The best time of the day for our troops stationed in Iraq is mail call.  Letters from home and care packages from loved ones remind them that they haven’t been forgotten.  Stationed in the desert or patrolling the streets of Baghdad, it can be too easy to feel cut off from life back home.  This is especially true for the troops who don’t have someone writing them or sending them care packages.  The men and women who get passed over time and again at mail call must face the danger of combat and the long, lonely days without the support of loved ones back home.  One woman has made it her mission to make sure that all the men and women who serve our country know that they are appreciated. 

The Soldiers’ Angels is a non-profit organization that was started by one mother of a deployed soldier.  When her son told her that there were soldiers in Iraq who never got a letter from home, she decided to do what she could to make sure that no soldier was forgotten.  What started out as a mother asking her friends to write a few letters has become a thriving organization dedicated to supporting out troops stationed around the world.  

The Soldiers’ Angels has volunteers who adopt soldiers, sailors, Marines and airmen.  Volunteers can adopt a service member and take on the reward of writing and sending care packages to one of our service members.  The organization also works with merchants who donate goods and services to send in care packages.  One of their largest projects was to raise money to purchase and send Kevlar blankets to Iraq to help protect our troops traveling in Humvees from IEDs.  Soldiers’ Angels also works to support wounded service members by providing them with backpacks filled with needed supplies and letters of gratitude and visiting wounded troops.  To date they have sent over 5,000 backpacks to wounded service members. 

Soldiers’ Angels is also supporting our troops by supporting those families left behind.  The organization is recognizing the needs of the families of our deployed troops through Operation Outreach.  Operation Outreach sends letters and emails of support and encouragement to the families of deployed service members.  They can also help provide gifts for birthdays or holidays, link family members with pen-pals who can offer continued support and in some cases even provide limited financial assistance. 

You can learn more about this wonderful organization and how they support our troops by visiting their website at www.solderisangels.org.