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For the July letters that we got back from our troops, CLICK HERE.
The OPERATION: THANK YOU! INDIANA NEWSLETTER Summer 2009
June started with us up at our 1st car show at Willies! It was a beautiful night with so many unique cars it was fascinating to look at and to talk with the owners about the rich history of the cars. It was a great night! We did have a little mishap with our tent! It blew over and broke the frame. Willie’s at Hidden Valley donated a new heavy duty tent to Operation Thank You! We are blown away with your generosity! Thank You so very much!
The next week brought Bike Night! Another beautiful night at Willies! So many neat bikes and neat people! We really enjoy meeting and getting to know the many patriotic people in this GREAT country!
The end of June brought a fantastic fishing trip at Cumberland Lake that 10 of our soldiers were able to enjoy. Matt Eggers (donation Manager) organized and planned the trip for our guys! The fishing guides at Cumberland donated guided fishing trips; houseboat rental was donated, along with food from the State Dock. Everyone had a great time, and one of our soldiers-Rodger caught the biggest fish! Matt had arranged for the biggest fish to be stuffed! A service donated by Bright Taxidermist. Thank you! The memories from the fishing trip will last a lifetime! We can’t thank all these wonderful men enough for provided such a great weekend for our troops!
In July, we attended the Bright fireman’s festival. It was another great year! We met so many wonderful people who truly love our soldiers! We met for the first time, parents of one of our soldiers. It is truly a blessing to share a similar sacrifice with such awesome people! It was a great weekend! We thank the local businesses that provided raffle prizes for our booth! Sugar Ridge golf course, Larosa’s Harrison, Monks Kitchen, Frisch’s, Bright Four seasons landscape, Logans supermarket, Market Street Grill, Skyline Chili-Lawrenceburg, and the Herbert boys of Jeezy Petes LLC who donated two of the Trivia Thon games for the raffle, and 12 games for our soldiers! Thank You all!
We met JD at our local radio station-99.3 He asked us to help him kick off his Operation Roll Call-where every night at 8:10 he honors a local soldier serving in active duty. We were able to spend some time with some of our families, who were able to speak of their loved ones who were deployed. That was a powerful night and JD is a true patriot! Thank you for letting us be apart of it! Also thanks to JD for all of his support of Operation Thank You and all our service men and women!
July also brought home our birthday mom’s son, Christian! We were honored with an invitation to his welcome home out at St. Peters Indiana. What an awesome community! Standing there with Christian, him looking out at St. Peters on what was just a perfectly beautiful day, he said “This is home”. What a wonderful place to grow up! He is a GREAT man, with a beautiful family and the foundation of a great community with so many friends and loved ones! Words cannot describe how we were touched that day!
In August we had a talent show on the beach of Hidden Valley! Again, we were blessed with beautiful weather! Our own Jason Le Grand could not attend, but he loaned us all his sound equipment along with a projector! We struggled a little with operating it, but everyone was very patient. We had so many wonderful acts, singers and dancers! Dave from the Bright Fire Dept. brought me to tears with his beautiful voice! Little Elizabeth Isom was the big winner of the night. She is 4 and sang a Taylor Swift song that warmed everyone’s heart! Everyone did a Great job! Terri Potraffke again was the mc and did an awesome job, thank Terri! We made several contacts and just had a GREAT time! A Hugh thank you to Home Furniture and Flooring for donating $$$ for our prize money! You do so much for the community, and we are touched that you gave to this event!
We participated in Drug Awareness day here in Hidden Valley Lake. Another beautiful day! Fun was had by all! There were many giveaways and demonstrations. Harriett saw the picture of Hannah, one of our soldiers with a k9 unit in Iraq. She then donated a huge bag of dog treats from Schmidt bakery in Batesville, IN. Hannah wrote to how Cora her dog, tried to eat the whole bag at once! All the dogs enjoyed those wonderful treats! Thank you Harriett! We met with many Avon Reps at the Sherman House in Batesville. These women were very interested in hearing about our soldiers and doing what they can to help. It was very nice to meet these wonderful women. We also met with the women’s group at St. Teresa in Bright, IN. Again, wonderful women interested in helping our soldiers. I feel kinda bad when visiting, because I could talk about our troops for hours and hours!
At one of our planning and packing meetings in August, we were all sitting around the table-when we look out, and see one of our soldiers who just returned from his deployment coming up the driveway! I cannot capture in words how it feels to meet our soldiers when they come home. It is so overwhelming! How thankful we are to Joshua for the HUGH surprise! It is awesome to hear of their experiences in the Middle East.
This summer has been bustling with activity! Many of our soldiers coming home and the honor of attending several wonderful welcome home parties. Several new soldiers heading to Iraq and Afghanistan. Again, we cannot thank the great people of this GREAT country for supporting our men and women serving and sacrificing so much for our protection! We thank you for your support of Operation Thank You as we reach out to our troops and let them know they are loved, cared about, and most of all, not forgotten!
Remember:
We are one person working with many to serve our troops while they serve us!
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