THE LINK FOR DONATIONS IS OVER AT THE TOP RIGHT OF MY BLOG'S HOME PAGE. LET'S MAKE THIS WORK, LET'S SHOW OUR RESPECT FOR AND THANKS TO THE TROOPS DURING THIS SEASON OF GIVING. MY GOAL IS AT LEAST $500 BUT $1,000 WOULD SURE BE NICE, SO IF YOU ARE GOING TO DONATE PLEASE BE AS GENEROUS AS POSSIBLE. I WILL SHOW AN ACCOUNTING OF ALL FUNDS RECEIVED, AND PICTURES OF THE ITEMS I PURCHASE TO GO INTO THE HOLIDAY PACKAGE. I AM DONATING $50.00 PLUS THE COST OF POSTAGE AND SHIPPING MATERIALS. NOTE I CANNOT DONATE TO MY OWN ACCOUNT IN PAYPAL SO I WILL ADD MY $50 IN CASH TO THE AMOUNT I GET IN DONATIONS.
I WILL ACCEPT DONATIONS FOR THE SOLDIER'S HOLIDAY PACKAGE UP UNTIL AND THROUGH DECEMBER 7, 2007; PLEASE MAKE ANY DONATIONS ON OR BEFORE THAT DATE. I WILL POST AT LEAST WEEKLY NOTICES ABOUT HOW MUCH HAS BEEN RAISED.
See my below post for more info on the holiday package for our troops, and how the donations will be spent. All donations go to gifts to be included in the package. Those flashlights I mentioned go for about at least $37 apiece. Note those are the least expensive of the Stream-Lights (Stinger flashlights) and Surefire lights; they are quality tactical lights that our guys and gals could certainly use. The wool socks go for about $12 a pair they are apparently good stuff. Other things are not quite as expensive, but are not cheap.
Anything you can give is appreciated; but as I said I hope to raise $1,000 toward this effort to show these guys we truly give a damn about them, so I am hoping for at least $10 from each of my readers, or more if you can do it. A big request, sure it is, especially at this time of year, but I think these guys and gals in our military are well worth it - I hope you do too.
NOTE: You do not have to be a registered member of PayPal in order to make a donation. Click on the donate link, then look near the bottom of the linked page to see how to donate using a credit card without being a PayPal account holder.
All the best,
Glenn B
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Christmas/Holiday Shopping For The Troops...
...is something I have not yet done, but I plan to do so this year. Being sort of a traditionalist when it comes to any sort of Christmas shopping, I usually do not do so until after Thanksgiving. This year will follow suit, and beginning this weekend I will be on the lookout for items I can buy to send to my Soldiers' Angels adopted soldier. The soldier I was appointed when I signed up for Soldiers' Angels is Bob S. (I do not think I am allowed to give out his whole name due to Soldiers' Angels regulations, but if I find I can do so, I will). He is assigned to a FOB in Afghanistan (if I remember right this means forward operating base so he and his fellow troops are in the thick of things over there). I am supposed to write to him frequently, and now and again send him some sort of care package. I must admit that I have been lax in contacting him as of late, last time has to be over a month ago, but I will make up for that.
What I am planning to do this year is to make up a really nice care package for him and his companion troops for this holiday season. Call it a Christmas package, a Hanuka package, a holiday package or a care package, it does not matter all that much to me, but this one for the Christmas season will be nicer than the other two I already sent to him. I plan to include some quality gear in this one; things like Stinger or Surefire flashlights, a lot of batteries for them (and these are expensive lithium batteries not your typical alkaline junk), some wool blend socks (yes it gets cold over there, and I want to put at least a dozen pairs of these into the box), some hand warmers (as used by hunters), a few folding knives (maybe not the best quality ones but certainly something that will stand up to good hard use though I have to check to see if this is legal), some disposable body wipes (always appreciated from what I understand), light sticks (the glow sticks that last up to 12 hours), anything else I can think of that will help our young men and women survive their time in their godforsaken assignments.
In this regard I am going to do something I have not done before, something that I shun when done for personal gain, but to which I have often in the past contributed when done for a good cause. I am going to ask my readers to make donations to a Holiday Care Package Fund that I will set up through my PayPal account. While I have an account, I still need to figure out how to direct payments only to this cause, and get an icon to place on my blog for those payments. I should have that done within the next week or so, and the link to the Care Package fund will appear at the top right of my blog home page. Any donations that are made to the fund will go toward the purchase of items to be included within the care package. I will spend every penny donated to the fund on such items, and this means I will pay for the PayPal fee out of my own pocket (yes they charge for someone to receive funds, but not for someone to send funds, so while you get to send them with no fee, I have to pay a percentage to accept them). Postage for the package will be paid by me, as will the cost of the packaging supplies. I also will make a decent donation to the care package fund myself, probably to the tune of about $50. I am hoping that I can raise a minimum of $500, but I would hope for more than that, closer to $1,000. I do not have a really large readership, but if you think this to be a good cause, and if you think you can spare some cash towards it, I would ask that you each try to donate at least $10 to it through PayPal, then again even a dollar would be nice. (By the way, PayPal is pretty easy to join, and I do not think there is any fee involved since when I signed up there was not.) The more my readers can donate, the more I can purchase to send to Bob S. and his comrades in arms. So I can send one flashlight and one pair of socks and maybe a box of wipes with my own contribution; or with generous contributions from each of you I will be able to send a dozen flashlights, a case of wipes, a box or three of glow sticks, and so on.
I plan to send the package out about 2 to 3 weeks before Christmas, and hope that means it will arrive there in time for the holidays. I will include a note to Bob about how the package was funded, and I will sign it from all of us who will have made donations. I will also ask Bob to make sure that the package is divided out to his fellow soldiers, so as many as possible in his unit receive at least one gift regardless of their religious beliefs or lack of them. It's a season of giving, and we are giving not based upon the faith of the recipients, but rather upon their service to us as United States Military Service Personnel. Remember too that you do not have to be a member of any particular faith to make a donation, you are doing it for the troops. I just picked the season because in my Catholic upbringing it was the tradition to give at Christmas; and even though I no longer practice any religion, I keep up the tradition of giving gifts at this time of year because it is a good tradition no matter your faith or lack of it. Giving to our service people during the holiday season, when they are thousands of miles from home and loved ones is certainly an excellent way to thank them for their service, don't you think? If you agree with me, please help me out on this one so we can show them we truly care while they are stuck on foreign soil, doing battle to keep us free, during what should be a time of year spent with family and other loved ones.
By the way, if Bob S., by some miracle, winds up on home leave at that time, I will ask him for another soldier in his unit to whom to direct the package, or I will ask Soliders' Angels for another solider to whom I can send the package.
All the best,
Glenn B.
What I am planning to do this year is to make up a really nice care package for him and his companion troops for this holiday season. Call it a Christmas package, a Hanuka package, a holiday package or a care package, it does not matter all that much to me, but this one for the Christmas season will be nicer than the other two I already sent to him. I plan to include some quality gear in this one; things like Stinger or Surefire flashlights, a lot of batteries for them (and these are expensive lithium batteries not your typical alkaline junk), some wool blend socks (yes it gets cold over there, and I want to put at least a dozen pairs of these into the box), some hand warmers (as used by hunters), a few folding knives (maybe not the best quality ones but certainly something that will stand up to good hard use though I have to check to see if this is legal), some disposable body wipes (always appreciated from what I understand), light sticks (the glow sticks that last up to 12 hours), anything else I can think of that will help our young men and women survive their time in their godforsaken assignments.
In this regard I am going to do something I have not done before, something that I shun when done for personal gain, but to which I have often in the past contributed when done for a good cause. I am going to ask my readers to make donations to a Holiday Care Package Fund that I will set up through my PayPal account. While I have an account, I still need to figure out how to direct payments only to this cause, and get an icon to place on my blog for those payments. I should have that done within the next week or so, and the link to the Care Package fund will appear at the top right of my blog home page. Any donations that are made to the fund will go toward the purchase of items to be included within the care package. I will spend every penny donated to the fund on such items, and this means I will pay for the PayPal fee out of my own pocket (yes they charge for someone to receive funds, but not for someone to send funds, so while you get to send them with no fee, I have to pay a percentage to accept them). Postage for the package will be paid by me, as will the cost of the packaging supplies. I also will make a decent donation to the care package fund myself, probably to the tune of about $50. I am hoping that I can raise a minimum of $500, but I would hope for more than that, closer to $1,000. I do not have a really large readership, but if you think this to be a good cause, and if you think you can spare some cash towards it, I would ask that you each try to donate at least $10 to it through PayPal, then again even a dollar would be nice. (By the way, PayPal is pretty easy to join, and I do not think there is any fee involved since when I signed up there was not.) The more my readers can donate, the more I can purchase to send to Bob S. and his comrades in arms. So I can send one flashlight and one pair of socks and maybe a box of wipes with my own contribution; or with generous contributions from each of you I will be able to send a dozen flashlights, a case of wipes, a box or three of glow sticks, and so on.
I plan to send the package out about 2 to 3 weeks before Christmas, and hope that means it will arrive there in time for the holidays. I will include a note to Bob about how the package was funded, and I will sign it from all of us who will have made donations. I will also ask Bob to make sure that the package is divided out to his fellow soldiers, so as many as possible in his unit receive at least one gift regardless of their religious beliefs or lack of them. It's a season of giving, and we are giving not based upon the faith of the recipients, but rather upon their service to us as United States Military Service Personnel. Remember too that you do not have to be a member of any particular faith to make a donation, you are doing it for the troops. I just picked the season because in my Catholic upbringing it was the tradition to give at Christmas; and even though I no longer practice any religion, I keep up the tradition of giving gifts at this time of year because it is a good tradition no matter your faith or lack of it. Giving to our service people during the holiday season, when they are thousands of miles from home and loved ones is certainly an excellent way to thank them for their service, don't you think? If you agree with me, please help me out on this one so we can show them we truly care while they are stuck on foreign soil, doing battle to keep us free, during what should be a time of year spent with family and other loved ones.
By the way, if Bob S., by some miracle, winds up on home leave at that time, I will ask him for another soldier in his unit to whom to direct the package, or I will ask Soliders' Angels for another solider to whom I can send the package.
All the best,
Glenn B.
Whoops, I Missed National Ammo Day...
...but that is not as bad as it sounds because it is also National Ammo Week! National Ammo Day was a concept thought up by my arch nemesis fellow gun enthusiast and blogger Kim du Toit. While I do not see eye to eye with Mr. du Toit over some personal flap we had, yes there is apparently bad blood between us, I do agree with him on a number of patriotic, political, and moral issues. One of the things we have most in common, despite a heated personal dislike for each other some rather petty personal disagreements, is our love for the Right To Keep And Bear Arms, and all that goes with it. In that regard he had a brainchild some years back, I think 5 or 6 years ago now, for National Ammo Day. Basically this day, or I should say November 19th of each year, was set aside for gun owners, or anyone who supports our right to keep and bear arms (RKBA), to go out to buy at least 100 rounds of ammunition, preferably from a local gun shop, but a sporting goods store, or hardware shop will do. Within a couple or few years of its conception, National Ammo Day was expanded to National Ammo Week, I guess to give forgetful slugs like me a chance to buy some ammo and support my local gun merchants. The idea is to show support for our RKBA, and for our local gun shops, through your purchases. The day has blossomed in a huge success from what I can gather, and it can only become even more successful if we get more folks to participate. If you are reading this, and you believe our RKBA should be supported, then please do your part this week (if you have not already done so); and go out to buy at least 100 rounds of ammo. In addition, if you have not done so already, please spread the word on your own website. Thanks.
All the best,
Glenn B
All the best,
Glenn B
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