In
the spring of 2003, before the war in Iraq had even begun, we would see
a group of protesters flying the flag upside down, every Sunday, on the
same corner as we came home from church in California. While my
husband, Air Force Veteran, Jerry English, wanted to get some friends
and march them into the nearby sea, cooler heads (Mine!) prevailed;we
both have very strong feelings about our Flag! But we wanted to do
something to let our local military people know that they were
supported. We came up with the idea of printing out on our computer a
simple business card.
On one side it simply says THANK YOU with a couple small graphics of the USA flag and a Ribbon with Flag motif. On the back of the card we printed:
During difficult times America’s
finest have put on the uniform of
the U.S. Military.
Your service is appreciated.
Thank You!
God Bless you and yours!
As we started handing them out we realized that we could never get
to all of them so we decided to have a RALLY FOR AMERICA / SUPPORT THE
TROOPS and it was held March 22, 2003. The media found it to be so odd
that they covered it (in advance / and the day of) and we had about 500
people show up! It was awesome. We did another for Armed Forces Day and
again for Sept 11th / WE REMEMBER.
We took down names and emails and when Christmas 2003 came around we
had sent off 1,167 cards filled with a pack of cocoa or tea and a note
of support to a Lt.Col. in Iraq. They were distributed and we got
wonderful letters back from the troops! That was a lot of fun so we did
it again for Valentines Day; over 1,000 cards. By this time
I had done many media interviews and they kept asking for a name of our
group. We decided on CARDS AND COCOA FOR THE TROOPS. But after that we
started sending all the important goodies. Beef jerky, wet wipes and
Chocolate when it wasn’t to hot.
We have continued to have our March rally and Sept 11th rally for
the last five years. We have also shipped off over 5 TONS of goodies to
Iraq and Afghanistan. Our group of volunteers numbers about 200 and we
have done it all without a committee meeting or being a non-profit or
having a web site. After we took on an official name I did get some
separate cards printed via vistaprint.com ( 250 cards / free / pay $5
forshipping ) and that has our contacts.
(Military parking permits are Blue for Officer and Red for Enlisted.
Other colors are people who work on the base but are not military!)
We frequently stick them in drivers door jams (with the flag showing!)
so it is a treat to find when they come out of the store. We also look
for veterans who are wearing their baseball hats stating when / where
they served. We have had many an emotional moment giving them a card.
We encourage people to make their own versions of the THANK YOU cards. (If you would like one, please email gabrielle.pike@gatheringofeagles.org)
We have also tied in with Move America Forward and gone at least
part ofthe way on two caravans, including this last one in March that
met up with the Eagles at the Wall. We had our 5th Annual Rally for
America / We SUPPORT THE TROOPS AND THEIR MISSION also on the 17th of
March, here locally.
It is exciting to find that more and more people are willing to take thetime to stand up and be vocal in support of our troops!
Proud to be an American!
Sincerely,
Cindy Stanley & Jerry English
-Cards and Cocoa for the Troops Organizers-
??I am only One.
I can not do everything.
But I can do something.
And I will not let
what I can not do
interfere with what I can do.??
-Edward Everett Hale