Operation: Noble Duty

Memorial Day 2006: Honoring our Soldiers

A Coalition of Bloggers is being formed for a “Supply Drive” to help The Texas Military Family Foundation, and the Soldiers they are working so very hard to honor and support. Julie Curtis-Win, Executive Director, has dedicated her life to this cause, and she needs YOUR help.

“The Texas Military Family is an organization with a small staff, a few great volunteers, and a lot of love. TMFF provides family members of returning soldiers flags to have while they await the arrival of their loved ones. TMFF also assists all deploying soldiers with playing cards, stickers, phones and a hug of encouragement before they load the plane to go forward on their mission.”

Operation: Noble Duty is our way of saying Thank You; to Julie, to the TMFF and to all the brave young men and women in uniform that Julie and her staff work with every day.

Sponsored by Bill Crawford of “allthingsconservative.typepad.com”, haystack of “NoEndButVictory.com”, and Tim Saler of “TimSaler.com”, we are asking for donations in many different areas. While money is always helpful, there are many other things that TMFF desperately needs. Please contact us to find out how YOU can help…and let’s give something back for those who give so much for us.

Bill Crawford: alamocitycommando@yahoo.com
Haystack: hickpolitics@gmail.com
Tim Saler: public@timsaler.com

TMFF NEEDS List

Toothbrushes
Toothpaste
Razors
Shaving cream
Lotion
Soap
Shampoo
Q-tips
Chap Stick
Eye drops

Small toiletry items are bagged for barracks bags for soldiers returning home along with a toothpaste and toothbrush. This simple act allows the soldier something clean and fresh and gives him/her a little time to get home before they have to go shopping.

The larger toiletry items are distributed to soldiers upon arrival to offset the long periods of time they are training before deploying. This helps leave more $$ at home for families, these things can be packed with the soldiers when it is time to deploy and helps save shipping costs by the TMFF.

We are in need of large supplies of coffee, ice tea mix, Gatorade mix, cream and sugar packets, stir sticks and could use thousands of 8oz Styrofoam cups. Packaged crackers, candy/cookies, nuts, gum we use at the Soldier Readiness Processing Sites as well as providing to the families while waiting for incoming planes.

Soldier Readiness Processing Sites are where the soldiers receiving their initial briefings, go to medical, dental, legal and get vaccinations. It is a long day and soldiers will not get out of line to go eat. It is a simple way for us to thank them for what they are doing or what they have done. This process is done for all outbound and inbound soldiers.

Our facility provides relief to soldiers and includes the use of a small kitchen. We are always needing groceries, canned food, frozen items, brownie mixes, etc. The refrigerator seems to provide comfort to those soldiers that are home recuperating. Opening the door just to see what is inside brings a touch of home and familiarity back to these soldiers. Grocery coupons to HEB or Walmart.

Office supplies: We are in desperate need of a new copy machine. Soldiers are encouraged to keep copies of their medical records and our machine is now broken.

We use 49A printer toner for our computer printer. We purchase 5 of these a month.

Copy paper for the printer.
Large envelopes 9X12 for records
Office supplies, such as CD’s, recordable DVD’s, staples,
Panasonic fax rolls
Ping pong balls and paddles
A Volleyball net
8X10 enclosed trailer
1 – 15 passenger van
4X6 flags for family members waiting for their loved ones
Kleenex
Baby wipes – these are also used on soldiers that pass out at the SRP sites

Garden equipment (soldiers recuperating have been taking care of our ever growing garden) this helps the soldier pass time between doctor’s appointments and surgeries.

Letters to the soldiers of encouragement

Sponsorship of our “Welcome Home T-shirts” that are given to all inbound medical retention soldiers

A Car to raffle off to raise money for funding of our many events