Founder & Director of Operation Iraq- Afghanistan this year will be a year of transition.
What does that mean for all of us? It is very clear at this time the families of our Troops need our attention here in the U.S. more than ever, and should be the recipient of our support and efforts this Christmas. We will focus on the families with an emphasis being on the children here on our home-front.
Ask your children what their Christmas wishes are this year? What are some of the items they hope to find in their Christmas stockings? We would love your ideas and feedback. Right now, our immediate needs are CHRISTMAS STOCKINGS! We have several pallets of toys coming from our wonderful supplier” Mega Brands”! Their generous donation will no doubt bring some real joy this Christmas morning to the faces of these military families! Yes, Brown and Haley (the best chocolate bars in the region) are on board again too and have just committed for at least 10,000 thousand of their famous mountain bars too. With these companies joining the ranks early here at home we are off and running but we all know we need much more.
Are you the crafty kind? Own a sewing machine? Do you know a group that is looking for a holiday service project? Do you know the crafty kind? We must fill lots of Christmas Stockings for the military families that have loved ones serving on the front lines of Afghanistan this year.
TOGETHER, this 2011, we will bring “The Spirit of Christmas to the families of our real American Heroes on the frontlines”.
Stay tuned for continued updates, information, needs and thanksgiving.
Sunday, November 14, 2010
On Tuesday of this week we had a wonderful man from Christmas Decor by Whitworth Pest Solutions come all the way from Puyallup. After talking by phone, he had offered to come and take a look at our warehouse site. I had explained that we needed some lighted garlands and decor throughout our packing site for our video being done for our troops. Our “Patriotic tree” that my friend Mary Tont had lighted and we together had decorated the Saturday before needed some other elements added to the areas surrounding it.
This year it was important for those who came to pack to understand fully understand Christmas in a patriotic way. After all, our troops were giving us the most generous gift of all.,. “They were keeping us safe here at home, and sacrificing so much in doing so”. Our packages and video being dedicated to them we hoped would bring some momentary joy in Afghanistan this Christmas 2010. And Eric of Christmas Decor did understand what what was needed. Eric’s crew came on Thursday morning this week at 9:00 am and did the front room windows in red, white and blue! Then hung some lighted garlands on the stairwells in parts of the warehouse too. They spent a day there decorating for the troops, and did it as a generous donation for our trrops to see! Thanks guys, we really appreciate all the efforts!
Our troops will feel “The Spirit of Christmas” in our video that will be watched on the front lines this year, and Christmas Decor was a big part of making that happen!
Blessings, Eric and the gang at Christmas Decor by Whitworth Pest Solutions.
We will be updating the blog on a regular basis with any updates and/or current news. If you have a comment or suggestion that you would like to post to the blog, please send it to sherra@operationiraq.org. Thanks!