GFWC/Ohio Federation of Women's Clubs
OFWC PRESIDENT'S SPECIAL
PROJECT
OPERATION: HELPING HANDS
for HEROES
LED Chair Wendy Sturick
The heroes are the deployed, the veterans, the families left
behind to cope, the widows and widowers, the children who have lost a parent,
and the Gold Star Mothers. These are the
people that need help due to military deployment. Also there are those who have died and need
to be honored and remembered. This project
provides a variety of ways for clubwomen to help Ohio's heroes. The focus of the project is the many people
affected by war, which allows clubwomen to assist those people while
maintaining the GFWC/OFWC non-partisan, non-sectarian outlook.
OFWC is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Memorial Forest Shrine in 2007. There will be a special remembrance at the Shrine during the Gold Star Mothers Pilgrimage on Sunday, September 30, 2007. All are welcome to attend this important event.
OFWC Clubs - make sure you publicize this event in your area. Click the following link to download a press release you can use, and customize for your club.
Press Release for Memorial Shrine's 60th Anniversary
COMMITTEE GOALS
- Encourage clubs and individual club
members to write letters of support, thanks, and encouragement to troops.
Tell a soldier about your club and
the work you do in your community (see address below).
- Send care packages to troops.
Create and send your own or do
it through an organization that specializes in this work (see website list
below).
- Work with local veterans groups.
Let them know your club exists and find
out what they need.
Do they know about the Memorial
Forest Shrine? If not, offer to provide a brief
overview at one of their meetings.
- Publicize the history, and importance
of the Memorial
Forest Shrine.
Tell the local media, especially
around patriotic holidays. Share
with veterans groups, as mentioned above.
Provide rides to the Shrine for Gold Star Mothers. Organize club, community, or even family
road trip to the shrine. Directions to the Memorial Shrine
- Remember that our troops are not just
in Iraq and Afghanistan,
but over the whole world.
They all need to be remembered.
- Reach out to the families of our
soldiers.
Offer to cook them dinner, to mow
their lawn, watch their kids or help in your own unique way.
- Organize clubs to volunteer at a Veterans Hospital
As an ongoing or special project
- Raise funds for the Memorial Forest Shrine
Maintenance funds are always
needed. Don't wait for problem to
occur!
Gold Star Mothers
Gold Star Mothers' website
The history of the Gold Star Mothers
Find organizations that help families
then pass on the information:
For example:
- The
America Red Cross can help with emergency communications that link active
duty military personnel with their families back home, financial
assistance, and counseling through the Red Cross Armed Forces Emergency
Services (AFES).
- Are
there local groups trying to get the word out about help for families,
Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), or children who have lost a parent
serving in one of the Armed Forces?
Then find out what services are offered and find a way to get the
information out in the community via other groups, local health care
offices, or places of worship. Search
for groups that need help in getting the word out and use your media
contacts, your personal networks, your club newsletters and websites, and
don?t forget word of mouth, to let as many people know about these kinds
of important services.
- Is
there a need for help for veterans and/or families of the deployed in your
area that is not being met? Then
use your contacts to build a solution with other groups. Even if you can get something started by
identifying a need, you will have truly made a contribution to improving
the lives of those affected by deployment.
PLEASE NOTE:
For security reasons Walter Reed Army Medical Center will no longer accept mail, CARE packages or donations sent to "Any Wounded Soldier". Instead, George Weightman, Major General, MC, Commanding encourages you to access some of the many websites available to show support, that include greeting cards, virtual Thank You cards, and various donations to help our Wounded Warriors.
For those without computer access, he suggests contacting your local National Guard or Army Reserve units, because, “they too may be in need of your kind thoughts, support and words of encouragement.
On behalf of my staff and outpatients, I want to offer my thanks for your kindness and your continued support of our troops here and abroad.”
Websites with more information and
ideas: