Soldiers’ Angels 101

This is a special section dedicated to helpful tips and advice aimed for Soldiers' Angels members.

Got a few spare moments? You could fulfill a need!

Hello Angels!

I’ve been making an effort to be more active in the Soldiers’ Angels forums recently and wanted to take a few minutes to share a few things that I’ve found with you…

There are so many helpful Angels that I’ve run across, I honestly don’t know where I would have been without their help! Any new Angel member would be wise to check in Angel Boot Camp. It has a TON of tips and helpful advice posted there and is a great place to ask questions. OR, if you’re a seasoned Angel, you could post tips there, or head over to Questions and share some wisdom and help out other Angels!

Personally, I think I spend the most of my time in TLC Requests and Cards Plus Team (ALL sub-forums!). I love writing, so fulfilling the requests posted is something that’s quick and easy for me for me to do. It makes me feel good and I know that it does so much good for the soldiers that the requests are going to!

Are you a letter writing pro? You might find the those aren’t enough … if so, hop over to the Letter Writing Team! They could have requests that you could easily fill! Are you the type who writes and/or collects postcards? There’s a section for you! Like to write, but can’t get to the Post Office that often? No problem, there’s the E-Pal Team!

But what if writing is not your talent? There are TONS of other ways to help out! Do you like to cook and bake? Visit the Angel Bakers forums!

Can you sew? The Sewing Team always has projects going on and can use extra hands!

There are so many more, and many requests just take a few minutes to fill. If you have a few spare minutes and want to help, hop on over to the Soldiers’ Angels forums and find something that fits your talents and interests!

My Frequently Used & Bookmarked

Here are a few entries from the Soldiers’ Angels forums that I keep bookmarked and refer to now and again. These may be useful to Bama Angels who’ve adopted a soldier:

• Where is my soldier located?
• How to Find out More about your Adoptee
• Care package suggestions
• Themed Care Package Ideas List
• Important Phone Numbers & Sites for Shipping
• Customs Forms Are Online
• Flat Rate Boxes (new!)
• website for free return address labels
• Getting more involved

Cure that letter writer’s block!

The Soldiers’ Angels Mentor Team members are the absolute best. Mine is Dina. She’s been a huge inspiration to me and ever since I joined, she’s patiently answered all of my questions and helped out whenever I needed a nudge in the right direction, or some friendly advice.

One thing she emailed recently were suggestions for getting those creative juices flowing and getting around that letter writer’s block that some of us get:

• Buy a bunch of postcards from your area. On the back, jot down a note about what they are looking at, and what you did at that spot.
• Start looking for jokes on the internet or in your newspaper. Cut them out, jot a note and send it off.
• I hit the Dollar tree for funny cards, thinking of you cards, etc. (They are 2 for a buck) and then jot a note inside about the weather, something funny my son did, who won the big game, a movie I saw, etc.
• Grab a crossword puzzle book from the dollar store, and tear out a couple of the pages and send them along. Tell him that you’ll send the answers page in the next letter.
• Do you have any contact w/any school age children? If so, have them draw some pictures to send along. Heroes LOVE hearing from kids!
• Enlist the help of folks at church…grab a big card or cards and have a bunch of people sign it as a show of support.

Those are some great tips. A big ‘Thank You!!’ goes out to Dina for sharing.

Something else she shared with me:

One Iraqi Marine vet recently told an Angel he met that our letters and care packages are like “oxygen” to them … nothing means more to them than knowing a stranger cares about them while they are over there.

Amen! That’s pretty much what my soldier has told me as well. It may seem like a simple thing to us, but to those brave men and women overseas, our letters and packages are one of the most precious things in the world!

Do you have a tip to share?

All tips and suggestions for other letter writers out there are greatly appreciated!

Soldiers’ Angels 101: Reminders

One angel emailed me this morning, it seems she was having trouble remembering when she had or hadn’t emailed her soldier, and she was looking for suggestions as to how to remember this important task and perhaps organize her duties a bit. Well, I can’t speak for anyone else, but I’m a forgetful type too. I get busy and time escapes me, I know I’m not alone in this. We all get busy but we should never neglect our adopted soldiers!

I’ve found it’s helpful to setup a “nag” to remind me each week. For example, every Monday morning I have both my Google Calendar and my Outlook at work nag me to write that afternoon. Tuesday mornings, I have another nag set to remind me to mail out the letter. (Or, in the extreme case that I was so busy I forgot to write, to write it!) Google Calendar is a free service and can send you reminders by email, SMS (standard charges will apply!), or popup.

If you are a Mozilla user, there are two apps which may be of interest to you: Sunbird (a stand-alone app) and Lightning (Thunderbird plugin). Both are free, and perform basically the same tasks as Google Calendar and Outlook’s calendar feature.

There are a TON of free reminder services if you would prefer an alternative to the above.

There’s a wide world of free tools and technology out there just waiting for us, so let’s put it to good use!

Soldiers’ Angels 101: Things I have figured out along the way…

• Keep an eye on cheap printing sites, such as VistaPrint. They are constantly having sales and offer free printing for various products. Better yet, check online coupon hubs, such as RetailMeNot, for coupon codes for heavily discounted items or free shipping!

  If you are looking for higher quality printing, I have been using Overnight Prints. They cost a bit more, but the quality and service I’ve received has been phenomenal. (Plus they sometimes have coupons listed on RetailMeNot!

• If you use Intuit’s TurboTax software or online services to file your taxes, you can use their It’s Deductible to keep track of your out-of-pocket costs for Soldiers’ Angels.

  Granted, I’m not in this for the tax break, but it sure helps when it comes time to buy supplies and postage!

  NOTE: Per TurboTax’s Live Community support forums, donation of time, web services, etc. are not deductible — only out of pocket expenses (keep copies of your receipts!), or donations of physical/tangible items.

Soldiers’ Angels 101

From time to time, I will post helpful hints that I have picked up along the way or discovered from other SA resources.

We all started out as new Soldiers’ Angels members, and remember fully well how confusing, overwhelming, or oppressive the whole idea seemed at first. Here are a few tips and resources to help any new Angel on his or her way!

• Soldiers’ Angels FAQ – Frequently Asked Questions, this impressive list of question includes many that we all have asked at one time or another.
• Angel How-To’s – Located in the SA Forums, these are “how to” tutorials and tips aimed at new members.
• Angel Boot Camp – Also located in the SA Forums, this section contains anything and everything you need to know about the SA process!
• Soldiers’ Angels Kansas City SA:101 – A great primer for letter writing as well as advice and suggestions.