| Support for You:
a Place to
Connect & Share™ |
|
|
| Learning Center:
Operational Security |
|
NOTE: When communicating online, your Marine's privacy is as important as Operational Security. Please respect YOUR Marine's privacy! |
| Learning Center:
About Deployment |
|
|
|
Learning Center:
About Homecoming |
|
Tip: While in our store, check in your Marine's unit store for more homecoming shirts! |
| Unit Chat Nights |
|
Unit Chat Night Schedule:
Monday: 1/3
Wednesday: 3/4
Thursday: 1/6
Friday: 3/6
Sunday: 24th MEU, 1/9
For additional information about the Chat Room and Unit Chat Nights for your Marine's Unit, please see:
|
| Local Support Groups in Your Area |
NEWEST SUPPORT
GROUPS:
Placerville, CA
For a list of all support groups in our database or to find one in your area, see:
If you are interested in starting a local support group in your area, please visit the "Support Groups" section of our website:
| |
Support Our Marines! | |
Show your support of our Marines and their families!Participate in one of the Marine Parents Outreach Programs today! Our Marines need YOU! |
| Sign Up for the Newsletter |
 | |
|
Greetings Marine Families!
If this is the first edition of the MarineParents.com Newsletter you have received, WELCOME! If you are a returning reader we are glad you have joined us.
"Reminders of Home" seems to be the theme this week as we bring you: a Marine Corps article titled "Pocket-Sized Pieces of Home," an opportunity to create a reminder of home for your Marine, and our very own "March Success Story" of how Marine families answered the call to get a taste of home to our combat deployed Marines in the form of Girl Scout Cookies.
April offers Marine families a new opportunity to answer the call with our Vote Purple campaign. If you're not already voting, please visit www.VotePurple.com for more information on how you can support Wounded Warriors.
Another very important occasion this month is National Volunteer Week: April 18-24, 2010. National Volunteer Week celebrates the efforts of dedicated Americans who volunteer to improve communities across the nation.
To all the Marine Parents volunteers, on behalf of myself and countless Marines and Marine families touched by this organization, thank you for selflessly giving your time and energy and for offering your unwavering support of our shared cause.
|
| There's Still Time to Join Us! | | | Marine Families Head to New Orleans
We're headed to the Marine Parents Conference in New Orleans, Louisiana and we'd love to see you there!
Join us this weekend, April 16-18, 2010, for all or part of the conference, whatever you can make it for!
Friday dinner only tickets are available for $65/person.
Saturday dinner only tickets are available for $75/person.
If you can't be there but would like to sponsor a Marine for dinner, you can sponsor a Marine for $75.
Of course you can still register to attend the entire conference too! The conference registration fee is $175/per person and includes all speakers, sessions, and meals for the entire weekend.
Learn more about conference events and speakers online:
|
| Pocket-Sized Pieces of Mind | | | Reminders of home, luck and faith
 CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan - The young Marine checked his gear for the last time just a few hours before he was to depart friendly lines.
The plan was to leave under the cloak of darkness, bound for yet another remote outpost in need of resupply deep in the heart of Helmand province. Regardless of the somewhat safer guise of night, the Marine knew the enemy would be watching ... waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike, as they had so many other times during his last few combat logistics patrols.
He wasn't nervous though.
In addition to the hundreds of other well-trained Marines equipped with an arsenal of some of the world's most advanced weapons systems, he had a couple more personal items to include.
Perhaps even more powerful than any rifle or rocket, he made certain these items accompanied him on every mission outside the wire - reminders of home.
Wrapping a brown leather-strapped watch around his wrist and stuffing a tattered letter into the right cargo pocket of his desert Marine Pattern Utility Uniform - both gifts from a loved one back home - were always the final actions the Marine performed before heading out.
|
| Reminder of Home for YOUR Marine | | | Customized Photo Dog Tags
 Show your support of your Marine with these customized dog tags.
Send us the photos you want to use, of you, your Marine, his/her favorite dog, kids, brother or sister; whichever it may be.
Send them overseas to your loved one, and let the rest of the family wear your Marine's photo!
The more you buy, the more you save!
|
| Gold Star Father Battles Protesters | | | Family and Friends Spotlight
 Many of you have likely heard Gold Star Father Albert Snyder's story as it recently gained significant media coverage.
His ongoing legal battle with Fred Phelps, the leader of Kansas' Westboro Baptist Church, continues with a recent decision ordering Albert Snyder to pay over $16,000 to Fred Phelps. Westboro Baptist Church held a protest at the funeral of Albert Snyder's son, Marine Lance Corporal Matthew Snyder, in 2006.
That same year, the Snyder family filed a civil lawsuit against the Westboro Baptist Church to "bring an end to the reign of terror and abuse" they inflict upon grieving families of U.S. servicemembers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This story is one to follow as it affects Gold Star families and the case has now made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. The high court agreed to consider whether the protesters' message is protected by the First Amendment or limited by the competing privacy and religious rights of the mourners.
We compiled a partial list of articles, as well as the recent decision from the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, for your review so you can stay informed.
|
| March Success Story | | | Marine Families Answer the Call
 The March 27th Care Package Project™ Packing Day will forever be marked with one of Marine Parents' greatest success stories!
Just three days prior to the Packing Day, the Care Package Project™ still needed over $7,000 to cover shipping costs.
Concerned that the lacking shipping funds would keep hundreds of Marines from receiving tastes of home, Marine Parents let their supporters know they needed help, and hundreds graciously answered the call.
The Marine Parents inbox filled and the phone rang off the hook with people wanting to donate, and within barely more than 24 hours, all $7,000 needed for shipping was raised ensuring the cookies from the Girl Scouts of Connecticut and Columbia, Missouri made it to Afghanistan.
Thank you to all who answered the last minute call for needed shipping funds. Proof, once again, that Marine families step up and make things happen!
Opportunity for April Success Too!
YOU supported The Care Package Project™ last month and now it's time to support another Marine Parents outreach program: Purple Heart Hero Support™!
Serving Wounded Warriors and their families is the mission and the potential grant is for $250,000. You wouldn't let our Marines in Afghanistan down and we know you won't let down our Wounded Warriors either!
|
| Perfect Gifts for Marine Moms | | | Mother's Day is May 9th!
 Only a few weeks left before Mother's Day and we've got the gifts any Marine Mom will surely cherish!
Like this "Marine Mom" heart pendant handcrafted in sterling silver by Marine Corps veterans.
Marine Moms who wear the necklace say: "The picture does not do it justice." "...my favorite piece of jewelry." "Worth every penny."
The Marine Mom in your life will absolutely fall in love with this truly unique item. Click here!
 But wait, there's more!
If mom would prefer a bracelet, we've got those too.
Handcrafted by a fellow Marine Mom, our bracelets make a beautiful gift extra special.
The bracelets are made with your choice of genuine Swarovski pearls or Swarovski Crystal beads and feature "USMC Mom" in beads.
|
|
|
