VALENTINE'S CARD DRIVE FOR TROOPS - LET'S GIT-R-DONE!

It's that time again, folks!  Christmas is over with, New Year's celebrations are through (and hopefully recovered from!)... so now is the time to chase away those "after-holiday blahs" for our heroes! (Not to mention, the day-to-day "regular" blahs that come from being so far away from home!)  Check out the info below to see how you can help -- and please do forward this on to others, post on your blogs, message boards, etc -- we need a lot of people working together to reach our goal by January 31! (We also have a nice, printable flyer that you can hand out to folks - just email us and we'll get it to you!) ~ Thanks for your support of our HEROES!  

 

VALENTINE'S CARD DRIVE FOR DEPLOYED TROOPS

 

The Mission: To collect at least 3,000 Valentine's Day cards for troops stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and all over the world. We are also collecting Hershey's Kisses and Hershey's Hugs – the more, the better! 

 

The Reason: Being away from home and living in harsh conditions with combat & constant danger is difficult ~ our troops need to know we have not forgotten them!!! Mail from home helps to keep our troops' morale strong, making a very real difference in their lives. It keeps them motivated and focused when they know we care about them!

 

The Address: Send your signed, unsealed thank-you cards to the following address:

 

OPERATION LOVE FROM HOME

P.O. Box 1660

Loganville, Georgia, 30052

 

ALL CARDS MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 2009.

(Sorry, no exceptions or extensions can be granted due to shipping time!)

 

The Guidelines:

 

The cards can be handmade or store-bought. Even regular letters are fine. This is a great opportunity to get your Scout troop, school, church/house of worship and other civic organizations involved in doing something to tangibly show support for our troops.

 

Please do not write the date on your cards.

 

Keep the cards fun and light-hearted – this is not a dating service!

 

Send in Valentine's candy if you are able to!

 

If you have any questions, please contact us at Kat@OperationLoveFromHome.org or info@operationlovefromhome.org

 

Check out our website: www.OperationLoveFromHome.org for more info, and join our Yahoo Group to stay in the loop - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoveFromHome!

 

Postage costs are our biggest expense, and we are also in need of funds to file our 501(c)(3) application with the IRS. Donations towards postage and/or IRS filing fees are most gratefully accepted!

 

Operation Love From Home Update 10-19-08

Yesterday, Operation Love From Home participated in the annual "Loganfest" community festival. It was a resoundingly HUMONGOUS success! We collected 1,194 cards for our heroes in that ONE DAY alone, and between selling t-shirts/bracelets/hats and getting outright donations from folks, we raised $305 towards postage and supplies!!!! (that's huge...last year, mailing 27,000 cards cost us about $800 -- since we are doubling the goal this year, postage will be more expensive, as well. More cards = more shipping!).

Will finish counting the cards picked up at the post office over the weekend soon, and post our grand total so far ASAP. (Note: the totals reflect the number of cards we actually have in our possession - not including the number of folks who "have xx amount of cards and will send soon.")

We still have a long, long way to go to get to our goal of 50,000 cards, though... but we can do it! :)

Love From Home - UPDATE MAY 13 2008

Sorry I've been M.I.A. lately...things have been crazy here! This is a press release I sent out earlier today - thought I'd share with y'all, as well! (I modified it a bit for this blog). Spread the word if you so desire! ~ Kat

Good morning, y'all! Just wanted to make y'all aware of a few "troop support" events coming soon to Loganville and a big announcement, as well! :)

First and foremost -- over the next few months, we will be seeking to make "Operation Love From Home" an actual non-profit entity. For many years, I've conducted nation-wide card-and-care package drives for our deployed troops as an individual effort, working together with many friends from our community. Recently, the law firm I work for has offered to do the work of getting us set up as a 501(c)(3) corporation pro bono. It will be several weeks yet before the paperwork is started and filed due to the fact that this is a pro bono case (freebie!) and I have to wait until the attorney has time to work on the matter. However, that is in the works! Our Board of Directors will be as follows:

President - me (Kathy "Kat" Orr)
Vice-President -
Mellissa Slocum
Secretary - Michelle Lynch
Treasurer - Patty
Burgess
Media Relations - Tammy Osier

We have developed a new website, as well: www.OperationLoveFromHome.org . Feel free to check it out - Melissa and Michelle did a GREAT job putting it together!

A couple upcoming events you might wish to know about:

SUNDAY, MAY 25, 2008: There will be an "Operation Love From Home" table set up at the Orchard Church here in Loganville, so that people can sign cards for the soldiers. This is Memorial Day weekend ~ great time to remember and take a moment to appreciate our soldiers! Our table will be set up for BOTH services and folks can sign cards (or drop cards off) before & after the 9:00 service and the 10:45 service.

SATURDAY, MAY 31, 2008: Operation Love From Home will have a bake sale fundraiser at the American Legion in Loganville (Email me at Jeffskat@gmail.com for more info!). There will be a bounce house, face painting, hot dogs, lots of yummy goodies for sale, cake walks, and of course - lots of cards to sign for the troops! :) Soldiers' Connection, another local troop support organization, will also have a table set up there, as well. It will be a fun "troop support extravaganza!" :) Several local business are contributing to the event.

So far the number of cards for the troops we've received for this particular card drive is very low - I'd venture to say we have less than 500 (and the goal is 5,000). Will have a more firm number later on this week for you.

Several local area business are allowing folks to drop off cards for us -- Rey's Cuban Grill - Partyland - Three Sweet Peas Resale Boutique - Legacy State Bank .

Thank you everyone for your support!!!! Our mission is to support our military - and we couldn't do it without YOU!

OPERATON: VALENTINE 2008

*Please note this post will stay up top until after January 30. New posts will follow below!

OPERATION: VALENTINE
Valentine’s Day Card Drive for Troops

Let's show our troops we love and support them!! Let’s help them chase away those after-
Christmas blues!! We are now collecting Valentine's cards to send to our troops stationed in Iraq
and Afghanistan. If you wish to participate, please send light-hearted, silly, cheerful cards to this address:

Mrs. Kat Orr
Operation Valentine
P.O. Box 1660
Loganville, GA 30052

Please make sure to leave the envelopes unsealed – every card is read before it is shipped, to
ensure appropriate content.

I am also collecting “Hershey’s Kisses” and “Hershey’s Hugs” candy, and any other silly
Valentine’s candy you’d like to send – lollipops, candy hearts, etc.

The cards can be handmade or store-bought... for that matter, they don't even have to be cards; a hand -written letter is just as wonderful! Let's all band together and overwhelm our heroes with support! This is a great project for Scout troops, churches, or other organizations to get involved with!

ALL CARDS MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN

JANUARY 30, 2008

Thank you so much for having a heart for our heroes!
If you have any questions about this campaign, please e-mail me at
LoveFromHome@gmail.com. Also, you might wish join my Yahoo Group,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoveFromHome in order to receive updates about the progress of this and other card drives.

**IMPORTANT NOTE: This is not a "dating service" of any type. Please do not send suggestive or otherwise inappropriate cards or pictures. Remember: This is strictly to let the troops know that we love them, we are proud of them and that we HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN them!

**IMPORTANT NOTE 2: This card drive is an individual effort and not done in conjunction with or on behalf of any organizations or groups

CORRECTION TO LOVE FROM HOME TOTAL!!!!!!

Ooops - sorry! I thought that first number seemed kind of low... turns out i missed a couple boxes in my calculations.

True total going out today is 25,400 cards...

Excellent job y'all. after I've slept some (alot i mean), I'll post something more coherent.

till then, all i have to say is:

HOOAH! (or OOH-RAH!, depending on your service branch of choice!) ;)

Pack & Ship Party at My Place, TONIGHT! (11/30)

Well, tonight (friday night) is the night for the big "Pack & Ship" party, wherein all however-many-thousand Christmas cards we've gathered for our deployed heroes are boxed and shipped! I will not have an exact total for you until tomorrow night... I CAN tell you that we have almost certainly easily achieved the 20,000-card/letter goal.... but I will know more exactly tonight. I"ve been working on my address list tonight, preparing shipping lables, my cover letter to include in each box, and figuring out who gets how many cards, etc. :)

And now... I'm going to sleep!!! :) 0500 shows up way too early in the day... and tomorrow promises to be an adventure! :)

Stay tuned....

Holy Cow......

Between the Christmas cards I've received (and am still getting in) and the letters leftover from Q100's Big Thank You that I was given, we are currently up to...15,719 cards/letters/etc to ship to our heroes all over the world!!! This is by no means the "final count." I don't think I'll truly have the final final count until late Friday night! But it's bound to be a huge number! :) Too darn awesome. :)

Thanks everyone for all you've done to make this year such a success!!!!!

OPERATION: LOVE FROM HOME 2007

NOTE: THIS POST WILL STAY ON TOP UNTIL NOVEMBER 24, 2007. NEW POSTS WILL FOLLOW BELOW.


OK, here we go again..... time to collect cards for our Heroes overseas!! Last year, thanks to all of you working together, over 20,000 (yes, that's TWENTY THOUSAND) Christmas/holiday cards were shipped to our troops in harm's way. Let's do it again this year! I know we can!!! Our heroes need us now more than ever -- let's show them our love & appreciation!

OPERATION: LOVE FROM HOME

During this holiday season, let's show our troops we love and support them!

From OCTOBER 1 to NOVEMBER 24, I will be collecting holiday cards for troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Being away from home and living in harsh conditions during the holiday season is especially difficult ~ they need to know we have not forgotten them! Mail from home helps to keep our troops' morale strong, making a very real difference in their lives. [Click HERE to read what one of the soldiers who was a past recipient of Operation Love From Home has to say about how important it is to hear from us back home! :) ]

Send your signed, unsealed holiday cards to:

Mrs. Kathy Orr
OPERATION: LOVE FROM HOME
P.O. Box 1660
Loganville, Georgia, 30052

The cards can be handmade or store-bought. This is a great opportunity to get your Scout troop, school, church and other civic organizations involved in doing something to show support for our troops.

If you wish to send an email greeting,which will be printed off and mailed along with the holiday cards, please send an email to: LoveFromHome@Gmail.com

*IMPORTANT GUIDELINES: This is not a "dating service" of any type. Please do not send suggestive or otherwise inappropriate cards or materials. Please also refrain from making political statements of any nature. I will be reading and screening every card received to ensure that the above guidelines are adhered to. Remember: This is strictly to let the troopsknow that we love them, we are proud of them and that we HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN them!

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT ME AT LoveFromHome@Gmail.com. You can also join my Yahoo group to receive regular updates on the card drives --http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoveFromHome

Also, please note: this is an individual effort done separately from any organization I may be affiliated with.

Here is a post about last year's Love From Home total: click here. Even after I posted this, I got a couple thousand more cards... so we hit and even exceeded the 20,000-card goal! :)

LOVE FROM HOME UPDATE 10-27-07

Today, I received 440 cards in the mail for operation love from home! :) Yay! The grand total now is 2,014.... only about 18,000 shy of the 20K goal! We've got about one month left, so keep 'em comin'!!!! Thanks everyone!!!

OPERATION LOVE FROM HOME UPDATE

Hello, y'all! here I am, with this week's update on Operation Love From Home! Yesterday, I had a booth at a local festival to collect signed holiday cards for the troops. It was wildly successful! Last year at the same festival, I was able to get 300 cards. THIS year, however, my friends & I walked away with 1,111 signed cards!!!! How awesome is that?! So far, the grand total is 1,574 cards collected. Awesome! It's still a long way from the 20,000-card goal, so keep those cards comin' in! :-)

Love from Home Update, Week 1

Wow, what a great start!!!! I counted the cards & letters received this week, and already we have 83 cards toward the 20,000-card goal!!!

GREAT JOB!!!!

OPERATION THANKS FOR FREEDOM - FINAL UPDATE

GREAT JOB, EVERYONE!!!! I just got finished counting the 4th of July cards, etc... the grand total of cards & emails that will be shipped to soldiers/Marines all over Iraq tomorrow morning is..... 2,895!! Also sending out ten phone cards someone graciously donated, as well. HOOAH! (or OOH-RAH! for you Marines out there...)

Thanks everyone for a job MOST well done!!! :) Stay tuned for the annual Christmas/holiday card drive, scheduled to start October 1 to Nov. 24!

Operation: Thanks for Freedom 2007 Update

Just a quick note to let you know that I should have an official, final count of how many cards were collected for troops overseas this evening. I am very sorry I didn't have the final count done sooner...however, between our trip to Washington, DC and hubby's unexpected heat stroke & subsequent hospitalization, I fell way behind on counting and reading them all. Thanks to several awesome local friends, they have all be read (to ensure approriate content) and sorted, etc.... tonight I'll have them all back and will give you the official final total. My rough guestimation as of right now is that it's at least 2,000 cards, hopefully close to 3,000...but we'll see tonight! :)

OPERATION: THANKS FOR FREEDOM 2007!

THIS POST WILL STAY "STICKIED" TO THE TOP OF THE BLOG UNTIL THE CARD DRIVE IS OVER - NEW POSTS WILL APPEAR BELOW!

OPERATION: THANKS FOR FREEDOM!
Fourth of July Card Drive for Troops


Let's show our troops we love and support them! Starting NOW, I will be collecting cards to send to troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. If you wish to participate, please send light-hearted, silly, cheerful, and encouraging cards to this address:

Mrs. Kat Orr
Operation: Thanks for Freedom!
P.O. Box 1660
Loganville, GA 30052

You may also send a e-mail of support to the following email address: LoveFromHome@gmail.com. Any e-mail received to this e-mail account will be printed and mailed, together with the cards.
The cards can be handmade or store-bought... for that matter, they don't even have to be cards; a hand -written letter is just as wonderful! Let's all band together and overwhelm our heroes with support! This is a great project for Scout troops, churches, or other organizations to get involved with!

ALL CARDS MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN SATURDAY, JUNE 9, 2007

(Please do NOT seal the envelopes)

Thank you so much for supporting our troops!

If you have any questions about this campaign, please e-mail me at LoveFromHome@gmail.com. Also, you might wish join my Yahoo Group, http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoveFromHome in order to receive updates about the progress of this and other card drives.

**IMPORTANT NOTE: This is not a "dating service" of any type. Please do not send suggestive or otherwise inappropriate cards or pictures. I will be reading and screening every Card received to ensure that the above guidelines are adhered to (please DO NOT seal the envelope)! Any card deemed inappropriate will not be sent! Remember: This is strictly to let the troops know that we love them, we are proud of them and that we HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN them!

**IMPORTANT NOTE 2: This card drive is an individual effort and not done in conjunction with or on behalf of any organizations or groups

THIS POST WILL STAY "STICKIED" TO THE TOP OF THE BLOG UNTIL THE CARD DRIVE IS OVER - NEW POSTS WILL APPEAR BELOW!

Operation: Thanks For Freedom in the News

Another wonderful article has been written about Operation: Thanks for Freedom! This appeared in the Sunday edition of the Gwinnett Daily Post.

Sending letters shows troops your support

04/29/2007

James M. Foote of Buford wrote a poignant letter to the editor on April 11. He called to task people who claim to support our troops, and presented a 12-point “prove-it” test so people can judge for themselves just how much they are really doing to support the troops.

Read the rest HERE.....

I don't have an "exact" number to update everyone with of the cards collected so far - I'm still in the process of reading & counting them. My guesstimation is that I have slightly less than 400 towards the goal of 5,000 or more. My trip to the post office today again left me walking away empty-handed. However, I know there are folks all over the country working on this and along with the above article, word is getting out, and that will soon change! :) The first 3 weeks are always slow - things pick up exponentially after that. :)

Saturday, I had a booth at a local community festival, Grayson Days. In five hours, all the 300+ cards I'd brought with me were signed, and folks still asking for more! Awesome! Next weekend will be a long one -- I'll be appearing at the Snellville Days festival, which is a MAJOR, two-day event. I anticipate getting SEVERAL hundred cards each day (hopefully, they put our booth in a good spot - that will determine a lot!). Keep your fingers crossed and say a few prayers!

FRIDAY'S FEAST

Appetizer
What are you proud of?

All of my adopted Soldiers & Marines & Veterans, who give so much on our behalf!

Soup
What is the best thing you’ve ever won as a prize?

Oh that’s easy…. My HOUSE! Though it wasn’t exactly a prize for a contest, per se… click HERE to read about it! I’m still in shock, and it’s been two months now! Haha! As far as winning prizes in contests, etc… I NEVER do!

Salad
Name something you do that is a waste of time.

Reading emails when I should be doing homework!

Main Course
In what year of your life did you change the most?

Gee, hard to pinpoint just one year… isn’t life just a constant flow of continual change, in some fashion or another? I’d say the year it changed for the best was 1999, when I moved back home to Georgia where I belong, after having spent six long, cold, miserable years exiled up in New Jersey! Gotta love the South… good (fried) food, warmer weather… ahhhh…. Yep, life is good.

Dessert
Where is a place you consider to be very tranquil?

The mountains in the middle of nowhere.
==============================================================

And on an unrelated note: Y’all stay tuned – very, very soon (within the next day or two!) I will be starting my annual 4th of July card drive to collect cards from all over the country to send to our troops stationed in both Iraq and Afghanistan… watch this blog for more info!

My Life: A Crazy, Pollinated Whirlwind

Hi, all! Sorry it’s been so long (again) since I’ve blogged. I swear I’m running around like a chicken with its head cut off, or a dog chasing its tail, or whatever down-home countrified metaphor you’d like to insert here!

Things here are NUTS, just nuts. This weekend is going to be a big (and busy) weekend. First, on Saturday morning, I have to bake a whole mess of cookies for an event taking place on Sunday. Also, Saturday one of our adopted Soldiers is supposed to come down for the weekend… my long-time readers know who I mean! Yay! He’s supposed to arrive around noon or shortly thereafter. Hubby and I are taking him to the Blue Willow Inn for dinner that evening. Well over a year ago, when this soldier was in Iraq, I’d told him that he’d have a big “WELCOME HOME” dinner when he got back, and asked what he’d like. Well, like any good ole Southern boy, his immediate response was, “SOUTHERN FOOD!!!” Sooo…. Off to the Blue Willow we will go!

Sunday will be very special. (In addition to be insanely crazy busy!) Remember back in October, I wrote about attending the funeral for Spc. Aaron Kincaid and how I joined the Patriot Guard Riders? Well, Aaron’s mom, Marcia, has been working very diligently to put together an extremely special memorial garden in her backyard. It is in memory not just of her son, but of all of our fallen Heroes. Sunday afternoon will be the official garden dedication ceremony. It will be WONDERFUL. Soldiers’ Angels is providing the catering for the event and several PGR members will be in attendance, along with a whole lot of other folks. My adopted 48th BCT medic and his platoon Sgt. will be there… they are actually going to meet at my house, and we are all gonna ride in together. (So yes, that means I will have a picture taken with not just ONE of my adopted soldiers, but TWO! How cool will THAT be? Not to mention, two of my adopted “soldier-babies” meeting for the first time, how cool is that?!) Anyway, the whole thing is going to be a beautiful, and I’m sure, highly emotional event. I will make sure to post in great detail about it, together with many pictures. And I should not fail to mention – Sunday, April 1, 2007, is Aaron Kincaid’s birthday.

In meaningless and trivial news, pollen counts here are at a record high. If you CLICK HERE, you can click a link to a video that shows the pollen this morning falling so heavy, it looked like it was snowing. Seriously. Visibly-falling pollen. My car is yellow, my porch is yellow, everything is yellow. Ack!

Oh, and before I forget -- the 4th of July card drive will be staring up again within the next few days. Stay tuned for information to follow soon!

So, that’s all for now. Till next time…

An "Operation: Valentine" Thank You!

I got an email from one of my soldiers today! I asked him if he received the Valentine's cards and candy shipped over... thought I'd share his reply with y'all! Thanks for everything -- Y'all did good! :) Happy soldiers means a happy Momma Kat! :)

YES I DID!

Well, I got ONE of them... the rest of them were passed out to everybody I could find. I had to slit open the bags of candy and drop them into the box, because we have some senior-ranking TOCroaches here that will snag a whole bag.

You really made a whole BUNCH of days!

*High five* Good job, y'all!!!!!!!! MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Stay tuned for July 4 card drive - beginning in late April or early May!

Operation: Valentine: SUCCESS!!!

WOOOHOOO!!!!!! Operation: Valentine is hereby officially concluded!!!!! Almost 5,000 cards and LOTS of Valentine candy were shipped out to our deployed heroes today!!!! The final postage tally was $267 -- $185 of it was covered by unsolicited, generous donations (thanks to those who contributed... it helped tons!). Since this time around I was brutally clobbered by pneumonia, my friends and hubby came to my rescue. My "Loganville Online" friends "Sobella" and "MommaD" did the vast majority of the proofreading/screening and counting of the cards. Hubby graciously ran to and from the post office and back & forth between my friends' houses to retrieve cards and candy & bring them home for me. Without their help, Operation: Valentine would not have been possible!!! Stupid pneumonia!!! [Note to self: do NOT get pneumonia during future card drives!!!!]. A reporter (Sharon) from The Loganville Tribune came by last night to get pictures of the boxes I was packing (and packing veerrrrryyyy slowly, at that... I have NO energy, and just a little bit of effort/exertion really wears me out...stupid pneumonia). She said she will be doing a story about Operation: Valentine for the Valentine's edition of the Tribune. I'm REALLY glad I didn't attempt to go to the Post Office with hubby today... Sharon met hubby at the post office to get pictures... and VIDEO... Yikes! Said something about wanting to get video for some kind of new feature to be put on their website, showing clips of different community events and activities, etc... eeek! Haha! Bad enough that when she was here at our house last night I was wearing my PJ's and bathrobe, haha..... I'm in no shape to be on a VIDEO, yikes! haha! I'd scare everyone away from Loganville, at least the way I look today (about half-dead, haha). Anyway, whenever the Operation: Valentine appears in the paper, I'll make sure to post the article here... and if the video of hubby at the Post Office ever shows up on the Tribune website, I'll make sure to link it here, too!

Thanks, everyone, for your help! Y'ALL ROCK!!!!!! Now give yerselves a pat on the back, and rest up... Next card drive for the troops will be for the 4th of July -- will start gathering in April or May! Stay tuned, y'all......

back to the doc I go

In about 30 minutes I'm leaving to go to the doctor again. My fever is gone for the most part, but this cough is not...it's just as bad as ever. Doc said the x-rays showed signs of possible early pneumonia. He's going to check me out and see if I need to go have a vacation in the hospital for a few days (o joy). Hopefully I won't... I've already been taking the exact same antibiotic they would give me in the hospital... so I don't see what they could do there any different. I wish he'd give me something to help me sleep...nyquil helps a little bit -- but the coughing still keeps me up the majority of the night. I think I "really" slept off & on between 3:30 a.m. and 10 a.m. today...the rest of the time I was wide awake & coughing away. :(

Prayers, please! I gotta get these Valentine's cards out by Thursday!!!!!!! Must have energy to be able to do that! Ack!

I am out of work for the rest of this week, too. This is NOT my idea of a fun vacation...nope, not a'tall.....