October 19, 2014 Newsletter

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Greetings!

After taking some time off, Marine Moms-Bethesda’s Newsletters are back!

Nine years ago this month, October 2005, Janelle and I made our first visit to Bethesda Naval Hospital to visit a Marine mom and her son who had been wounded in combat. Where have the years gone?

Flag afghan
An afghan from Bayside Quilters given out at the July 20th – 4th floor luncheon.

What’s in this edition:

  • What we’ve been up to

  • Thank yous!

  • We need your help!

  • Changes

  • Upcoming luncheons

  • Surfing

What we’ve been up to:

We continue hosting monthly Sunday luncheons at Bethesda, now Walter Reed NMMC, on the 4th floor, and invite the Critical Care Unit combat families and the Traumatic Brain Injury Ward guys & gals and their families to join us.

The new barracks Mercy Hall residents moved to is not approved for food events, so the bi-monthly Thursday luncheons for the rest of the year will be held in a room at the USO. We’re pretty excited about it!

Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to get back down to Hunter Holmes McGuire VA Medical Center in Richmond, VA since May of last year.

The good news is the number we’ve been serving has gone way down! We hope it continues to do so, although we know the number of casualties fluctuates during the year and it all depends on what’s going on in the world.

In addition to the 10 monthly Sunday luncheons and 2 bimonthly Thursday luncheons (we canceled 2 – February because of a storm and August because of a very last minute change of venue) we have:

  • participated in Serving Together’s Veteran and Volunteer Fair. Lots of troop support groups and Veteran service organizations were on hand to provide information to Veterans, their families, and the public. If you have a chance to attend an event like this, we highly recommend it.

  • partnered with Hope For The Warriors® hosting two dinners in Talbot County, MD for their Outdoor Program participants, all Veterans.

  • held the annual quilt raffle to raise funds for the luncheons. Once again, Bayside Quilters of the Eastern Shore, Easton, MD very generously donated the raffle quilt. “May All Eagles Fly” raised $780.00. The winner was Jack, a veteran Marine Dad in Florida.

  • toured the USO building and connected with Walter Reed’s Warrior Family Coordination Cell.

  • attended the last Friday Evening Parade of the year at 8th and I. 28 of our volunteers and their family members were able to be there and it was definitely an evening to remember! The opportunity to include our family members made it even more special! Thank you, SgtMajor Maness!

You can read about the luncheons at www.MarineMoms-Bethesda.org/

Be sure to check out our “Resources” page while you’re there, too! There are links to other support organizations who provide help in addition to what the military and VA provides.
https://marinemoms-bethesda.org/resources/

Jillian, Bob,Gladys, and Hallie
Jillian, Hallie, Bob and Gladys serving the
Warriors and their families at the
September 7th 4th floor luncheon.

Thank yous!

THANK YOU to those of you who have supported the luncheons through donations, or time, and often times both. We couldn’t do what we do without your help. Your generosity is very much appreciated by those we serve. Special THANKS to:

Our monthly supporters – Joanna, Mary T., and WA State Operation Thank You.

To Cheryl for the “Stars”; Barb for the fabric for quilts and pillowcases; Bayside Quilters for the quilts, afghans, and pillowcases; Chris for LCpl. Smitty; Linda, for the quilt made for the para-rescuemen in Florida; Elenore for the beautiful hand knit scarves and afghans, the quilt raffle participants; Michelle & Tracy from Ohio for their generous donation; Elf Joey for the Seahorse cases and MM-B labels; Ruthi from the Navy Marine Corps Relief Society and Lew from Hope For The Warriors® for their advice in a crisis situation; Chik-fil-A at Waugh Chapel for their donation of chicken sandwiches for a luncheon, Corner Stone Cafe and Fresh Market in DC for food donations, Graul’s Market in St, Michaels for food donations, our Tennessee “Elfs”, and to our hands-on volunteers who bring it all together, devoting a day for each luncheon, the time getting ready for them, and often times donations of food.


We need your help!

  • Pictures needed!  Have you been to any of our luncheons?

Would you consider sharing pictures we could use for a display? Choptank Marine Corps League Detachment (luncheon supporters since 2009) has asked us set up a display for their Marine Corps Birthday Party on November 8th. We don’t take pictures of those who come to the luncheons. If this is something you’re willing to do, please email the pictures to us no later than November 1. Or if you have a Facebook page you’re willing to share pictures from, please send me the link and we’ll download from there. Thank you so much!

  • Holiday Cheer 2014”

2014 MM-B Holiday Cheer LogoWould you like to be an “Elf”? The information is here:

https://marinemoms-bethesda.org/2014/10/holiday-cheer-2014-would-you-like-to-be-an-mm-b-elf/ Send handwritten cards or sponsor a stocking for our December 4th holiday luncheon when we’ll be serving wounded, injured and ill out-patients. This annual December luncheon event consists of a full holiday meal buffet, Christmas stockings, Holiday cards, and tins of cookies.

Here’s a blog post about last year’s event:

https://marinemoms-bethesda.org/2013/12/holiday-cheer-at-mercy-hall2013/


Changes:

  • Mercy Hall has moved to Sanctuary Hall. Sanctuary Hall is not approved for food events. We’ve reserved space for the Oct. 23 and Dec. 4th luncheons at the USO and are very grateful for the opportunity to use their facilities, enabling us to continue serving out-patients and their care takers at Walter Reed.

  • RIP, Cheesy Potatoes! The food for our luncheons, other than cakes, cookies, and pies, must be store-bought. In the past it was a combination of store bought and homemade. We’re discovering our favorite places to buy food that tastes homemade. And we’ve learned to taste test it before serving it. Did you know not all tuna salad is equal? What Elizabeth brings from Corner Stone Cafe and Fresh Market is perfect… what I bought at a local grocery store’s deli tasted more like vinegar and pickle relish…

  • For those wondering, the “Note 4 Bethesda” campaign will return after the first of the year.


Upcoming luncheons:

  • Thursday, October 23rd: Location: USO; serving WII (wounded, injured, and ill), all service branches.
    Time: 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM.
    Menu: Chili, Wings, and sides.
    Samantha, from TAMPA Marine Families, will be joining us with awesome fleece blankets they’ve made to distribute.
    First come, first served for the October luncheon! We’ll have enough for 25. Mark your calendars!
  • Sunday, November 9th – Our Marine Corps & Veterans Day Birthday Luncheon! Location: Building 10, 4th Floor, 4 C Conference Room.Serving 4th floor & 7 East patients and families and CCU combat families, all service branches.
    Time: 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM.
  • Thursday, December 4th – “Holiday Cheer”  Location: USO; serving WII (wounded, injured, and ill), all service branches.
    Time: 11:30 to 1:00 PM.
    Space will be first come, first served and limited to the first 25 wounded, injured, and ill out-patients and their families. 

Surfing:

  • Change of Command – The Marines have a new Commandant.

Here is General Dunford’s message to all Marines (opens as a pdf):
http://www.hqmc.marines.mil/Portals/61/Docs/36CMC-Message.pdf

  • Troops are being deployed to Liberia in support of “Operation United Assistance” and Ebola is a huge concern. Here is the Military Health System and the Defense Health Agency’s official website for news, facts, tips, prevention, etc.:

http://www.health.mil/ebola

  • An interesting article:

An American sculptor’s masks restored French soldiers disfigured in World War http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/an-american-sculptors-masks-restored-french-soldiers-disfigured-in-world-war-i/2014/09/22/4748b8d4-38ec-11e4-9c9f-ebb47272e40e_story.html

  • FREE Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi

http://www.andrewfreedomfund.com/

USMC Sgt. Andrew Tahmooressi is a decorated Marine, meritoriously promoted, and is currently in the Reserves. He served his country with honor in two tours in Afghanistan. Sgt. Tahmooressi is currently being held in a Mexican Prison since March 31st 2014. Andrew was in San Diego receiving treatment for a recently diagnosed PTSD condition when he made a wrong turn and ended up across the Mexican border. He informed the border patrol agents he did not want to enter Mexico but was arrested. He was threatened by inmates, stripped and beaten repeatedly by guards, denied water, and chained to his cot for more than 30 days. – See more at: http://www.andrewfreedomfund.com

OR watch the video here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twZgWs-aamU

  • Moral injury

http://realwarriors.net/active/treatment/moralinjury.php

  • Veterans Crisis Line:

http://www.veteranscrisisline.net/ForVeterans.aspx
1-800-273-8255 PRESS 1
Confidential Help for Veterans and Their Families.
You can call, text or chat.

With everything else going on, let’s not forget our Veterans!!!

  • Hurry up and wait”

The VFW’s Report on the State of VA Health Care, September 2014 (opens as a pdf.)
http://www.vfw.org/uploadedFiles/VFW.org/VFW_in_DC/VFW%20Report%20on%20State%20of%20VA%202014.pdf

  • The VA’s audit report is here:

http://www.va.gov/health/access-audit.asp

Words of thanks are not enough for the “Docs”.

  • Walker McGuire “They Call Me Doc”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-KXXIhgPxY&feature=youtu.be


And words of thanks are not enough for you. Thank you for continuing to support the men and women who defend our country, and their families. It means so much to them.

Whether it’s a group of SEALs stopping by to visit someone from their team who was catastrophically wounded, or a WWII Army Veteran staying by the bedside of his ill wife, or a combat wounded Sailor back for his 26th follow-up surgery, or a two year old visiting Daddy who’s a Marine in ICU, injured in Afghanistan, or a mom, dad or wife who’s left younger children thousands of miles from home to be by their loved one’s bedside, it’s an honor for us to serve all those who’ve served our Nation.


That’s it for now. Until next time continued prayers for our military, still in harm’s way.

Patrol Security
Patrol Security
10/15/2014 02:46 PM CDT
U.S. Marine Corps Capt. provides security during a patrol through the village of Kalamusa in Bagram, Afghanistan, Oct. 11, 2014. He is assigned to the 101 Airborne Division’s 1st Battalion,75th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team.
(DoD Photo)

Love and Hugs,

Jane

Jane (at) MarineMoms-Bethesda (dot) org
https://www.facebook.com/MarineMomsBethesda