ATTENTION ON DECK!
Lethal Leprechaun here and I have something important to say to you all, so listen up!
We all are running around with magnetic yellow ribbons on our cars (or damned well better be if the Dragon or I see you)
We all have watched, listened to or read one of the myriad of versions of ‘A Soldier Silent Night’. You all give us here at DragonLaffs kudos when we post something patriotic, pro Our Troops etc. However how many of us (yes I am including myself and the Dragon in this statement) are actually doing something tangible and direct to help those troops we are all paying lip service support to?
I’m not going to ask for a show of hands because I’m fairly certain we would all be embarrassed. Yes, I have sent used books, tapes. and DVDs though one of several groups over. Yes, I have bought $20 of various travel sized personal hygiene products and donated them to a group shipping those over and once even a $25 phone card. I’m sure some of you have done the same, I’m also equally sure that the majority of you have thought that magnetic yellow ribbons, forwarding Support the Troops e-mails, adding a signature or tag of a similar nature to the end of your e-mails or remembering to include them in your holiday prayers was enough.
WELL I’M HERE TO SAY, AS APPRECIATED AS IT IS BY THE TROOPS ITS NOT ENOUGH AND I’M ASHAMED IT’S THIS LATE IN THE GAME BEFORE THE THOUGHT DAWNED ON ME!
Truth is I’d still be ignorant, clueless and in the dark where it not from an interoffice memo from Impish on my desk this morning asking me to (what else) pick up his slack and check out a group that reader Danny M brought to his attention:
Let’s Bring Em Home http://www.lbeh.org/
Bringing military families together for the holidays since 2001!
Bringing military families together for the holidays since 2001!
This will be our TENTH year taking donations to purchase plane tickets for junior enlisted military personnel, giving them the opportunity to fly home and spend the holidays with their families.
This program was initially started in December 2001 to show our grateful appreciation to American service members deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, and has become an annual tradition ever since. We are not Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Green or Independent. Our mission is as simple, as it is noble. All we want to do is unite a few military families for the Christmas holiday. That’s it. No hidden agendas, no political speeches. We just buy plane tickets for troops.
Last year we raised over $95,000 and helped 155 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines go home for Christmas. Our sincere thanks to who donated last year!
So far (2010) we have received 117 ticket requests
96 tickets completed with another 21 pending
96 tickets completed with another 21 pending
Donations received: $93,354.13
Number of donors: 1051
Number of donors: 1051
Ladies and Gentlemen, THIS is supporting our troops. THIS is making a difference. THIS is Christmas Spirit.
These people are a non-profit, post their tax returns on the web site, give their (in one case) vacation time as well as themselves to making these arrangements and take (as near as I can see) nothing in return for it, except the warm and fuzzes that come from helping our grossly underpaid service personnel make it home to their loved ones for what is arguably the most important holiday of the year.
Not only that, but I was highly impressed by their sincerity in wanting to help the troops. “Oh Lethal OF COURSE they are sincere, their page is a pitch for money!” you say to me? Nay not so! It was NOT their pitch that convinced this crusty, curmudgeonly and cynical leprechaun of their sincerity.
Rather it was the page listing additional and alternate ways to provide tangible support and say thank you to our troops.
That’s right, they under no obligation, they listed their ‘competition’ for your time, attention and dollars because all they care about is tangibly helping better our troops conditions and addressing their needs!
Later today using the information from their web page a permanent page will be added to the top of the blog where the Legalese and about Impish & I appear listing these worth while troop support efforts
I’M THE LETHAL LEPRECHAUN AND I’M ASKING YOU PLEASE HELP THESE PEOPLE HELP OUR TROOPS!
I have donated today to them, now if every one of our over 800+ members would forgo one holiday flavored latte and instead donate that $5 (come on we both know you’d treat yourself to the large!) cumulatively we would have donated over $2000 and helped to bring several service men and women together with their families for the holidays.
“Money is tight Lethal! There is a recession on and people can barely make ends meet! I don’t have $5 to squeak out as much as I would like to.” Roger that, I hear you loud and clear and can commiserate. While we here at Firebase Leprechaun are a little better off so far than many families, things are exceedingly tight here too. I in fact used cash I was given as Cmas gifts to make my donation, largely because it was outside our financial budget and for a host of other personal and philosophical reasons that don’t bare repeating. If you cannot donate financially, that’s fine I understand that hearth and home come before charity.
Seriously, no bull, I hear that loud and clear. Understand it completely and agree with where you are coming from a hundred percent, especially if you have kids or are a primary caregiver to an elderly person. However, there are ways of direct support that cost as little as a sheet of paper, some heart felt words of thanks an envelope, a stamp, and a little of your time.
What about donating those frequent flyer miles you have that are about to expire? They are about to expire because you are never able to use them. Well these people can use them and would be grateful for them besides! Its high time we got something positive out of all those damned airline fees and surcharges anyway!
Still can’t see your way clear to helping out personally? Ok how about forwarding this to your church, your pastor, your friends, your Men’s or Woman’s group and asking them to help out? If there is one thing these guys are lacking in (besides money) its publicity and getting the word out there about them. They have been around 9 years and I just learned of their existence TODAY.
REMEMBER FOLKS YOU ARE EXPERIENCING A HOLIDAY OF PEACE ON EARTH AND GOOD WILL TOWARDS MEN BECAUSE OF THESE PEOPLE, MANY OF WHO ARE IN HARM’S WAY ON A DAILY BASIS AND JUST WANT TO SPEND THE SAME HOLIDAY HOME WITH THERE LOVED ONES!
YOU THINK WE HAVE IT HARD BECAUSE THERE IS A RECESSION ON? THEY GET PAID ROUGHLY HALF WHAT WE DO FOR COMPARABLE JOBS AND DO IT IN A WAR ZONE OFTEN UNDER THE WORST POSSIBLE CONDITIONS 24/7!!
That is all, except to say WELL DONE DANNY!
Leprechaun out.
Dragon Laffs 