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MarineParents.com™ Newsletter
In This Issue
Great Gear for Marines and Families
Learning Center: Homecoming
Newsletter Signup
Dollar Campaign Kicks Off!
Moment of Silence on Memorial Day
Marine Week Schedule Released
Veteran Creates Corps Poster
Send Us Your Pictures!
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Learning Center:
About Deployment

 


Communications From your Marine, with the USMC, and with other families

 

Bills, taxes, legal issues, injuries, notification from the Marine Corps

 

 

Learning Center:
About Homecoming
 
 
 
 
 
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May 24, 2012
Greetings!

If this is the first edition of the Marine Parents newsletter you have received, WELCOME! If you are a returning reader we are glad you have joined us and thankful for your support.

In This Issue

This week we're kicking off our 2012 Dollar campaign to raise money for shipping care packages to our Marines serving in Afghanistan. If you and 19,999 of your closest friends just send a dollar each, we'll reach our goal! Read more about the campaign below.

Also in this issue: We're encouraging you to join us and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America by observing a moment of silence at 12:01 p.m. on Memorial Day to honor our fallen military heroes.

The full Marine Week schedule has been released, so check it out and stop by and see us when we're there June 14 through June 16 in Cleveland, Ohio.

Additionally, we're still looking for pictures of you and your family wearing gear from our EGA Shop. Read the story and learn how to send us a photo for our slideshow.

God bless and Semper Fi!
Web Signature

 

 

 

Tracy Della Vecchia

Founder and Executive Director
MarineParents.com™, Inc.

 

Buck Up and Support Dollar Drive

Dollar Campaign 2012 dollar campaign kicks off this week 

One dollar, coin style: 100 Lincolns, 20 Jeffersons, 10 FDRs, four Washingtons, two Kennedys, one Sacagawea or one Susan B. Anthony.

 

One dollar, greenback style: One Washington.

 

One dollar, MarineParents.com™ style: One more contribution that gets us closer to reaching our goal of $20,000 needed to send 1,800 care packages on July 28 to Marines in Afghanistan.

Please Fall Silent on Memorial Day
We support IAVA moment on Monday 

Memorial Day is Monday, May 28, 2012. While you're enjoying your three-day weekend, MarineParents.com™ encourages you to join with the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) in observing a moment of silence at 12:01 p.m. Monday.

 

IAVA is a national 200,000-member nonprofit, nonpartisan organization for Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans that promotes advocacy, awareness and assistance. In signing the pledge at and observing a moment of silence, you'll be getting back to what Memorial Day is all about: honoring those who have died in our nation's service.

 

Originally called Decoration Day, Memorial Day began as a way to honor the Civil War dead. Since those 19th century origins, it has expanded to include fallen heroes from all wars - and in modern times it has expanded further to include remembrance of all those who have gone before us, veterans or civilians. It was codified into a national holiday when Congress passed the National Holiday Act of 1971.

Click here to read more about IAVA ...

Click here to sign the pledge ...

Click here to read more about Memorial Day ...

 

Marine Week Full Schedule Released
Corps celebration begins in just 18 days 

Marine Week is just a few short weeks away, taking place June 11-17 in Cleveland, Ohio. The full schedule can be found here, so check it out and make plans to attend a celebration of community, country and Corps.  

 

All events are free and open to the public.

 

If you're interested in the military in general and the Marine Corps in particular (and if you're reading this, it's a good bet you are interested), there's a little something for everyone during Marine Week.

 

And if you're around during the weekend, look us up. MarineParents.com™ staff members will be in Cleveland on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, June 14-16. We hope to see you there! 

Click here to read more ...

 

Veteran Creates Marine Corps Poster
Keepsake piece available in our EGA Shop

It's a story as old as the military itself. A young man adrift and in need of direction joins the military, and his world falls into place. Marine Corps Vietnam veteran Ernie Fantini is no different.

 

"The Corps changed my life for the good," he says, "but of course, I was lucky. I was a young man heading for trouble. The Corps gave me an inner discipline that has never left."

To pay it back in his own way, Ernie developed a poster entitled, "Epic events of the United States Marine Corps: 'Tell it to the Marines.' "

 

It cost him $2,000 to pay the Lawrence, Kansas, designer and have the 18.5 x 9-inch poster printed in North Kansas City, Missouri. Ernie said he made the poster for himself, but when other people saw it, they encouraged him to print more and sell it. To do so legally, however, he needed a license from the Marine Corps. After six months of paperwork, he started marketing the poster, of which he had 1,000 copies made.

Click here to read more ... 

Click here to buy the poster ...  

 

You Oughta Be in (Our) Pictures
Send us photos of you wearing our clothing 

MarineParents.com™ wants you -- to send photos of your family decked out in the apparel you buy from us.

 

It could be your family at graduation, all sporting red 1st Battalion T-shirts (or yellow 2nd Btn. or blue 3rd Btn.). Or maybe your whole family has relationship-specific T-shirts such as "The Few, The Proud the Father of a United States Marine." Or maybe, just maybe, you're wearing a Semper Gumby T-shirt because you're always flexible.

 

So get snapping, and send us photos of you and your family wearing clothing from our EGA Shop at our email address MP@MarineParents.com. You just might wind up in our slideshow!

Click here to see our first slideshow ...

 


 
 

We hope this week's edition of our email newsletter has been useful for you and your family. If there are topics you would like us to address, or if you have other suggestions for the newsletter, please contact us.     

 

The banner photo was taken April 28, 2012. First Lt. Phillip M. Downey, a native of St. Louis serving in the command operations center at the Task Force Leatherneck compound, salutes as the American flag is lowered during sunset. Downey is sending his unborn son the flag that flew from sunup to sundown that day as a dedication. Downey is currently serving a year deployment to Helmand province with 1st Marine Division (Forward) and said he doesn't think he'll be able to make it home in time to see his son born. Photo by Sgt. Michael Cifuentes 

 

MarineParents.com™, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) public charity. MarineParents.com™, Inc. was founded in January, 2003 in response to parents' needs to find information and to have "a place to connect and share™" with one another during their Marine's career. Our free online services and connections have expanded to support and educate Marine moms and dads, spouses, families and friends. We've helped 400,000 Marine and recruit families during boot camp, training, active duty and deployments. We've shipped more than 33,000 care packages overseas to our Marines in Iraq Afghanistan, sent 60,000 prayers and letters to injured Marines and served thousands of meals to wounded heroes and their families on the East and West coasts. You've found "a place to connect and share™."