America Supports You: Sears Helps Show Troops USA Cares

Passed on from Samantha L. Quigley, American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7, 2006 - Holiday shoppers turning to the Internet to avoid the mall crowds have an easy way to support servicemembers and their families this year thanks to a partnership between Sears Holdings Corporation and "USA Cares."

USA Cares is a Defense Department program highlighting ways Americans and the corporate sector support the nation's military. Sears Holdings is the parent company of Sears and Kmart department stores.

"Sears has a longstanding commitment with the military, and we feel privileged to assist the troops and their families through this initiative," Brenda Storch, a Sears Holdings spokeswoman, said. "We wanted to partner with a respected organization that would help us to ensure that military families are remembered this holiday season."

Sears officials found what they were looking for in USA Cares, which provides assistance to members of the armed forces and their families who have unmet needs because of death, injury, physical or mental impairment, or financial hardship.

Through the partnership, Sears customers can visit a special Web site, www.readysetholiday.com, established for the holiday season. "It seemed as though it would be a good way to involve our customers in helping military families through the holidays," Storch said.

The Web site provides a wish list of items that can be purchased and shipped directly to USA Cares, Roger Stradley, one of the group's founders and director of operations, said. Once all of the purchases are received at USA Cares' Radcliff, Ky., office, they'll be sorted and sent to areas where they'll do the most good. For instance, a lot of the cold-weather clothing will go to Alaska.

The gifts range in price from about $9 to a couple hundred dollars and include clothes and household items. Gift cards also may be purchased in lieu of a gift.

"USA Cares does not get any cash," Stradley said. "We're just coordinating and helping facilitate (for) hopefully thousands of Americans that want to just say thanks to a guy or a gal who's wearing the uniform or their family."

Sears Holdings kicked the program off with a donation of $10,000 in gift cards when the program started Nov 26. Since then, USA Cares has received a couple of boxes a day. "It's kind of like Christmas," Stradley said. "We pop it open to see what came."

It doesn't matter to the folks at USA Cares whether a donor chooses a gift or a gift card to show their support of the military community.

"I want whatever that person's heart is moved to send," he said. "Obviously gift cards make it a little easier, especially if your heart is that you want to help a (Guardsman) or reservist who might not be near a major installation."

The site will remain active through Christmas day. USA Cares staff and volunteers will tackle distributing the items after the first of the year, Stradley said.

eCare Packages to Military & Their Families

I came across this Press Release from the American Forces Press Service. Anytime I see something positive out there for those securing freedom, I just got to pipe off. Check it out!

America Supports You: Online ProgramSends Care Packages to Troops, Families

SANTA ANA, Calif., Nov. 17, 2006 - Just in time for the holidays, Operation Homefront has launched "eCarePackage," an online service that allows caring citizens to send care packages to deployed troops and their families.

Operation Homefront is part of CinCHouse.com, a community for military wives, and is a team member of America Supports You, a Department of Defense program connecting U.S. citizens with members of the military.

Servicemembers and families can register on www.ecarepackage.org, which protects their identity and location, and visitors can "adopt" them based on common interests. Then visitors select individual items to create a customized care package for their chosen servicemember or family and include a personal message.

Operation Homefront's team of volunteers takes the order, boxes the selected items and ships them directly to the servicemember or family - always protecting their identity and physical location.

"There's nothing like a care package to cheer a deployed soldier or a lonely military family, especially during the holidays," said Amy Palmer, executive vice president of operations for Operation Homefront. "With operational security for the troops so tight, we were concerned that care packages weren't getting through. So we built eCarePackage to ensure our troops and families continue to 'feel the love' from Americans."

Items available in the eCarePackage store range from toiletries and necessities to games, books and candy. Most items were donated from sponsors, particularly The Dollar Tree, which runs its Operation Appreciation program in most stores nationwide.

Donated items are not marked up, so eCarePackage visitors often pay only the cost of handling and shipping - making eCarePackage less expensive than doing it yourself. Moreover, Operation Homefront has partnered with DHL, which provides postal service to overseas troops, to ensure direct and timely delivery of all care packages to deployed troops.

The eCarePackage program is an extension of Operation Homefront's mission to provide emergency support and morale to our troops, the families they leave behind during deployments, and wounded warriors when they return home. Operation Homefront recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Defense Department to ensure greater collaboration.

Didja Know About NKO, or AKO...Did You?

Most military personnel are well aware of the recent efforts of their respective service organizations to bring the world of information to the doorstep, or at least computer screen, of each servicemember. But, the word still hasn't completely made it out to the retirees that these same services are also available.

The information appears to grow daily and varies from online computer classes to library collections of audiobooks, music, e-books, congressional reports, and so much more.
There is the latest health news including alerts and ways to research concerns. There is legal information including downloadable forms and data to use as well as helpful links. There is information about job hunting, transition assistance, veterans organizations, financial services, counseling services, personal and professional growth services, and many more. For some people it is information overload and for others it is the new frontier. No matter what your take is on it, it is information that saves you money, time, and is always available.

I can at least vouch for the Navy and say that if a Navy servicemember (as well as Marine Corps and Coast Guard personnel) doesn't know what is available to them on the "Navy Knowledge Online (NKO)" website, they must be living under a rock or just haven't reached that point in their life where they are investing in their future.

I know that the Army has the same system under the umbrella of "Army Knowledge Online (AKO)" and it is available to retirees. However, the Air Force version, the "AF Portal" reports the following, "Currently, the AF Portal team is focused on delivering capabilities to the military, civil service community and base support contractors. In the long term, the AF Portal will support the entire AF community: Active Duty, Reserve, Air National Guard, civil servants, retirees, dependents, and our support contractors. As we evolve the AF Portal we intend to offer capabilities to our retired and dependent communities such as quality of life information and self-service personnel and financial applications. Please stay tuned to the AF Portal and the AF Link public website over the next year for more information on AF Portal registration for retirees and dependents." It is just a matter of time before they too will be onboard and offering the same services.

To help "corrall" some of the resources within the website that I am able to access from my Navy affiliation, I have created a "Personal Community" within Navy Knowledge Online and will continue to build with references related to veterans that are able to access it. I was talking to another friend of mine about this and he asked me, "Why don't you just create a NEW website that everyone can access with all the information." Well, the information for NKO, AKO, and all the others is a combination of the efforts of hundreds of people and hundreds more contracted agencies who are experts in the field of information that they provide. I do not claim to be an expert of all that I come across. So, I will that to the professionals. However, there is no reason why I can't do what I can to help bring the information to a more collective section

So, if this is new information to you, here is some helpful links for you to begin your quest:

• Navy Knowledge Online (https://www.nko.navy.mil)
• Army Knowledge Online (https://www.us.army.mil)
• Air Force Portal (https://www.my.af.mil)
• Marine Corps - authorized to use Navy Knowledge Online (see above)
• U.S. Coast Guard - authorized to Navy Knowledge Online (above) as well.

If you learn something new about ANY of these services, share the wealth! And let's pass it on!