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MarineParents.com Newsletter
a Place to Connect & Share™ | |
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Operational Security |
When communicating online, your Marine's privacy is as important as Operational Security. Please respect YOUR Marine's privacy!
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| Welcome Home the Heroes Parade! |
Volunteers in the City of St. Louis, Missouri are coming together to make this Saturday, January 28th "Welcome Home the Heroes Day!"
The parade on Saturday aims to help our heroes celebrate their return home and thank them for their service abroad. The parade will be the first step in thanking our Veterans as well as challenging them to continue their service as leaders at home, while providing them with the resources and opportunities to successfully transition to civilian life. The parade will start at noon on Market Street in St. Louis, and your help is needed as a volunteer or organization to be a part of it!
Click here for more details!
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| Visit Our Sponsors |
Show Some Heart...
It's not too late to find the PERFECT Valentine's day gift!
He'll love checking the time with our sporty watches!
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| Learning Center:
About Deployment | |
Communications From your Marine, with the USMC, and with other families
Care Packages Tips, tricks and money savers for mailing to YOUR Marine
Bills, taxes, legal issues, injuries, notification from the Marine Corps
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Learning Center:
About Homecoming | |
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Support Our Marines |
Show your support of our Marines and their families by participating in one of our outreach programs:
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New Logos |
The new year is here, along with our 9th anniversary, so we are celebrating with a new look!
We look forward to continuing the good works of supporting families and Marines through the many outreach programs of Marine Parents for years to come!
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Veterans Crisis Hotline
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1-800-272-8255
The Veterans Crisis Hotline is a great resource for veterans, active duty military, and their families, and is backed by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Qualified responders are available 24/7 to offer confidential help in times of need.
Learn more here...
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| Newsletter Signup | |
Or just text MARINEPARENTS to 22828 to sign up!
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Greetings Marine Families!
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 We'll tell you about some helpful resources for Marines, Veterans and their loved ones, including a database to reconnect with other service members and a fun way to celebrate birthdays with USO Okinawa. We also have information on the Marine Aviation Centennial events coming up, and a great story of how a family spends their Christmas each year.
A Very Happy Anniversary! We just celebrated our ninth anniversary with a very successful Care Package Project™ pack day and Souper Heroes campaign! It was a wonderful, inspirational day working beside over 100 volunteers to send our heroes overseas some love. Read more about it below!
God bless and Semper Fi! |
| Running in 2012 | | |
Team Marine Parents™ Events Open for Registration!
How is your New Year's resolution to get fit this year going? Have you joined Team Marine Parents™ yet to stay healthy AND support our troops?..
The events below are now open for registration! They fill up quickly, so be sure to sign up soon:
Irish Sprint 10K
March 17, 2012
Marine Corps Base Quantico
Marine Corps Historic Half
May 20, 2012
Fredericksburg, VA
Semper Fred 5K
May 20, 2012
Fredericksburg, VA
Gender Defender
August 25, 2012
Marine Corps Base Quantico
Turkey Trot
November 17, 2012
Marine Corps Base Quantico
Sound like fun? Click here for more information and events!
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| Operation Birthday Cake | | |
USO Okinawa Helps Families Celebrate Birthdays from Afar...
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The Lance Cpl. shows off his cake.
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If your loved one in the military is stationed in Okinawa, you may have a wonderful opportunity to help them celebrate their birthday!
According to the United Services Organization (USO) website, USO Okinawa will order and deliver a personalized birthday cake to that someone special you're missing so much! Simply contact USO Okinawa two weeks in advance of the special day to request a birthday cake. On the individual's birthday, the cake will be delivered to your loved one for presentation.
Marine Dad, Steve, and his wife know first-hand how great the Operation Birthday Cake program can be. They wanted to celebrate their son, a Lance Corporal's, birthday with a bright, creative cake bearing his nickname "Red." After delivery of the cake, Steve received an email from the program coordinator telling him about how the presentation went, which made the experience even more special! You can help your loved one celebrate their birthday too!
Click here for more information!
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Souper Heroes Drive
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Thank You for Helping Us Exceed Our Goal!
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The tasty soups ready to get packed
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A big thank you to everyone who helped us exceed our goal for the SOUPer Heroes drive for our deployed Marines!
Thanks to your support, we received donations for over 2,800 cans of Rich and Hearty Progresso soups. Volunteers helped pack two large cans in each of our care packages on Saturday, January 21st. We know our heroes will greatly appreciate this taste of home in their care packages, as well as knowing so many people came together to support them!
A big ooh-rah to everyone who is helping keep our troops warm overseas this winter with a little taste of home! | |
| Ooh-Rah Family | |
Stacy and Mike Share the Christmas Spirit
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Stacy and Semper Gumby sharing smiles with the recruits.
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We recently received a wonderful picture from Mike of his wife, Stacy, wearing our Semper Gumby shirt! Mike and Stacy have an awesome tradition of spending Christmas morning visiting the sick and injured recruits at MCRD San Diego. The visits started eleven years ago and they have been present for nine of them! What a wonderful way to spread love and cheer. Thank you Mike and Stacy for your giving, Ooh-Rah spirit!
Don't forget to send pictures of your loved ones showing their Marine Corps pride to lrv@marineparents.com!
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Marine Aviation Centennial
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Putting the 'A' in MAGTF...
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On May 22, 1912 Marine Corps First Lieutenant Alfred A. Cunningham reported to Annapolis, Maryland for flight
training, marking the birth of Marine Corps Aviation. Almost 100 years later, the integration of the air-ground team of the Marine Corps continues to make history through their outstanding innovation and transformation of aviation.
To close a year-long celebration of a Centennial of success and prowess, Marine Aviation Centennial (MAC) Week will take place May 14-20 at Gaylor National Harbor Conference Center.
Click here for event details!
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Care Package Pack Day a Success!
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Thank You to All Our Volunteers!
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We celebrated our ninth anniversary with the largest and most amazing pack day yet! The patriotic spirit was high as we prepared care packages for our heroes in Afghanistan on the morning of Saturday, January 21st. In the five hour span, friends from former pack days were
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The Marine pride filled the warehouse!
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reunited, new friendships were formed, the warehouse was filled with stories and laughter, and 1,350 care packages were filled with love and support from home.
The Ooh-Rah pride filled the parking lot as cars from six states arrived, most bearing Marine Corps and patriotic bumper stickers (and one from Michigan bearing snow on its bumper, brr!). The day started with volunteer registration and breakfast, as an incredible 79 volunteers came to help send our Marines overseas love and support. These great volunteers were able to enter a free raffle while checking in, along with scan our new QR codes to keep up with all our programs, and meet one of our favorite new editions to the EGA Store: our cuddly, customizable bear!
Click here to read more!
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| Ooh-Rah Spirits Save Lives... | | |
American Red Cross Blood Drive Held
Our first corporate office blood drive was held on Tuesday, January 17th. Though it was a small turnout on the cold, blustery day, we collected enough blood to save over 24 lives!
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Corporate office girls show off their bandages!
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All who donated or attempted to donate showed off their Ooh-Rah spirit to help those in need this winter! They received a cozy soup mug and matching spoon, along with recipe card, from the partnership of the American Red Cross with chef Cat Cora. Participant and office staff, Sheryl, said she is always happy when she is able to give blood and help those in great need, especially
during the difficult winter months.
Thank you for all your encouragement and support for this great cause, we'll keep you updated on our next event!
Click here to learn more!
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Together We Served
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Resource for Active Duty Marines and Veterans
We're excited to tell you about a useful resource for veterans and active-duty Marines available through the Marine Corps Association and Foundation. Together We Served is a website dedicated to helping all branches of military members reconnect and preserve memories of their service.
TogetherWeServed.com is a safe, private site you must become a member of to explore and share. It has several elements members can take advantage of within their branch of service. Together We Served has an extensive database of over 320,000 Marines and has reconnected more Marines than any other military community website.
Click here for more information...
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Singing in the New Year
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The Marine Corps Hymn...
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A "must know" tradition for families and loved ones is the Marine Corps hymn...
"From the halls of Montezuma, to the shores of Tripoli,
We fight our country's battles in the air, on land and sea.
First to fight for right and freedom, and to keep our honor clean,
We are proud to claim the title, of United States Marines..."
Click here to keep reading and learn more Marine Corps facts...
Click here for more books and music...
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Hogan's Act of Valor
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Fallen Marine's Family presented Navy Cross
Story excerpted from Marines.mil
MARINE BASE CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. - On Aug. 26, 2009, Lance Cpl. Donald J. Hogan sacrificed his life to save fellow Marines, and earned the Navy Cross, the nation's second highest award for valor.
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The Navy Cross
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Yesterday, the San Clemente native's family traveled here to receive the award from Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus.
Hogan's father and mother humbly commented on their son's achievement, noting his reluctance to accept personal recognition.
"He was given an opportunity that very few of us get: to prove our mettle," said his mother Carla. "But, I don't want the guys who he was with to feel that, in some way, he was a superior (to them)."
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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 photo at the top is a Marines.mil photo of two MV-22B Ospreys of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit flight near Mount Etna, Italy on January 12, 2012. Click here for more photo credits...
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 & Share™ with one another during deployments. Our free online services and connections have expanded to support and educate Marine moms & dads, spouses, families and friends. We've helped 400,000 Marine and recruit families during bootcamp, training, active duty and deployments. We've shipped over 30,000 care packages overseas to our Marines in Iraq Afghanistan, sent 60,000 of prayers and letters to injured Marines and served thousands of meals to Wounded Warriors and their families on both the East and West coasts. You've found a Place to Connect & Share™.
God Bless and Semper Fidelis,
Tracy Della Vecchia
Founder and Executive Director MarineParents.com, Inc. |
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