THE E –SQUADThe E-Squad Team is a commitment to email the assigned hero(s) until they rotate home. You are not required to send cards, letters, or care packages. But to send an email or two a week to your assigned hero. No forwards, spams, or inappropriate emails. Just write to them as you would a name you received from a penpal club or a friend that has moved far away. Please check in with your assigned hero to see if they have heard from their adopted angel (they are automatically sent to the Adoptions Team) and if they have not, please contact the team. Sending a care package is certainly okay but it’s not required.
There are times we won't hear from them because of missions, extra duties, R&R, communication black-outs, or the lines to the MWR are just too long to wait around for the 30 minutes of Internet they get. Some have to wait in lines up to or more than 3 hours. If you can't think of anything to say you can always send jokes, pics from around your hometown, or maybe something funny that happened that week. Sometimes they don't have time to email us, but it doesn't mean they don't appreciate our emails. If you are interested in joining the E-Squad, please email Mel at Soldiers.Angels.E.Squad at gmail.com.
CARDS + TEAMFor more information about the Cards Plus Team visit the following link:
http://soldiersangelsforum.com/index.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=13
Anyone who is a member of SA can submit a request to the Cards plus team at the following link:
http://soldiersangelsforum.com/index.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=15
For any member of Soldiers Angels who would like to join the Cards Plus team will need to do so at the following link:
http://soldiersangelsforum.com/index.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=14
LETTER WRITING TEAMThe Soldiers' Angels Letter Writing Team (LWT) is comprised of Soldiers' Angels who enjoy writing to our heroes and know how important it is for them to hear their name at mail call. Soldiers who have submitted themselves and or been submitted through the SA website are distributed via the LWT Team Leaders on a nightly basis. Though each Soldier is assigned to an Angel (known as his/her "Official" Angel), the LWT provides additional support with extra cards and letters. The LWT writer is only requested to send each soldier that they receive one card/letter and are not required to send a care package unless they chose to do so.
The year of 2005 was a very busy one by the LWT with 105,643 letters going to our deployed heroes. Though we had turn overs with new LWT "Team Leaders" and some of the LWT Team Leaders needing to step down, our mission of ensuring smiles on the faces of our deployeed heroes at mail call was never forgotten.
The dedication of this great team of LWT Team Leaders and writers did not diminish in January, 2006 with 12,781 letters sent via 29 LWT Team Leaders and 959 LWT writers. 155 new writer signups for January 2006 allowed us to continue to get letters/cards of encouragement and support to our deployed heroes.
On January 10, 2006 thanks to an outstanding job by Holly Aho, the LWT implemented a new process for currently registered Angels to join the LWT and individuals with computer access that want to join Soldiers' Angels but are not able to adopt a soldier initially. They can now go the specific link shown below, find out all about who the LWT is and how to join the LWT. The link is
http://soldiersangelsforum.com/index.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=6
A great big "WELCOME" and "THANK YOU" to our new LWT Team Leaders who have joined the LWT since the beginning of the new year: Jeni Blaschko, Stephanie Reed, Joelle Teague, Rae Ellingson, and Angie Panetta. Welcome aboard and we appreciate all you do. The role of being a LWT Team Leader can be a big responsibility just having to do what you do every day, 7 days a week.
Many thanks to the LWT Team Leaders and LWT writers who needed to step back from writing at this time for their dedication in supporting our troops by putting smiles on these heroes faces at mail call. You will be missed and hope that some day you will be able to join us again.
We are always looking for more writers to ensure that no soldier is unloved and/or forgotten. The number of letters sent in a month does not include the many care packages that the LWT writers send on their own to the soldiers that they write to.
General questions about the LWT can be directed to Linda D at lindomlwt at gmail.com or Sara at sje2555 at yahoo.com.
BLANKETS OF HOPE TEAM This team is responsible to sending blankets to our wounded soldiers. To date the team has created over 5,000 blankets. In 2005, over 3800 blankets were made, with over 1,000 requests for information. We are now putting blankets into 300 backpacks per month, which are packed at Minimus by Joan. The Blankets of Hope Team has made it into the Army museum! Blankets are being made by all ages from young children to seniors in their 90's, family members of active duty and deployed servicemen, mothers wanting to teach daughters how to sew, grandaughters sewing in honor of the grandmother that taught them, teachers doing class projects to honor our wounded, seniors living in residential facilities who can't use their hands to crochet or knit, but can still tie knots for the fleece...everything from simple blankets to beautifully crafted quilts, no-sew fleece, crocheted and knitted.
DEPLOYED FAMILY SUPPORT GROUP For those who don\'t know yet, Soldiers' Angels has formed a new group called Deployed Family Support Group. Listed below is a copy of the Mission Statement which helps explain what this project is about. If you are interested in finding out more, after you read the mission statement please feel free to contact Renee at threejarr at yahoo.com.
Mission Statement: Deployment is not only difficult on the soldiers, it is incredibly difficult on the soldier's families. It affects the whole family and friends of the family as well. Although many families have great support systems in place, there are too many families who are not as fortunate. We have identified a need to provide a network of assistance to those who do not know where to turn or who to turn to.
Soldiers' Angels has created a project called Deployed Family Support Group. This team will provide TLC to all family members (i.e., wives, husbands, and/or friends) in need of encouragement and support. This support will be provided primarily through e-Mail and electronic communications. Taking care of family members who have been left behind by their deployed loved one is just one small way Soldiers' Angels demonstrates our gratitude for the sacrifices families are making, not only for us, but for future generations as well.
If you know a family member that you feel might benefit from the support of an Angel from the Deployed Family Support Group, please submit their name(s) to Renee Jurgensen at familysupport at soldiersangels.org.
LIVING LEGENDS TEAM The Living Legends team is made up of some very special Angels who send cards and letters to the families of our fallen heroes. This team was started May 2005 and have been growing in members. This is the most difficult and emotional team to be on.
We compare the DOD list to our data base several times a day to see if we have a match for a fallen soldier. If there is a match, the Angel(s) involved are contacted by telephone about their soldiers by a member of our team. If they cannot be reached by telephone in a reasonable amount of time, we will email them with this information. After the Angel(s) are contacted we will then post the family's information on the Living Legends Forum so that everyone can send cards and letters to the family. We wait a respectable amount of time to call the families to offer them a living tree from Soldiers' Angels. We also have a dried flower (wreath) arrangement for those families that cannot plant trees. The families are allowed to pick any type of tree they would like, with a $140.00 cap on the price. The wreaths are usually $50.00 to $60.00 each. We have sent over 80 trees and 5 wreaths so far. We have sent cards to so many more families. (Cards are also sent on the anniversary of a hero's death.)
If you would like to donate money for a tree or wreath, please send a donation to Soldiers' Angels at 1792 East Washington Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91104. Please put Living Legends in the memo part. Please visit our blog at www.livinglegendteam.blogspot.com
TLC TEAM The purpose for the TLC Team is to provide additional and much-needed support to our heroes facing desperate circumstances (i.e., those who are wounded, distressed, or without family support or letters of encouragement). Team members are always on "alert", ready, willing and able to come through for our heroes.
The TLC Team consists of a number of dedicated Angels and works closely with our founder, Patti Bader, administrators, state managers and many other Angels, as well as outside sources, to see to the needs of those with special circumstances. When the team leader (Angel Eileen) is apprised of a "TLC" situation or learns of a particular situation through our daily reports, she will either place a post on the forum under "TLC Requests" or contact a team member with the necessary information, who will then write a post.
If you have a request for TLC or for more information on the team, please contact:
Eileen at einch1 at hotmail.com.