March is here!

[Sue-Pillowcase lady]

I have been in touch with several of my military contacts and have heard back from a couple. 

group 1: forward medical unit in the Afghanistan.   200:  25 sailors, 175 Marines. 15 female. 

3-10-10 update - I will mail the balance of 20 on 3-11-10.  thanks for your help!

 

group 2:  This batch of whatever number we send is going to Afghanistan also.  Dawn is a civilian employee who is retired Air Force.  This is what she said today: 

Did you want the address of a unit or did you want to send them to me to distribute to the female soilders?  Unfortunately there are no all female units.  I will be heading out to some smaller forward operating bases (FOBs) on the front lines once a month and think the pillow cases would make more of an impact there as little luxuries are non-exixtant.  Whichever you prefer.  Also, if you have any bakers...they love fresh baked goods!

 

So mailing to her is the way to go for a personal delivery. Just general ones for now, as I don't know what services she will visit as yet.   I know many of you just mailed, but if you want to send some to this group, email me for the address. 

[Sue-Pillowcase lady]

I have to type it out and then will send it to you. I have another great one that travels well-cinna-spin cookies. they look like mini cinamon rolls.

Kim, everytime I look at your photo I see another print. Is that apple pie or compasses? I did apple pie ones last summer.

[Kim (Ethan's Mom)]

They are compasses. When I started sewing and buying fabric I ended up with all kinds of different designs. I sewed all the lighter colored ones and then changed the thread on my serger to navy and now the ones I'm working on are mostly dark. I have 38 in my stash but don't have them sorted as to male or female. Although I do know that 1 is female cuz it's red with a pink band of ladybugs. I also have another to send to a young man from our church who is in the Army and stationed over in the sandbox. I need to get some more stuff together to send him. I told his mother this morning about the cake in ajar and she was thrilled to know about that. I told her I have learned so much from my Navy mom friends :)

[Sue-Pillowcase lady]

I really want to try that pie in a jar. do you bake the cake too? haven't tried that either. what kind of jars are you using?

the female sounds really cute. When you mail to the young man, ask him if he would be willing to be the contact for his unit. Sometimes they say yes and we can mail some more.

you sound like me with the thread.

[Tamara]

These are the pillowcases I sent to Dawn.

I received a thank you email today. It really is an exciting, humbling feeling to receive the thank you.

"Tamara,

I'm currently deployed to Afghanistan, and today I was given one of the pillowcases you made. Thank you very much - It's quite nice. This one has a horse motif on the side, and I like it quite a bit. My girlfriend is the assistant barn manager at a boarding stables, and this reminds me of her. I'm going to take it with me when I head back to the States, and get extra brownie points from my girlfriend when I tell her the story.

I really appreciate that you took the time to do this. It means a lot.

I hope you're having a great day.

V/R
MAJ xxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

[Sue-Pillowcase lady]

that is so great! and look at the horse fabric. beautiful. I know we aren't supposed to expect thank you notes, but it is such fun to receive them!

Thanks for posting the photo and note for us to share with you Tamara!

[Sue-Pillowcase lady]

Here is another note from our contact Dawn:

Hi Sue,

You will be happy to know all the pillowcases have been hand delivered. Most of the recipients were service members (Army) in the ranks E-4 to O-5 working in the Joint Intelligence Fusion Center at Bagram Air Base. Everyone loved them and had a ball picking out the perfect one to fit their style and personality. Please tell Cathy, Lyn, Tamara, Kim, Pat, and Dawn thank you for caring enough to do something so special and so selfless for all of us over here. And to all the ladies that sent treats along with the pillowcases! Wow! They have quite a few fans in my old office! Thanks you soooo much! :)

I left Bagram yesterday and am moving somewhere south so I will be in a transient state for a bit until I figure out where I'll be permanently. I hope all is well with you Sue!

Take Care!

Dawn

[Sue-Pillowcase lady]

Hi Sue I have received your package, finally after 2 weeks! Bad news is that your pumpkin bread went really bad, had to throw it away~~~but it's ok, all of the guys in our shop loved your pillow cases to death, and when I told them you made it they were surpised how good of a quliaty they are! Oh and the cookies are amazing!!!! This is the first time ever I have been thanked from an american family for my service that much, ever!! And funny thing is I am almost getting out the navy too~~~~Thank you again Sue and I love you!!

Harvey
USS EISENHOWER
This young man is from China originally and he met my son while in A school. They kept in touch, but it was just last fall when he settled in VA for a few months and roomed with Ben and crew. I sent him a pc for Christmas, but he wouldn't use it. He has it packed away. He said it was the 1st Christmas gift he ever got from an American family. He doesn't get support from his family about being in the Navy.
Anyway, when he deployed this time, I told my son I would keep in touch with him. I told Harvey (the American name he chose for himself) that we would adopt him and that Harvey to a Lamberson family name. There are lots of Harveys.

So I had to make him a new pc to use while on the ship. The snoopy surfer dog was perfect fabric because Ben loves to body surf, Tobey (the dog) loves the water (he'll have a hard time being a desert dog vs an ocean dog again-but he will be safe-more important) and it would remind him of our family. And the cookies are the cornflake ones. I only made snoopy and the sharks. the other 2 came from local crew and the one set to the left went to a soldier-a family member of one of my crew.

Ladies, you just bless my heart today! I probably wouldn't be doing much with HAE without your help! You Navy moms have made the difference in the number of lives that we can touch. Thank you.

[Yankee's Mom]

Go Snoopy!!!

[Tamara]

The frogs are cute too.

[Sue-Pillowcase lady]

I got a postcard from Harvey yesterday. He is my son's Chinese friend whose family isn't too happy about havng him in the Navy. He is deployed on the Ike. The Snoopy one is the one I made for him:
Sue:
thank you very much for the package! I am so inspired by those surprise letters that the kids wrote. This is the first time I have ever received such honor from proud-found Americans like you. As long as there is people like you back home, it make our work make sense and freedom is worth it! I will keep those letters forever in my life as this is some of the most grateful blessings. Thank you very much again and God bless!
Harvey.

Well, doesn't that make you feel humble? I will cherish his postcard. It is from Dubai. And he sent one to my grandson.

[Sue-Pillowcase lady]

Sue,

I received this email from Annie - She got the pillowcases!

Sue L in Nebraska

Hey Sue,
I received the pillow cases a week ago but the day that I got them I was leaving for Balad so I wasn't able to open them until today when I got back. Everyone loved them. I am sending some of them to people in the unit that are at different locations. Thank you so much for them. It really brightened everyone's days just to have pillowcases. I wish I could have been home for Easter to watch all of the basketball games. We didn't do much here. We dug a fire pit and grilled out. It was a lot of fun because the weather is perfect for it. We are having a dust storm right now but it has been warming up. But nothing to exciting is happening here. Thanks again for the pillow cases and candy.
Annie

Sue L is in Nebraska. She is the SIL of one of my avon customers and she is the HAE liason for that area. The photos are some of the ones that went to this unit out of her area. They wanted to make them all. The boy is an 8th grader at the school who made some of the pcs-that is so cool!

[Sue-Pillowcase lady]

I got this morning and sent it to Kim. She asked that I post it. I also wrote back to the young man and aske which one he got. I love to put a pc to a name. That's one of the reasons that I ask for pictures.

To Kim from Dover, OK,
Thank you so much for the pillow case. It is great to know that you all are back there supporting us out here. I work for the 82nd Airborne Division in Bagram AFG. I sleep with comfort on the pillow case you guys provided.
Thank you again for your support and contribution to us,
SFC James

He is a soldier who got one from our contact Dawn in the sandbox. And she has a new need that I am going to post in April.