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]

HI Sue,
Just to let you know....my sailor received his pillowcase today! He just called me laughing!
He has a good friend who works @the Navy postoffice on base and told him he had a package there....so when he looked @the address...he laughed and said "another one of Mom's N4M's friends"....when he opened it...he was like "what the heck"? Then started reading the letter and his buddy from the post office already knew all about "Heads at ease"!!!
KEWL...KEWL...KEWL! He was very thankful and promised to send you an email or letter....also to send something to the "little guy"!!! Although he's not very good about sending "thank you's"...he IS GREAT about taking care of "the little ones" or those in need....so I'm sure he'll send "little Ray" a post card or something!!!

Thank you again....HE LOVES his pillowcase. (Although he may use it in his own private residense and not on the ship...((embarrassed))!!

this is from the mom whose son got the scuba sharks.

[Sue-Pillowcase lady]

got this one this morning from the mom from my church whose son is a major serving in Iraq. It was the group of ten with the girl scout cookies. His mom bought the snacks.

Hi Sue - just to let you know my son did receive the pillowcases and he thanks you. He and his unit have been out of touch for many weeks (out on missions), and when I talked with him yesterday it was the first time in a LONG time. He just won't be able to formally thank you for some time, and he apologized for that....but, we as moms know it's more important they concentrate on their duties and on staying safe.

Thanks, and see you soon. Susan

I told her that a thank you note from her was just perfect. We want our children safe.

[Dawn ~]

Sue, I have 10 cases ready. Would you like me to mail to Dawn? If so, just send me the address and I will send them off.

[Sue-Pillowcase lady]

Dawn, will email it to you. Heard from the other Dawn and she said she'd take pictures of the troops with them! How cool is that?
Lyn, thanks for doing this. I think we will do this as an ongoing project like Major Doug. When her stash gets low, we can replenish it. With your 10 Lyn and 10 from Dawn, that makes 90 that have been sent to her in less than a week. And we have few more who will mail.
I don't have any idea how fast she will hand them out. She said she visits the FOBs once a month.

[Dawn ~]

I love the idea of hand delivering them! This so waaaay cool Sue. I will let you know when I get them in the mail.

[Sue-Pillowcase lady]

me too! I am glad to have "found" her from my Joe contact. And I guess it would really help if I emailed you the address!

[Dawn ~]

Sue, this is what I mailed to Dawn today!

Have a good one!

[Sue-Pillowcase lady]

Dawn, they are awesome! You do so good with those hearts! I have to make a better effort to get my hearts on them.
and here is an email that I got from her today! I am so excited about this contact, cause she is going to get them to the front lines! And they sure need our encouragement!

Sue the first round of pillowcases came today! They are awesome! I handed some out to the military folks in my office that put big smiles on their faces! I am headed down range next week and will take as many as I can fit in my bag and I'll be sure to take lots of pictures!!

Dawn

PS - your grandson should start receiving lots of postcards! :)

I have started to ask everyone that I mail pillowcases to, to mail my little grandson a post card from wherever they are. So since she mentioned that, I have to assume the 1st round were mine-all females. And isn't it just awesome that they will mail him postcards?

[Tamara]

Sue,
That is Awesome your grandson will be receiving the postcards.

[Dawn ~]

Sue received this note and was kind enough to pass it along to me. Thought I would share with everyone !
Have a wonderful evening!

Greetings from Afghanistan. My name is Major xxxx xxxxxx and I
am an Army Officer currently deployed to Bagram, Afghanistan.
Yesterday I was given a pillow with a hand-made pillowcase with a note from your
organization. I want to thank you for your support and your
prayers.

All the best

MAJ O'Neal

Hi Liza,

I am so glad to hear from you. I am the founder of the Heads at Ease
pillowcase project. I bet that Dawn gave it to you! She's a great
contact.

Your words are absolute music to my ears and the ears of my crew. We so

appreciate all that our military does for us. My son is in the Navy and
he will be deployed again this summer.
I started this project 2 years ago when he was deployed.

Can you tell me what it looks like? Or if someone's name was on the
note? We keep a photo record
of the pillowcases that are mailed and I'd like to make sure the mom who
made gets your note.

Thank you for your service!

Sue Lamberson
Excited child of the Lord! Acts 16:30 & 31 12-17-80
Heads at Ease CO
Proud mom of a sailor
AVON representative



Sue,

The pillowcase is pink and white. The pattern is the bows that you see
for breast cancer awareness. It was made by Dawn in Indianapolis.

Thanks again.

[Natalie]

Sue, do we need more to go to Dawn? I have some ready will go get count. General ones.

[Sue-Pillowcase lady]

yes, it is awesome Tamara! I am so glad that people are willing to do this for him.

And yes, Natalie, please mail some. I am mailing another 20 tomorrow. and I baked pumpkin bread this week and cornflake cookies.

Cathy, Matt's mom sent some brownies. We'll get her stocked up for a bit and then will mail to her again in a couple of months. That's what I do with major Doug. Did I give you the address?