The price of our freedom comes for many at the ultimate price. 
For millions of others, their service and dedication to our country and our freedom, gave them scars and battle wounds they will never forget. For even with those scars, nightmares and images they can never erase, they were the lucky ones... they got to come home.
The United States Defense Manpower Data Center, a body of the Department of Defense, states that as of January 31, 2015, there were close to 1.4 million people serving in the U.S. armed forces. As we think about the selfless acts, the lives so many are willing to put on hold to serve, the loved ones they say goodbye to, never knowing if it will be the last time they say it, how often do we thank them for their service?
I cannot even begin to imagine how difficult it has to be to put your life on hold for the sake of our country and yet, everyday so many heroes among us do just that. For them we are eternally grateful.
And so that's why on Saturday, October 3, another act of kindness in Noah's memory will be to participate in Operation Gratitude.
Operation Gratitude is a letter writing campaign where we will take time to write notes of encouragement, letters of thanks to those soldiers, sailors, airmen or airwomen and Marines who have served our country.
We will be writing letters to current service men and women as well as those veterans who have put their lives on the line in the sake of our freedom.
Over lunch on October 3rd, we will be meeting to write letters that will be shipped to the folks at Operation Gratitude. Our letters will then be included in care packages that are shipped to our active military as well as veterans. As of tonight a total of 1,275, 066 care packages have been shipped to a hero among us. Their goal is to reach 2 million packages by March 2016. They are looking for volunteers to help write letters of appreciation to share.
This is a great activity to get your kid's and the whole family involved with. Talk about the dedication our service men and women give to keep our country safe and ensure our freedom. Please have your kids participate, they can draw a picture, or write a letter... I'm sure their words or drawings will bring a smile to the face of their letter's recipient. And even encourage your child's teacher or their class to participate as well. What a great learning activity this could be for your child and their peers
Will you please help us, help thank them?
There are a variety of ways you can participate.
1) Join us for lunch and to write letters of thanks on Saturday, October 3. If you'd like to join us, please click here to sign up.
2) Write a letter of your own and mail it or give us to us to send with our stack of thank you letters to share. Please make sure we have received your letters by Wednesday, October 7th as we will mail them to Operation Gratitude on Thursday, October 8th.
3) Write a letter on your own and mail it directly to Operation Gratitude in honor of Noah's Kindness Project. You can send your letter's directly to:
OPERATION GRATITUDE
17330 Victory Boulevard
Van Nuys, CA 91406
The freedom we have today has come at the price of many lives lost. I think back to what courage it must have taken my grandfather, back in the winter of 1943 to volunteer to go fight in World War II, at the age of 18. He was not naive to know that many men came home in caskets to their families, and yet he volunteered... I will go willingly he said.
I've talked about my grandfather and the service he's given to our country many times, but shared last November why I consider him to be my hero in this post.
Thanks to God my grandfather, and Jarrett's grandfather (who was also in WWII), were the lucky ones who came home. And we have life today, because they lived.
I'm sure all of us have personal connections, family or friends, maybe both, that have served our country, and helped ensure we continue to live in this great country... in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Will you please join us as we write letters of thanks to those brave men and women... for they are heroes so deserving of our thanks.
Once again to sign up to participate click here.
Until next time,
Angie
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