"BLANKETS OF HOPE"

Q: So tell me, Beth, how long ago did SA begin? Why/by whom was SA founded?

Soldiers' Angels was started by Patti Patton-Bader, mom to two American soldiers, whose eldest son spent 2003-2004 in Iraq, and her youngest was deployed in 2008.

In the summer of his 2003, Bader's eldest son expressed concern that some soldiers in his unit rarely—if ever—received mail or support from home. Patti, a loving and caring mother, decided to do something about it.

After asking a handful of friends and family members to "adopt" a soldier or two, Soldiers' Angels went from just one mom sending letters and care packages to an Internet community with thousands of Angels worldwide.

As more and more merchants donated services, money, and items for care packages, Soldiers' Angels reorganized as a 501(c)(3) non-profit in 2004. Soldiers' Angels currently supports tens of thousands of American military personnel around the world and here at home. Today, our hundreds of thousands of volunteers are led by an all-volunteer Board of Trustees as Soldiers' Angels works across the globe to address military-related needs...ranging from deployed support to wounded care, remembrance of the fallen, and a wide variety assistance for military families at home and abroad.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about what SA does on behalf of soldiers and their families?

Soldiers' Angels currently supports tens of thousands of American military personnel around the world and here at home. Our hundreds of thousands of volunteers work around the world to address military-related needs ranging from deployed support to wounded care, to remembrance of the fallen and a wide variety assistance for military families. They do this through activities ranging from sewing to letter-writing, care packages, memorial activities, VA hospital visits, fundraising, etc. For more information, visit http://soldiersangels.org/teams-programs.html.

Q: How many chapters/branches of SA are there?

Soldiers’ Angels operates under one umbrella. We do not have chapters within our organization, but we do have a number of volunteer leaders around the country who work within their communities to conduct troop support events and get their neighbors involved with actively support America’s heroes.

There are three ways: Individual volunteers or small groups of volunteers “adopt” and support an individual soldier throughout his/her deployment; a community group holds a care package drive to ship a number of care packages directly to a unit in need or send the gathered items to the Soldiers’ Angels warehouse; the SA warehouse ships care packages to units/individual soldiers for special occasions (birthdays, holidays, etc.) or while they are waiting for an adopting Angel.

I think the following letters, written by the soldiers, themselves, sum it up far better than I can:

There are not any words that can describe how thankful I am for what everyone from Soldiers' Angels did for the 29th CAB’s Deployment ceremony. Every one of you are true angels in disguise and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for coming through and making the ceremony unforgettable. - Military Wife Carrie

I'm in the Air Force and have spent time in Afghanistan. The care packages help keep us sane while we are gone. The smiles you put on our faces when we know people at home care about us: PRICELESS. - Kimberly I am so grateful that people are thinking about us while we are over here. I work in the hospital and am humbled to care for our Wounded Warriors...Thank you for helping take care of us, too. - Air Force CAPT Whitney in Afghanistan, January 2012

Thanks for all the support and the efforts, we over here appreciate everything you guys do for us. Just know that the simple gesture of seeing letters from our people in the US makes us very happy and helps us to look forward to accomplishing our mission and coming back home safe. - SSG Marcos in Afghanistan, January 2012

Thanks for supporting the troops, when others won't. We do what do for people like you.- SGT G in Afghanistan, January 2012

We got a guitar yesterday from Soldiers Angels!!! Complete with some cool Soldiers Angels picks! WOW!!! The soldier on mail duty was so excited to bring it in! It was instantly opened up, and the chapel was full of music all evening long. In the first evening, I've already sat down with two soldiers for some guitar lessons. And I haven't even let people know we have a new guitar to play. One soldier started playing a little song, a gentle little melody. We asked what he was playing. He said he would be turning it in to a song for his wife when she sees him again! Great moment! Thank you for ALL you do! It is HIGHLY appreciated. - CH (MAJ) Ben S. in Afghanistan, January 2012

And if that isn't convincing enough, check out our Testimonials page.

Q: Wow, you're so right! Those are uplifting messages! So... how many people does it take to "run" Soldiers' Angels (staff, administrators, volunteers)? ?

It is impossible to give an exact number. 21 full and part-time staff/admin (mostly veterans) are led by a volunteer CEO and Board of Trustees. In addition, hundreds of thousands Angel volunteers, working (literally) around the world, serve on Soldiers’ Angels projects as described here: http://soldiersangels.org/teams-programs.html.

That is also an impossible number to tally completely. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers have been adopted by volunteers, and additional tens of thousands of wounded and veterans have been assisted with everything from gifts to visits of support and cards of encouragement sent directly from volunteers across the country. Project Valour-IT alone has helped over 6,000 severely-wounded heroes, and Soldiers’ Angels helped 1800 military families with their holiday celebrations this last winter. The Wounded Team has given out over 30,000 First Response Backpacks. The veterans team has given grants to thousands of needy families, and the list goes on and on. We are the biggest troop support organization of this type (supporting all phases of military life plus families), so we have a gigantic reach.

I'll let the following links speak for themselves:

Shepherds and Scarves

Our Holiday Efforts

Just visit the Soldiers’ Angels website to explore the many different ways to get involved. To sign up to adopt a soldier or join one of the teams, click on “Join or Adopt,” read the page and then click on the Angel graphic near the bottom to get started. For most of the teams/activities, people need to include the “Verification” option when they sign up, so that we can share with them the personal/contact info about the soldier they will be helping.