Too Cute!!! Just one of many Snowmen that Debra and Co. in New York sent us for the patients of 5 East to include in their encouragement note packets!

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I didn’t attend the January luncheon so this is the AAR I sent out to the luncheon crew after hearing from Deb, Susie, and Barb.

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Yesterday was our first luncheon of 2010 on 5 East and I hear it went really well.

Thankfully, the number of combat patients on 5 East was down considerably compared to the past several 5 East luncheons.

Janet had the encouragement notes collected, formatted, and emailed to me in plenty of time to print them out to send over with Brittany, and she did a really nice job with them including some clip art this time which really perked the notes up.

Deb and Robin coordinated the luncheon this month, doing the shopping, food prep, and made up the gift bags, and I think Jean helped them, too. They came in right on budget and were finished with all of the prep work by 8 PM! These ladies have it down to a science!

Barb and Don stopped by my house the morning of to pick up the luncheon cookies I had forgotten to send over to Deb by way of Brittany. It was their first visit, but not their last, to the hospital.

Susie dropped off the soup at the hospital for the luncheon and ended up helping out. This was Susie’s first visit with MM-B to 5 East although she has been to Mercy Hall with us twice.  She said some of our friends from the Mercy Hall visits were there for the 5 East luncheon.

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A message from Barb and Don:

Today was our first visit with “Marine Moms” to the Bethesda Naval Hospital.  We felt this was very rewarding to us to be able to give back to the families that gave so much for us.

We hope we were a positive impact to someone is some small way and brought comfort to them in their time of need.

The families, patients and staff were so grateful for the luncheon and for the company.  The people we met were so courageous.

We hope to have the opportunity to help again.

Sincerely,

Barb and Don

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many thanks to Robin for taking pictures and sharing them for the website!

And then more…

Quilts, t-shirts, afghans, gift bags with pantry items, and little gifties to the moms as well as the encouragement notes were handed out.

Patients and family members had a nice home cooked meal while some of the extra food was taken over to Mercy Hall by Don and Susie, and the leftovers were stashed in the pantry on 5 East for later.

There was nothing left of Robin’s pork barbecue (so good!!!) and as always Deb’s smoothies were popular.  Susie, “more is better”, made way too much 3 Bean Soup. Good day for soup. It’s been cold here! She also told me that one of our friends there is looking a lot better than last time we saw him,always nice to hear! The homemade cookies were so good that a Marine mom came back for seconds for her Marine. He had not had an appetite until he ate one of them.

Don spent time chatting with a combat wounded Marine about “guy stuff” for quite a while and Barb provided support and an ear to a mom who was a patient there. Since we are on the surgical ward sometimes other patients besides the combat wounded are around.

These are just a few of the stories…

Marine Moms-Bethesda provides more than “just food”.  We provide a much welcomed distraction from the daily hospital routine, smiles and encouragement, sometimes hugs, an ear to listen, and a shoulder when needed.

Thank you, Brittany, Deb, Robin, Jean, Barb, Don, Susie for your help with the luncheon, and Janet, for your help with January’s notes!

Many thanks to our “note writers” too! Month after month we ask for encouragement and support notes for the patients.  Sometimes we see the same faces at the hospital at each visit so we do not reuse the same notes over again.  You can join our mailing list (to the right on the sidebar) to receive the announcements of when we need notes for our next visit if you would like to be one of our note writers.
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We are very grateful to the individuals, organizations, and businesses across the United States for the support they provide to Marine Moms-Bethesda which enables us to continue our mission at Bethesda serving the combat wounded, injured, and ill Veterans, all service branches.

For 2010 we have 12 luncheons (now 11) scheduled and we will be rotating between 5 East and Mercy Hall again. We’ll be doing yard sales and a quilt raffle again to raise money for the luncheons. We also have the MM-B Store where all profits from the sale of the items go to the luncheons.

Our luncheon crew has grown and some of the crew will be going to the hospital with us for the first time this year. Hopefully our friends from the Choptank Marine Corps League will be joining us again for some of the luncheons. We’ll need them to help with the barbecue at Mercy Hall in August and to play “Santa Marines” in December when we hand out the stockings for the “Holiday Cheer” luncheon!

We’re in this for the long haul, as long as we are needed. The luncheons really are welcomed by the patients, families and staff. Imagine cafeteria food or fast food every day for weeks…

More Snowmen! Miss Kathie’s Kindergarten class made these adorable Snowmen and Snow…women that we decorated the luncheon table with!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Until next time, continued prayers for our military and their families.

Love and Hugs,