Manhattanville My Soldier
There are a lot of organizations that have answered the call of meeting our troops needs. The story regarding My Soldier is a little bit different though. You see, My Soldier was founded by Juan Salas, a naturalized United States American citizen who is originally from Venezuela. His love and commitment to America was proved when he committed nearly two years of his life serving in Iraq. While serving, Second Lieutenant Juan Salas was aware of how much encouragement he derived from receiving letters. He makes the point that his letters are a tangible form of encouragement that he can take with him throughout his life.
When his term in the Army was through, he decided that he would begin My Soldier, as a way to foster encouragement and support for his fellow soldiers. When Lieutenant Juan Salas returned to his college, Manhattanville, he shared his vision with the college president, Richard Berman. Together, they created Manhattanville College My Soldier.
Within one month of operation, the Manhattanville My Soldier had enlisted members in all fifty states. The program consists of civilians “adopting†a soldier. By adopting a soldier that is deployed, you pledge that you will send letters and emails in a timely periodic manner. The program will send you the details regarding a soldier that you may contact by allowing you access to download a My Soldier Starter Kit. The kit will give you guidelines regarding the contents of the letters. There is no guarantee that the soldier will engage in letter writing back; your commitment is that you will periodically write letters regardless.
A nice feature about the Manhattanville My Soldier program is that they work with communities to help encourage the younger generation to get involved. In fact, one of their programs is My Soldier in the Classroom. This program has allowed many children to write letters to our service men and women while strengthening letter-writing skills. You can access the resources and here: mysoldier.com
In addition to the free lesson plan, they feature a variety of programs that help ensure that the needs of our troops are being sufficiently met. The Hats off to Veterans is a new program that recognizes veterans as well as deployed soldiers. Additionally, the Hats off to Veterans program has a free starter kit as well.
To foster community service in the youth, Manhattanville College My Soldier offers an award for youth who have shown outstanding performance in community service through the My Soldier program. There is an application form that may be downloaded from the official website if you would like to apply for the award.
Another program that My Soldier features honors women who are deployed. The My Solider Her Story program focuses specifically on women in the military. To sign up, you will need to register then send an email with the subject line: Her Story. Within several days you will receive contact information so that you may begin writing letters. With any of the My Soldier programs, you may send a care package if you like. However, it is not a requirement. My Soldier is a wonderful way to ensure that our servicemen and women know that they are not forgotten about, but that they are appreciated, honored, and respected.