2010
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.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
In lieu of Veteran’s Day, we would like to take a moment to thank all the men and women who have served, or are currently serving, our country in the Armed Forces. We greatly appreciate all you do for us and you will be in our thoughts and prayers this holiday season!
Today we received the afghans for our wounded soldiers from the United Pilot Wives. We are hoping to send some larger boxes to the front lines this Christmas that will contain “Patriotic Afghans” for our wounded soldiers who will be transported home for further hospitalization. We are proud to have these beautiful hand made works of art. We hope our wounded soldiers will feel some comfort during this difficult transition. Our troops thank you all for this wonderful gift of love from home!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
We would like to extend a huge thank you to Cedar Park Christian – Bothell Campus for their many years of support! Today the elementary school held a Veteran’s Day Assembly at which the students presented their care packages along with a salute to Chief Petty Officer Derek Ideker and Chief Urena with the U.S. Naval Recruiting Office who accepted the packages on behalf of Operation Iraq-Afghanistan.
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Don Corning and Matt Gregory came by to help unload the packages from Cedar Park Christian School! Yes it was a real thing, and the Robinson’s were great to deliver this precious cargo in real Military style! Thanks Susan Zirschky (principal of CPCS), Mom and Dad from Seal Beach CA.,the entire Robinson family, and Chris Martin! Together we unloaded all those beautiful Christmas packages to the troops! You guys all rock! And my mom and dad actually packed the first ones on sight that afternoon! Thank joy so much for coming from California, it meant more to me than you can know! The pictures will be posted soon on the website!
Blessings, Ruth Ann
Friday, November 5, 2010
Dear Ruth Ann Young and Operation Iraq-Afghanistan,
It is our pleasure to be a part of your military ministry, blessing our soldiers. The women who make these afghans do it from their hearts and consider it a privilege and a blessing to be able to give back, especially to those who have been wounded and may need a little extra love and hope. The women who make them pray over them as they work, and our Pastors at Cedar Park also pray over them before we send them on to you. And we all pray that God will cover the wounded with strength for the future, and that they will feel His love and His peace.
Bless you for all that you do for our soldiers. You have a huge heart for them and your passion for this project is so evident in everything you do. Thank you for allowing us to be a small part of this great ministry.
Bless you, Carlie Meeker with Knitting for the Lamb at Cedar Park Church
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Today Brian Calvert with KOMO 4 News did an interview with Operation Iraq-Afghanistan. Calvert interviewed Jeff Leichleiter, President of Tim’s Cascade Snacks, Matt Gregory with the Kirkland Kiwanis, and former Marine Sergeant Lucas Coffey. Click here to read the article!
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Margie and Bob Reid of the United Pilot Wives delivered 7,000 packages of beef jerky today from Oberto. Thank you so much! It was so good seeing you both again! Several beautiful hand-made Patriotic Afghans were shared with us all at the warehouse as well.. Margie Reid, Ladies from the United Pilot’s, and Bay View Manor designed these beautiful works of art for our wounded soldiers while being transported home from the front lines. The United Pilot Wives will be preparing these very special packages for our troops during the week of November 14th. The group also made a very generous donation of over $1500.00 to be used towards items for this year’s Christmas packages to the front lines. Thank you all for stepping up a 5th year! We appreciate your support, and are looking forward to seeing you soon!
Blessings, Ruth Ann Young
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
We have very exciting news regarding our transportation – we have found a solution and we will be moving forward as planned. We are hoping to send out between 10,000 – 15,000 packages to our troops this Christmas! We would like to ask you to consider donating a gift card, services, or merchandise for our care packages. As a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, your donation is tax-deductible [Federal Tax ID Number is 51-0137442]. The deadline for donating is Friday, November 12, 2010. Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated!
Saturday, October 16, 2010
It has been a wild emotional journey getting Operation Iraq-Afghanistan: The Spirit of Christmas kicked off for 2010! The challenge of not being able to secure the transportation into Afghanistan has been nothing short of a nightmare since April of this year. We even wrote a letter to Senator Patty Murray’s office requesting assistance, and despite many calls made by Sean Murphy with Senator Murray’s office, we were still unable to line up transportation. We simply could not finalize deliveries from our contributors without securing this very vital part of our plan and we were quickly running out of time.
Someone much larger than us is in charge of this cause, though, and we are merely following his guided hand. Late Friday afternoon, Ruth Ann Young received an email from one of her contacts in Washington, D.C. confirming that Operation Iraq-Afghanistan will receive the necessary transportation assistance. For the next four weeks, many of us will be extremely busy finalizing donations, preparing the warehouse, and arranging the delivery, organization, and collation of these contributions for our care packages. Our men and women will get the packages we all know they deserve to have on Christmas morning from home. Please keep our whole effort in your prayers this year as we are definitely going to need it!
Friday, October 15, 2010
We thought it might be time to update our “look” with a new logo. Joey Marin was generous enough to donate his incredible graphic design skills to us by creating a new and improved Operation Iraq-Afghanistan logo!
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Miss Amy Shaffer with Cedar Park Christian Schools provided Operation Iraq-Afghanistan several mission statements from her 8th grade leadership class. This is the MS Leadership class that will be responsible for the promoting, organizing and collecting the donations for Cedar Park Christian’s Middle School student body. This is a great group of kids, who are behind this effort for the soldiers. Their assignment was to write down why they choose to help in this great cause and what it means to help the troops.
- The reason why I choose to assist Operation Iraq is because I want to make a difference in a soldier’s life. It means the troops can feel loved and there would be something for them from their home country. ~Alexyss Nelson, 8th Grade Co-President
- I choose to assist because I want to serve, not just the middle school, but also those who serve me by keeping me safe. To me this means that I can wake up everyday knowing that I am safe and to me this is just one little thing that we can do for them. ~Gabi Nastase
- The reason I choose to help is because my family has had men that served in the armed forces. We all realizes how much it matters to be there for them because they risk their lives daily for us. ~Zach Belindean
- I choose to participate in Operation Iraq because the troops are far away from home and family. The troops have protected us and they should be remembered even for Christmas. ~Jessica Kerlee
- I am choosing to be a part of Operation Iraq because soldiers overseas need people to reassure them that they are greatly appreciated and are still being prayed for. ~Andrew Dunn
- I have chosen to help because it is important to demonstrate our appreciation. They sacrifice so much for us and it is very crucial to tell them how much we care. To take a day out of our lives to help them won’t hurt us. ~Lauren McAllister
- I have chosen to assist because it’s important that they know we are all here to help them, and they are not alone. God is always with them. It means that if they are fighting for us, we need to “fight” for them by supplying them with what they need. ~Tyra Erickson
- I have chosen to help Operation Iraq because I want to help support our troops in the Middle East. Operation Iraq is a good organization to help our troops and I want to be a part of that. ~Jacob Farrell
- I have chosen to assist Operation Iraq because we need to support the soldiers that willingly secure our safety. We, as the people of America, need to be fully willing to help our troops in any way possible. ~Kayla Britton
- It is important to let our troops know we support and appreciate them. It is good for them to know that we are thinking about them and are praying for them. ~Katie Stolarski
Thursday, October 7, 2010
We want to send a huge thank you out to Sergeant Lucas Coffey, with the U.S. Marine Corps, who took time this morning to speak to elementary students at the Bothell Cedar Park Christian School about his two tours in Iraq and what it means to troops to receive Christmas care packages. We greatly appreciate the support we’ve received over the years from Cedar Park and Principal Susan Zirschky.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
We are excited to kick off yet another year! We want to bring everyone up-to-speed with a few updates:
1) Operation Iraq-Afghanistan would like to welcome Heather DeLong on board as part of our key team in organizing this huge effort. Heather has more than 7 years of event planning experience and her father served 20 years as a Commander in the Navy right here in the Pacific Northwest. She will be handling the majority of our PR/media relations, including website updates, and assisting us in various capacities. It is wonderful to have someone on board this year who is skilled in this area! We say a special “thanks” to Heather for stepping up to the plate.
2) Another special “thanks” goes out to Andrew Culver who worked diligently to create a new look for the Operation Iraq-Afghanistan website…all the way from Post Falls, Idaho! Andrew and Heather worked collectively to condense and update the content as well as create a site that was easier for visitors to navigate. Check out the new website at www.OperationIraq-Afghanistan.org.!
3) In the past seven years, we have sent more than 62,000 individual packages to our military troops. This achievement would not have been made possible without the support of an out-of-state military base, who would prefer to remain anonymous, that facilitated the shipping and delivery of care packages into Iraq and Afghanistan. Unfortunately, they no longer have the financial means to assist us this year. We sent out a letter to Senator Patty Murray requesting her help in obtaining support from a local military base as we most likely will not be able to afford the cost of transporting these packages on our own. We are hoping to receive a response by the end of September, at which time we will be able to assess how many Christmas packages we will be able to prepare for our troops this year.
4) Open packing is encouraged for those of you who have family members or close friends on the front lines. You may send as many packages as you want for your troops, but we will ask that you personally mail them out (estimated cost is $11.00 per package).
5) Our wonderful toy supplier, who still prefers to remain anonymous, is on board again this year. They have committed to donating a toy for each care package so that our military troops can hand them out on Christmas morning to the Afghan children to promote peace.
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 hdelong@operationiraq.org. Thanks!