HOMEFRONT HUGS 2008 NEW YEARS� NEWSLETTER
January/February 2008
Supporting our Heroes Without Conditions- Freedom Endures
www.HomefrontHugs.com
Google Homefront Hugs USA
Google Operation Healing Angel
Google the Best Volunteers in the World
Google Homefront Hugs for Kids
You will find them all at Homefront Hugs USA !
We need your support and we need your donations in supplies, monies, cards and classroom projects�anything you wish to do to help�even sharing this newsletter with all ! Let�s not forget the heroes now that the holidays have passed�our missions continue. Join us.
When you help Homefront Hugs USA, you can trust that we are a legitimate non-profit organization, your help goes directly to the troops and our missions to support them, we do not pay a penny for endorsements, and no one here collects a salary. We are volunteers like you when we help our wounded, our deployed troops, our military families or our
honorable veterans.
A huge thanks to all of you who made our troops and
their loved ones feel loved and appreciated and saluted
this holiday season! Your generosity this season in cards and
help brought us all to tears.
We managed to send hugs of thanks in gifts and cards to hundreds of Navy,USMC,Air Force, and Army families this Christmas and they were delighted at your kindness.
Because of YOU , thank you notes are still
coming in from the sandbox especially our United Warriors and from
the largest hospital in Iraq which is now under our care�.They love and still
need cards every day. Send them to us so we can send them on. Add a photo and something personal so they can feel your touch over the oceans.
We even have a thank you page now as we have so many to thank not
mentioned here ! You know who you are like Elyse and Eagles UP and Rosemary and her American Legion in New York !
Meet our New Vice-President ,Carrie Begley! Carrie is a navy wife, superMom, and the whole family volunteers for the troops and more ! Carrie�s husband Bob, is a retired Navy pilot and active community soccer coach of many years and now flies for a commercial airline.
You can adopt a duck to send a message anytime with your email on its belly !
Meet our New Treasurer- Shelly James and her 2 munchkins! Shelly is a Pensacola native who is married to a British soccer coach- what a super combo ! Shelly holds dual degrees in accounting and finance and is like many of us- a SuperMom- always on the go- proud of her grandfather who served in World War II.
Exciting News and Reminder:
We are now a 501(c)3 non�profit organization legally registered under the
Department of State of Florida where our headquarters . All donations
are tax deductible. We need help. We need your help sharing us with others.
You can donate online on our site just by clicking the new �Donate� buttons
on our front page. You may also prefer to send a check in any amount made out to Homefront Hugs USA, Inc. to:
Homefront Hugs USA
1449 Tiger Lake Drive
Gulf Breeze, florida 32563
If you need a receipt, please let us know. We keep tight records here as well.
A thank you today from our hero:
To whom it may concern,
I just wanted to say thank you. I received a Christmas gift of Starbucks coffee from you all and it was awesome. It is great to see how much support from home we are getting and it makes our job just a little bit easier.
CPT Jason Potts
Army Nurse
How can I help ?
We need your help with postage and supplies every month including this month, as troops are signing up for help daily�.and our missions for our hospitals under Operation Healing Angel !
The needs increase each day since we were chosen to adopt our wounded heroes due to our wonderful volunteers and treatment of security and confidentiality through OPSEC.
- $10 donation or $8.95 to be exact helps us send one box to the troops !
- $25 donation helps us buy the supplies they are requesting and send the box we packed for a hero!.
- $25 also helps you adopt 10 ducks to send a message to our troops on its belly with your email in case they wish to write back !
- $100 helps to send 5 packed care packages with blankets and supplies the nurses have requested for their staff and the wounded.
- $200 helps send 12 packages
- $500 helps us with phone cards,blankets, supplies,and postage for over 40 troops�and they always share with their fellow heroes.
- Whatever you give, we are grateful as no one here collects a salary. We are all volunteers . We would never pay anyone $100,000 as you have heard in the news about other organizations, to endorse us. Our endorsements come from companies and heroes who know of our good work since 9-11 and know we do this as our civic responsibility.. We are proud to be Americans and able to help � just like you.
Please remember us this Monday- this week- as we celebrate Dr.King�s birthday. Our wounded and our troops come from all race, politics, and religions and exemplify the best of what America has to offer, keeping us safe each night. If you are or know a hero who needs support- one email starts the support within a week !Just let us know�call or write- all information is treated with the utmost confidentiality and security as we know we are at war . You are never forgotten- though it may seem so with all the political noise. You are honored at Homefront Hugs every day.
Our volunteers represent the same and that is what makes our organization so special. God bless our troops and families and keep them safe. If you can help us just by passing this on or donating today- Thank you- we will be working all week to meet the latest requests we have received from the war front and our hospitals. We wish you a wonderful beginning to the New Year.
Sincerely Yours,
Alessandra
Alessandra Kellermann
President of Homefront Hugs USA
President@HomefrontHugs.com
412-498-3855
The law firm above who helped us become non-profit and is available for veterans who need legal assistance anytime�a firm you can trust.
2007 Trademark and Copyright- All rights reserved - Homefront Hugs USA
501-3c Non-Profit Organization: Volunteers since September 11, 2001- We Will Never Forget
info@HomefrontHugs.com
www.HomefrontHugs.com
HOMEFRONT HUGS NEWS
" Where No Hero is Forgotten "
Volume VIII - May 2007
Welcome to the 8th official newsletter of Homefront Hugs USA. If you received this and would like to get on our newsletter distribution list, just email us at HomefrontHugsUSA@aol.com with subject "news".
Please pass this on to friends and family for we are truly blessed while our heroes sacrifice so much every day...keep this going and perhaps we can send this nationwide this Memorial Day...
God bless our troops.
Dear Friends,Volunteers and Families,
This will be a special newsletter in tribute to our dear friend Charlie, our Marine WWII veteran, whose grave we will visit this Memorial Day and another special tribute to a young man and hero named PFC Allan Morr from Byron, Michigan.
Of course there are countless men and women who have paid the ultimate sacrifice and if you have a story to share- please send me these stories so we can make sure they are never forgotten.
Just because their name may not be mentioned in this small newsletter, their dedication and sacrifice for our country is immeasurable and we are forever a grateful nation.
There is another way you can send a special tribute and share your sympathy and gratitude to those who have fallen, sign our UNITED IN TEARS guest book where our
9-11 families have added their thoughts and sacrifices as well.
In Memorium
Charles Trapp, USMC Retired
WW II and Korean War Veteran
(1927- 2006)
Beloved Friend and No Longer Forgotten Hero
Now a little bit about Charlie first... a forgotten veteran we met last year in Pensacola....who now is probably beaming with pride as he looks down and realizes he is still remembered.
Charlie sang a tune that could make your heart melt. He knew how to give my son a hug when his own father had never ever seen him and told me my son reminded me of his own whom he missed so much . Charlie's family was estranged from him and it probably was the reason in the end that despite our overwhelming attempts to help him and give him support from all of you...our incredible volunteers, he finally let himself join our maker.
It taught us all a lesson in reaching out and not allowing time to slip by over petty differences and misunderstandings with loved ones. It taught us how fleeting life is and how much our veterans deserve honor and thanks long after they are back home again.
For more on Charlie's story- you can read it here:
My son and I will be joining Charlie at his gravesite on Memorial Day and if anyone would like to contribute towards flowers...let us know.
We accept Paypal or you can also have the flowers sent here to our address and we will place them on his grave on Memorial Day.
The Kellermann Family
Homefront Hugs for Charlie
1449 Tiger Lake Drive
Gulf Breeze, Florida 32563
412-498-3855
And if Charlie is listening, I hope he remembers how much he meant to all of us and how he made us smile through his ornery and stubborn exterior- he was a Marine through and through . Semper Fi, Charlie- rest in peace.
In Memorium
PFC Allan Morr
United States Army
101st Airborne
(1985- 2006)
Beloved Son,Friend and Hero
It is funny because when I think about it, I think PFC Allan Morr and Charlie would have gotten along quite well as they both loved to laugh and knew how to bring a smile out of anyone even if this was the last thing you were thinking of doing. And I suspect the two of them have met by now and are enjoying a few good jokes in heaven as they wait to see their loved ones again one day.
PFC Morr came to my attention when I received a call about a month ago from Great Britain from an intriguing gentleman and philanthropist named Grahame Sager who told me his son had served with PFC Morr and in his memory he would like to make a donation to help us with the postage for our care packages and to keep our missions afloat.
This phone call and subsequent emails led to finding out about PFC Morr's life and loved ones and his brother in arms- who was Mr.Sager's older son Keith. Keith's best friend had been Allan. Keith Sager had served with him in the 101st Airborne from which there have been so many sacrifices since the war began.
Grahame Sager also shared with me his own sadness and passion about his brother's service in Vietnam for our country and how he had been one of many who had to endure those shameful homecomings which we must be sure never happen again.
His brother,also named Keith- Keith Franklin- was not drafted in Vietnam but had volunteered as a dual citizen of both England and the USA to go and help in the Vietnam war, never expecting the abuse he would receive with so many of his brothers and sisters upon their return to US soil.
It is such homecomings that so many of us , from experience or from history books like myself - are determined never to have happen again . It is such homecomings that so many of our Vietnam veterans still remember like Grahame's brother Keith.
What moved Grahame Sager as well, is that the death of his son's best friend- could have been just as easily his own son.
Grahame thanks his blessings every day with his wife Violeta that their own son narrowly escaped death himself , this being one of many reasons they want now to make a difference and help us at Homefront Hugs USA - in honor of PFC Allan Morr.
" I asked my Son 'Keith Paul, to send you the picture of his 'machine' gun, 'hit' by a 'sniper's' bullet meant for his head. It brought it home to me, the horrors our troops endure daily! "
Allan and Keith and fellow soldier ....in Iraq...
When his son Keith found out his father had contacted us, he told me the following about his best friend and room mate Allan, who seems to have left a positive mark on everyone he touched...
" Allan... was born in Byron, where he lived for most of his life. He was born on January 21st 1985 and was killed on February 22nd 2006, shortly after his 21st birthday and 4 days after mine. As a combat veteran I greatly appreciate all the hard work you and your organization put into supporting our military and military families, it's wonderful to know that we have so much support. Thank you very much and god bless you. "
I asked Keith to tell me something that made him smile and remember his best friend in a way no one else might but then again his brothers in arms would....he replied immediately:
" One of the things that always made me laugh about him was that he was the worst midnight snacker haha. He would wake up in the middle of the night, get up out of bed while half asleep, grab a bag of Doritos, crawl back into bed and fall asleep eating them. People always made Al smile, he would see certain qualities and notice things in people that most, including me would overlook. It was almost like he could see into people instead of just seeing how they appeared on the outside. His laugh was also incredibly contagious. I would laugh twice as hard watching a movie with him. A movie I never found very funny before would be hilarious when we saw it together. Something that also amazed me was that he stood 5'4" and my legs were twice as long as his (I'm 6'1") but somehow he'd manage to beat me on our physical fitness runs."
Keith told me about his life now that he has been honorably discharged from the military, his wife Kay and their new baby due very soon in summer.
Keith and his lovely wife with baby on the way !!
He told me how much it meant to him that Allan would be remembered in a small way with us at Homefront Hugs.
I realized I would need to find a way to speak to this hero's mother Mary- if she would allow me to learn a little more about Allan. I realized this young man- whose life had been snuffed out so early- much too quickly- must have had a very special family to have brought so many smiles and left such an impact on so many across this world.
And just yesterday, I received this honor . Mary called me. I can only tell you honestly that our conversation humbled me and as we spoke, I realized she represented so many incredibly strong and wonderful mothers who are grieving like Mary for children whose lives were taken way too soon, much too fast. The wounds these mothers endure will be healing very slowly, if they ever heal at all. Yet speaking to Mary- I could feel Allan's strength and love keeping her going.
" Tell me a little about Allan and only what you are comfortable sharing", I said to her gently.
Mary began to talk and as she began to tell me about Allan , there were tears and smiles .
She told me that Allan had come from a large loving family to include a new little nephew who now carries his name.
Allan had two brothers Bryan( also served in the Army but was medically discharged) ,his youngest brother and buddy Shane, and a loving sister named Heather.
He loved being outdoors, Mary told me, and hunting and fishing were favorite past-times. Detailing cars was a passion especially when Allan could do this outdoors in the Florida sun where his sister lived . Allan always had funny comments and could make anyone feel at ease. Mary laughed as she shared this and said part of this might have come from her as she decided to go to clown school when she was pregnant with Allan and it must have affected his personality.
Even Allan's teachers would tell Mary that he seemed just like one of their own kids.
" He made everyone feel like they were family."
Mary told me that she had just finally finished putting together a scrap book of all the letters and love she had received from fellow soldiers who served with Allan .She said that in honor of Allan -more than 60 troops and friends had gotten a tattoo.
That included Mary and her husband whose tattoo was a dreamcatcher and a cross and "MY SON ALLAN" written above it.
Mary began to choke up as she described her own tattoo.
" Mine is on my ankle , hearts and a barbed wire because it feels like my heart was cut open."
Almost as quickly she began to chuckle, as she remembered her youngest son Shane had the best one though in tribute to Allan. He had gotten a tattoo of Mighty Mouse which was Allan's nickname in basic training. Allan had had countless nicknames but this one was a favorite.
Mary began to tell me about the day she received the news. Her husband was away and she heard a knock at the door. She saw two servicemen standing there.
" Please just tell me he is wounded...please don't tell me he's dead.," she pleaded. And as she heard the words, " We're sorry to inform you...", she fell to the floor.
Mary recounted this horrible day , and listening on the other end of this long distance phone call, it was hard to hold back my own tears as a mother. And then she (as Allan always had for so many) made me smile as I listened and she shared a poignant funny moment amidst this tragedy.
Mary said she felt Allan there with her, telling her to put on something else as she was standing there in her pajamas and she could hear him say, " Mom, go get something on ...." and even redirecting her when she wanted to just throw on some sweatpants...
" So I put some proper pants on even though I was not feeling well for Allan..... I have a gold locket I wear all the time- it never comes off. His picture is in there and he will always be in my heart."
Mary told me that the days do not get easier- you go to sleep- you wake up and it brings it back all over again- that he is gone- that he never even got to have his own children....
" It's like they're in a foreign country but there is no mail and no way to see them."
When she dies , she prays that her one wish is granted that Allan is there to take her over .." to guide me over....to take my hand..." she said slowly, holding back the tears.
" He will be right there," I reassured her, " no need to worry about that, I am sure he would say."
I thanked her for her time and the opportunity to get to know Allan a bit more and to have the honor of talking tothis special Mom who helped raise such a wonderful son who left this Earth with countless smiles in other people's hearts..
Mary told me when she misses Allan most, she closes her eyes and talks to him - and can feel him there- " just like a kiss on the cheek."
God bless you and your family Mary- this Memorial Day and beyond. I know you will be reading this and you have given us all a gift of getting to know your son and his heart a little bit- as well as his incredible sacrifice for us all.
If you would like to write a letter to Mary and her family, please send your letters to us at Homefront Hugs USA and we will forward them on to the Morr Family in Michigan.
Homefront Hugs USA
In honor of PFC Allan Morr
1449 Tiger Lake Drive
Gulf Breeze, Florida 32563
The Morrs are one of many families we remember this Memorial Day and beyond....their pain and sacrifices for our country,our freedoms and our way of life. But let us also remember to enjoy life to the fullest as Allan did and to make the best of each day and each person you meet...with a smile.
Life is short enough and there are lessons to be learned from those who die so young yet leave such a positive mark upon this world....
"It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth -- and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up, we will then begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had."
~Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
Lest we forget:
We wish everyone a safe and special Memorial Day weekend.
If you wish to help us on any of our missions, we accept donations for postage as well as necessary items listed for care packages for Operation Healing Angel...
Volunteers are always needed and our front page is updated today with many different ways you can help from home...no matter how young or old you are- everyone is welcome as we need to remind those who serve and our veterans that they are never forgotten.
Just email us if you have any questions or need more information:
ReachingOut@HomefrontHugs.coom
or
HomefrontHugsUSA@aol.com
This was our Memorial Day issue...there will be an early June Newsletter to include Hurricane preparations,our latest Operation Healing Angel news and the Disney Drive this past month- and a special update on our Cub Scout Pack 102...and their help for our wounded !
Please start thinking about getting your pets up to date with shots and food- medications and their micro chip if you live in a hurricane area...more info in our newsletter....in early June.
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