A Simple, Personal Way to Thank Veterans

Today's guest post was written by Dave McLaughlin

In the spirit of eMail Our Military, Vthankyou is an effort to give Americans a simple way to support veterans and soldiers. Anyone with a webcam and an internet connection can post a short video message of gratitude and good will for veterans, up to sixty seconds long, by going to vsnap.com.

Video messages capture emotion and personality in a way that text usually doesn’t. Here are some examples that give a sense of how these messages are so simple, but so moving. They also illustrate the variety of voices and messages that people are posting.

Please join this campaign and add your own video message to thank our veterans. Just go to Vsnap.com. If you have a Twitter account, you can sign in with those credentials. If not, you can enter your email and make up a password. The service is free, and Vthankyou has lined up corporate donors who will make a $5 donation to The Wounded Warrior Project for each video message that gets posted.

You can even attach other documents to the video message. You might want to add a photo of a family member who has served, or a link to a song that reminds you of someone now deployed. Anything you like.

When you share your message, please send it to vthankyou@vsnap.com, and please cc a few friends that you think will want to add their voices to this campaign. We believe very strongly that the vast majority of Americans share a deep respect and gratitude for the service and sacrifice of veterans and their families, and Vthankyou is our attempt at giving those folks a simple way to share that gratitude with veterans and with the world.

If you have any questions, please find us on Twitter @Vthankyou or @Vsnap. Thanks for saying Vthankyou!

Here is my ThankYou Message to veterans.

Record yours here. Takes 2 minutes. Each one sends $5 to charity!

Tweet us at: @MailOurMilitary and follow our blog feed at: @eMOMs

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Action Alert - For Our Wounded Warriors

My friend Chris is participating in Tough Mudder this year to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project and he sent me this email that I'd like to share with you. I hope you'll take a moment to read it and donate to help our heroes --

From Chris -

If you haven’t heard by now, there are a few of us social networkers that have a crazy idea that we can raise over $2,000 for wounded veterans by taking part in the “toughest obstacle course in the world.” We’ve signed up for the Tough Mudder event (a 10 mile test of our souls) that’s taking place in just under a week. We’ve trained for a months, prepared ourselves mentally and only have one thing left to do… obtain your support.

I won’t include a long blog post that talks about how difficult this log-carrying, fire-running, lake-swimming, electrical-shock-having, 10 mile run is going to be. No, I won’t try and impress you with our level of insanity. I won’t even mention that not even 50% of the participants are expected to even finish this 3hr event. You won’t find a single mention of the crawling through pipes and under wires and hill climbing that we’ll have to complete. Hey, that’s not what this post is about.

This entry is to share our goal – which is within the spirit of the event and it’s worthy cause through the Wounded Warrior Project. Quite simply, to finish together as a team. The teamwork that our small group, the Social Mudders, plan to display will be in the spirit of the event in that finishing together is more important that racing each other.

So if you’re reading this, I’m asking you to take only a few moments and donate just $5 to our team and then pass along the article through your own social channels. The upside is that you’ll be donating to the team that is currently in the lead for the most funds raised – and keeping them out front to show the power of partnering social networks with worthy charitable causes.

Your Help (it’s so easy!):

Simply head to the event page (https://www.raceit.com/Fundraising/?event=2934) and search for our team, Social Mudders, and then a member to donate under. It’s quick and couldn’t be easier to show your support.

Share this article via Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn knowing that every time you do, you’re assisting the Wounded Warrior Project to aid injured and recovering veterans and their families.

Please help if you can!

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Holiday Care Packages to the Troops

This year as a special part of our Holiday Love Project, our partners at Beyond Bookmarks have created a special coupon code so you can send care packages, "Patriot Packs," to military services members at home and deployed this holiday season and get a 10% discount.

Whether you have a loved one serving or not, we've made it possible for you to send care packages to our troops with our Unknown Soldier Service. eMail Our Military has a confidential database of service members serving in places like Iraq and Afghanistan (and across the globe) who could use a little love and some goodies from home. You even get to include a special message to the service member who'll receive your package!

Every care package you order gives back to the troops! You get a great discount, your service members get great packages and a portion of the proceeds come back to eMail Our Military so we can continue to support our troops. What could be better than that?

Just order the package you want to send use COUPON CODE: EMOM and Beyond Bookmarks and eMOM will take care of the rest.

Here's how:

Order your Patriot Pack by calling Beyond Bookmarks toll free at 1-866-746-5133. They're happy to take your order over the phone Monday through Friday from 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM CST. (Don't forget to use COUPON CODE: EMOM to get your 10% discount)

OR if you prefer to do it yourself online:

1. Add the Patriot Pack you'd like to send to your shopping cart and select soldier service from the drop down menu.

2. Add any add on items you'd like to include to your shopping cart.

3. Click checkout and add your gift tag message using the button to the right of your Patriot Pack that reads add gift tag message. (Don't forget to use COUPON CODE: EMOM to get your 10% discount)

4. Continue checkout as normal, but enter your address as the shipping address. Beyond will change this to the APO/FPO address of a soldier provided by eMail Our Military.

5. Choose USPS as your shipping carrier then select Priority Mail as your shipping method

If you get stuck of need a little help along the way just give the good folks at Beyond Bookmarks a call toll free at: 1-866-746-5133

If you've been searching for a way to support our troops easily you've found it!

Tweet us at: @MailOurMilitary and follow our blog feed at: @eMOMs

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Help Save eMail Our Military

I need your help. There's no other way to say it.

In order to keep eMOM up and running in 2010 I'm personally asking for your help. Many of you have come to know me from this blog, Twitter, Facebook or other social networking sites if you've been following along with me on a personal level you may know that I'm now a single parent of two small children. What you may not know is that eMail Our Military was my full time job even though I didn't take a paycheck. As the founder, I didn't think that was appropriate.

Since eMOM's inception in 2001 I'd always covered all costs out-of-pocket. In 2003, we had to start charging a $2.00 registration fee to cover the costs of paper, ink, envelopes, etc. just to survive. Now, 9 years later, as a single parent struggling to survive with two small kids I find myself in a position where I can't support my family and this charitable organization and it breaks my heart. You know how much I've given to our troops and this organization.

Background

It's been a long road with a series of disappointments. I hired a web design company to redesign the site and set up a database so users could register online. They gave us the current version of eMOM and a database that had little functionality and an embarrassing user interface that we couldn't even use it - hence the reason you can't even register online for our online service!

Then a popular branding/design company that found us on twitter stepped up and said they'd help us redesign the site, find someone to help us get a functional database and better web hosting. Yeah, that didn't happen. Soon they stopped returning phone calls and emails and now, two years later the site remains the same. Then again, they volunteered their services so you know how that goes - you get what you pay for.

The static site is outdated, there's no functional user interface, and everything internally has to be done manually. It's archaic and poor example by today's web 2.0 standards. Which is why our blog isn't a part of our site. I'd laugh if it weren't so painful.

HELP!

So here I am. Asking for help. I have to. If I don't eMail Our Military will no longer exist. The site will go down as well as all the domain names. Believe me, I hate asking for help, it's not easy for me to do but I don't have a choice if I want to keep eMOM up and running online and supporting our troops. I'm even open to the idea of merging with another charitable troop support organization or being taken over by one that will continue to support our troops. I'd appreciate any help you can provide!

What we need to Save eMail Our Military

A few things have to happen in order to save eMOM. The second design company has promised to give us the design we were working on and I have a few designers I work with who I'm sure might be able to help me get eMOM back on track and 2010 ready. But we need a functional database so service members and civilians can register online, among other things.

We need a sponsor or sponsors for web hosting and we need the same for our domain names which expire in June.

I'm even willing to be taken over or merge with another troop support organization. I would rather see that happen than disappoint all the service members AND civilians that have come to rely on us for the last 9 years.

If you're from an organization that would like to take over what we've started or merge with eMOM, please email me at info at eMailOurMilitary dot com.

Web Hosting Sponsorship

For 9 years we've always paid for our own website hosting. We've never been hosted for free and now, we need your help to keep eMailOurMilitary.com up and running so we can continue to support our troops. This is a quick, easy way to help keep us online and supporting our troops. If you sponsor us we will add your name or the name of your business on our sidebar with a link to your site.

You can find the option to help on our sidebar to the right of this post.

Domain Name Sponsorship

eMail Our Military owns several domains like eMailOurMilitary.com, .net and .org along with MailOurMilitary.com, .net and .org in order to protect our brand. We'd be so grateful if you could help keep us online and supporting our service members. If you sponsor us we will add your name or the name of your business on our sidebar with a link to your site.

Thank you in advance!

You can find the option to help on our sidebar to the right of this post.

Thank You!

If you can't help, I understand. I'm right there with you. This is a difficult time for many of us. If you can help, I really need you to. Either way, thanks for taking the time to always be here with me and all our troops. It's been a great 9 years.

Charitable Troop Support Organizations

If you're from an organization that would like to take over what we've started or merge with eMOM, please email me at info at eMailOurMilitary dot com.

Thanks so much.

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Keep eMOM Up and Running

We still need your help. There's no other way to say it.

We are in dire need. In order to keep eMOM up and running in 2010 we're asking for you help. In turn we'll include you and a link to your business or website on our sponsors page. With recent economic events we've lost many of our volunteers. Now, we're facing the loss of our website and domain names if we don't ask for help. Asking isn't always easy but it's something we have to do if we are to remain online and supporting our troops. We appreciate any help you can provide!

Web Hosting Sponsorship

For 9 years we've always paid for our own website hosting. We've never been hosted for free and now, we need your help to keep eMailOurMilitary.com up and running so we can continue to support our troops. This is a quick easy way to help keep us online and supporting our troops.

You can find the option to help on our sidebar to the right of this post.

Domain Name Sponsorship

eMail Our Military owns several domains like eMailOurMilitary.com, .net and .org along with MailOurMilitary.com, .net and .org in order to protect our brand. We'd be so grateful if you could help keep us online and supporting our service members. Thank you in advance!

You can find the option to help on our sidebar to the right of this post.

Thank You!

If you can't help, we certainly understand. This is a difficult time for many of us, financially. If you can, we really need you. Either way, thank you for taking the time to always be here with us. We're not sure what the future holds at this time but we're so grateful to be supporting our troops together with you.

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How You Can Help the Fort Hood Soldiers and Families

*Update* Chaplains are accepting donations to assist Fort Hood Soldiers and Families. Checks can be mailed to:

Chaplain's Funds Office
761st Tank Bn, Bldg 44
Fort Hood, TX 76544

Please annotate the memo line with: Fort Hood Tragedy

11/06/09 @ 9:30 AM - We know that so many of you want to show your support for our Ft. Hood Soldiers and their families. Earlier this morning we spoke with the Fort Hood Public Affairs Officer and they stated that though no official statement had been released on how civilians can extend their support they believed it was ok to send cards and letters. If this is something you would like to do, we kindly ask that you keep all messages positive and upbeat and send them to:

Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone
Bldg. 1001, Room W105
1001 761st Tank Battalion Ave.
Fort Hood, TX 76544-5005

You may also leave your messages of support for Ft. Hood Soldiers and their families at:

Fort Hood's Facebook Page
Fort Hood's Twitter Page

Whether you're local or not, another way you can show support for those in need is to donate blood to the Red Cross.

For news and information on Fort Hood see:

The Fort Hood Website: http://www.hood.army.mil
The Fort Hood Newspaper: www.forthoodsentinel.com

The Statesman Newspaper: http://www.statesman.com/ and on twitter at: @FtHoodShootings @statesman

Fort Hood Sentinel - the post's hometown newspaper a weekly commercial enterprise newspaper published by the III Corps Public Affairs Office. Articles come from all levels of command. Distribution is made post-wide, as well as to selected major shopping areas in the local communities.

Fort Hood on the Web - Your first stop for information about Fort Hood services and so much more is via the Internet. The site is your gateway to a variety of sites and services of interest to Soldiers, civilians, retirees and their families.

Hood Happenings - Fort Hood FMWR's monthly magazine contains detailed information about events, classes and recreational activities on post. Pick up your issue at any FMWR facility, or other high traffic areas across post.

FMWR Online - More information about FMWR programs can be found online. The site features up-to-date, in-depth information about a myriad of facilities and programs, as well as prices, phone numbers, location and links to other useful Army Websites.

Other military news sources:

• Army Newspapers
• Soldiers Magazine
• Pentagon Channel
• Stars & Stripes
• Other DOD News Sources

(Photo credit Michael Heckman, III Corps PAO)

# # #

If you've been searching for a way to support our troops easily, you've found it! Participate in one of our many projects or register with eMOM and sign up to eMail/Mail our military one-on-one.

Connect with eMail Our Military (eMOM) on twitter at: @MailOurMilitary, follow our blog feed at: @eMOMs or connect with us through one of the services below.

If you're reading this via email or in your feed reader, stop by and add your comments.

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