Christmas For The Troops
Christmas For The Troops - 2010
This program was intended to express our sincere appreciation to our soldiers, airmen and sailors serving our country overseas. These brave service men and women sacrifice everyday for us; fighting in war zones, living under less than desirable conditions and being separated from their family and loved ones. During the Holiday Season, this is an additional strain on them and we wanted to make life a little more tolerable and enjoyable for them. We used the web site, www.anysoldier.com and chose the receiving troops carefully, ensuring the ones with the greatest need received the packages. With the generous donations of the Association of Oregon Corrections Employees (AOCE) and the penitentiary staff contributing their own money and donating items, we were able to package and send 110 large boxes to the fighting men and women in the Armed Services. This significantly surpassed last year’s total of 68 packages. These packages included socks, toiletries, snacks, coffee, games, food, DVD's, magazines and other items they requested. In each package a letter was enclosed explaining the donations were from staff at the Oregon State Penitentiary. Without the donations and assistance of staff this project would’ve not been successful. The Silent Auction raised a large portion of the money used for the purchase of items. Thank you to all the staff which made the auction successful, both in donations and purchases. Some of the proceeds from the tower sculptures, which were fabricated in the OCE Metal Shop and VT Auto, also went into the program so thank you to Benny Ward and staff in the Metal Shop and Bill Gastoni in the Auto Shop. Sgt. Curt Hinzman and his wife donated a very large amount of the postage costs. SFC Scott Nyquist of the Oregon Army National Guard donated backpacks for the auction. Oak Park Family Dentistry donated a large supply of tooth brushes. Joy Jekabsons sold over 200 (Supporting Our Troops Far From Home) ink pens to raise money. Micah Working collected $100 on the Marine Corps birthday (Nov. 10) and donated the proceeds to our program. Elaine Weaver-Foster acquired a large supply of dental hygiene items from her dentist and cashed in cans and bottles to purchase Christmas lights for the troops. Ava Levi provided 100 “Thank You” and Holiday letters from latchkey children to include in the packages. Another big thank you goes out to Deby Borup, Joe Brady, Debi Mynatt and Apryl Buchholz for donating their time to package, address labels and mail the packages. Last and not least, thank you to Mr. Jeff Premo for his great support and for allowing us to do all we needed to do to make this program work and give to our troops. Our troops will continue to need our support throughout the year, not just during the Holidays. You can continue to give by logging online to: www.anysoldier.com. Please consider giving what you can all year long! Sincerely and thank you,
Mark Buchholz In November of 2009, the OSP Crisis Negotiators spearheaded the "Christmas for the Troops" program.This program was intended to express our sincere appreciation to our soldiers, airmen and sailors serving our country overseas. These brave service men and women sacrifice every day for us, fighting in war zones, living under less than desirable conditions, and being separated from their family and loved ones.
The Holiday Season can be an additional strain, and the negotiators wanted to make life a little more tolerable and enjoyable for them. They used the web site, www.anysoldier.com and chose the receiving troops carefully, ensuring the ones with the greatest need would receive the packages. With the generous donations of the Association of Oregon Corrections Employees (AOCE), the Fitness Center, and DOC staff contributing their own cash and donating items, they were able to package and send 68 large boxes to the fighting men and women in the Armed Services. These packages included socks, toiletries, snacks, coffee, flashlights, DVD's, magazines, and other items they requested. In each package a note was enclosed explaining that the donations were from correctional staff from the Oregon Department of Corrections, and specifically named the participating institutions. Staff from many institutions and departments assisted with the program. The Dome Building, Brentwood, WCCF, DRCI and the Transport department donated items, money and their personal time. Sgt. Curt Hinzman, OSP, and his wife donated all the postage costs for the program, ensuring that the maximum amount of donated money was used toward supplies. The Crisis Negotiators have already received emails, letters and pictures from the troops expressing their thankfulness and gratitude for the donations. Our troops will continue to need our support throughout the year, not just during the Holidays. You can continue to give by logging online to: www.anysoldier.com. Please consider giving what you can all year long!
I am writing from Afghanistan to thank you for all your support. I signed my platoon up on the www.anymarine.com website as we departed on our deployment. I am happy to say we received your packages and were thrilled to receive them. The items you sent were awesome and really made the holiday season. Hopefully you received my letter through snail mail by now. We just got internet so I am able to send this email. We are three months into our 7 month deployment and things are starting to cool down. As you have seen on the news it has not been the best place here the last two months. You should know that we have almost got rid of the Taliban in our area, and the local people are great. They are so committed to establishing a good country, and hate the Taliban who have oppressed them in fear for years. The kids love the candy we give them. There are not really any schools and only 1 in every 10 kids can read and write. They ask for a pen before candy because they love to scribble. We are forever grateful to you for your kindness and support. We invite you to Hawaii so we can repay the favor upon our return in June...lol I will answer any questions you may have and I hope you keep in touch. We are your Marines, and here are some pictures of all the Marines you supported. God bless and thank you! Ssgt Jason Harris
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