I received this from Lance Cpl Adam Buck's dad the other day. You know him as LCaseRussell here on Daily Kos.
Tony,
I will forward your request. So far, only Facebook has the pictures. I do know that NFTT has made him a minor celebrity. With the first delivery they informed him that he had beaten the old record of boxes in a day by one. He received 14 that day. Three days later, when he received 29 boxes, he set a record for Camp Leatherneck that will stand until they stand down.
Thank you all again, you made my son happy, a gift every parent appreciates.
And the laundry bag question now intrigues me, I'll find out.
K
K was responding to my request of the picture he described in his diary. And since the laundry bag was a new item this year I was curious for some feedback. Kevin's appreciation affects me as much or more than Adam's. Many of us here don't have any children so in some ways all of NFTT's recipients are like our kids. The multiplying effect of each package is immeasurable. The number of people touched by what NFTT does can't be measured. From the donors and diarists to those who can only support with their recs and comments. To the volunteers at NN, whether it's volunteering at the booth during the week or helping us stage for the packing session or someone who walks by and is curious about all the hub-bub and joins the line. To the politicians and others who take the time to write a letter. We touch hundreds, possibly a over a thousand each year.
Most everyone does this with joy in their hearts and never complain when it gets tough. They follow my feeling that we don't do this for person acclaim. We don't do it to see our name highlighted somewhere. We do it because WE CARE and because IT MATTERS.
It's impossible to list all the people who should be told thank you for helping us achieve another great Care Package event at Netroots Nation in Providence this year. If you don't see your name, it's not because your efforts weren't appreciated, they were. As noted in another acknowledgement we received recently;
Mr. Gattis,
I have received several care packages from your organization. On behalf
of my Hurricane Warriors, I want to personally thank you and your
organization for supporting one of our greatest natural treasures, the
American Servicemen/women.
The packages' containing volunteer letters brings a smile to our
Soldiers faces. Many of my Soldiers receive little to no mail. Your
organizations time and efforts are greatly appreciated by the Soldiers.
Only less than one percent of our population volunteers to serve and We
proudly serve the people of the greatest nation in the world.
Respectfully
CSM DUROS
TF Hurricane CSM
As you can see, your efforts are so very much appreciated. It matters, whether you donated $1000 or all you were able to do was recommend the diary requesting donations that allowed that person who donated that $1000 to see what NFTT does.
IT MATTERS.
There are so many to say thank you to. Let me start with Patriot Daily News Clearinghouse
who helped organize our first NFTT Blogathon. She spent hours making phone calls and sending emails to politicians and bloggers. That's how we saw the likes of Gov. Howard Dean, Sen John Kerry and future Sen. Elizabeth Warren. write appeals on behalf of Netroots For The Troops®. All this she did while undergoing chemotherapy. (Which she didn't tell me about, I had to hear it from someone else.) And she repeated it in May with Tammy Duckworth. PDNC had her own crew she brings to these projects, so huge thanks go to PDNC and crew.
And then there's Chris Savage, known around these parts as Eclectablog (and no, I'm not outing him). Chris a board member of Netroots For The Troops® has handled our on site volunteers at Netroots Nation the last two years. No one works harder than Chris to help us achieve our Care Package event on Saturday. He writes diaries/post requesting volunteers and schedules them and directs them for the various needs that arise.
We also receive assistance from others who have never heard of Daily Kos but who are anxious to help us show our support for those in our military deployed in combat regions. Guys like Joe and Karl from the US postal Service who provided us with the supplies we needed on Wednesday and then showed up Saturday to help us set up and pack too. Then there's Bob Devlin, manager of the local Walgreens who gave us great discounts on the products we ordered through his store and even gave us the updated discounts when some of the product came in as sale items. Bob also brought a crew to help us pack. Continuing a practice started by the local stores in Las Vegas.
Cory Houston from Mechanix Wear, we've been working with Cory for three of the four years we've been working with Mechanix Wear. Cory was able last year to get some of the gloves donated. This year he up the anti and was able to get ALL the gloves donated.
Randy Yoakum from Gunny's Surplus who has given us the Sand Scarves at cost every year except the year he was able to give them to us.
We also have Anne Savage (wife of Chris) who took pictures that we hope to have available on our new website soon.
All of those who wrote letters to go in the Care Packages including Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Sherrod Brown.
A special shout out goes to Tarryl Clark a friend to NFTT since Vegas. She jumps in and helps us set up on Saturday morning and stays til the end.
And lets not forget DK Quilt Guild who put together a quilt and held a Silent Auction for it to benefit Netroots For The Troops®.
Also included in those that help make this event successful at Netroots Nation is the staff of Netroots Nation. The contacts may be via email, phone calls, text and in person conversations at NN start the Monday after each year's event in anticipation of the next year. They start with Karen and go on thru Eric and Nolan. There's exchanges with Carolyn, Mary and Raven. On site we work with not only those previously mentioned but we add Linda and Shanna. I know there's some more I'm missing.
Which brings us to the next group. This year Netroots For The Troops® helped organize a panel at Netroots Nation on Military Sexual Trauma. While I was the contact with NN, all the work and organizing was handled by Joan Brooker a kossack and board member of NFTT and was also the panel's moderator. The panel consisted of Col. Ann Wright, Elizabeth Stinson and MST survivor Tia Christopher.
And to close things out there's VeloVixen another NFTT board member and my right hand. She keeps me focused and organized. Another who spends most of her time at Netroots Nation spending hours at the booth doing all the little odd jobs that need to be done is CA Berkley WV.
These people are dedicated and believe in what we do at Netroots For The Troops®. They're part of the village that makes it happen, each doing their part with no thought of what's in it for them.