Here's how we're taking action in our community:
We joined with "Operation Appreciation" through OneOC. We spent an afternoon writing notes and cards for military families and our troops serving both at home and overseas. We also brought in donations of fun items that will get packaged with our cards and sent in care packages to active service members, their families, spouses and even veterans! We made really cool note cards with pictures, stickers, stamping and included letters of our thanks to them.
Here's how we got the idea:
My sister Ali and I wanted to do something in September in honor of 9/11. On the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 event, we wanted to honor all of those who were lost and the tens of thousands who rose in service on 9/11/01. And we wanted to continue to recognize all "first responders" who are our heroes everyday!
These are the steps we took:
We reached out to OneOC a local volunteer agency and asked for their help because we knew we wanted to do something to honor 9/11. They mentioned their Family Service Day program and it sounded like it was perfect for us. And all of our families came together with OneOC to be a "team" working together on this project.
Here are some of the results:
We made approximately 80 notecards that were then packaged with "goodies" and sent as care packages to active service men and women, veterans, and families of service members.
One of the coolest things that happened during my project was:
We had fun while we were remembering a horrible day from our nations past. Many of my friends and I were born right after 9/11 and although we didnt see it, we know about it and it makes us sad. This is our way of showing our appreciation to the soldiers who work to protect us from that event every happening to us again.
One of the most important things I learned was:
We had fun and we know we made someone else SMILE!