Sunday, November 18, 2007

Giving Thanks for our Troops

The Department of Defense has a website that makes it easy for us to send our message of support to the troops - America Supports You. You can e-mail service members by clicking here or you can text your thanks to them between now and midnight on Thanksgiving.
By Samantha L. Quigley / American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Nov. 16, 2007 - For those seeking a quick way to show appreciation to troops serving far from home this holiday season, look no further than “Giving Thanks,” a new initiative from the Defense Department’s America Supports You program.

America Supports You connects citizens and corporations with military personnel and their families serving at home and abroad.

“This is a simple way to connect our citizens to our soldiers using modern technology,” Allison Barber, deputy assistant secretary of defense for internal communications and public liaison, said of the text messaging program.

The program, which already has received nearly 4,000 messages, officially kicks off at 6 a.m. EST Nov. 17 and concludes at midnight PST Nov. 22. Between those times, people wishing to express gratitude to the troops for their service can text a brief message to 89279. Each text message sent will receive a response from an active-duty servicemember in return.

Major mobile wireless providers, including AT&T, Verizon, Sprint Nextel, and T-Mobile, will provide access to the Giving Thanks text messaging program.

“We know that thousands of families will be sitting down for Thanksgiving dinner and thinking about loved ones who are far away from home serving their country,” Barber said. “We are counting on other American families to take a moment during their holiday celebration to think of those families and their family members who are serving and say, ‘Thanks.’

“The reassurance that others are thinking about them will mean a lot to our troops,” Barber added.

Those who send a message during the six days of the Giving Thanks program also will be directed to the America Supports You Web site. There, they’ll find a sampling of messages from the public and a running tally of how many messages have been received. They’ll also be able to read messages from the troops.
Get busy texting and add your message to the more than 27,000 that have been received already! What easier way is there for us to tell the troops we're thankful for them.



This is a Blogging For Michigan Troop Care post. From November 11 through November 25, 2007, Blogging For Michigan will use 100% of every dollar received in the Troop Care fund to purchase and ship items to Michigan troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Learn more about BFM Troop Care here. Click here to contribute to Troop Care. Contributions are not tax deductible.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Help us say THANK YOU to those of us that need it most during this holiday season. Help us say THANK YOU to our brave men and women and their families for their sacrifices and answering the call to duty we owe all are freedoms the brave troops of the United States of America.

www.ThanksToTheTroops.com has begun a new and innovative way to say THANK YOU to the brave men and women of the United States Armed Forces. www.ThanksToTheTroops.com has started a THANK YOU bumper sticker, car magnet and billboard campaign. That hopes to purchase many billboards around our nations military bases saying THANK YOU to our troops and their families for the sacrifices they have made and answering the call to duty.
Thank you,
Jeff_kegley@yahoo.com
Jeff@thankstothetroops.com

Giving a THANK YOU to our troops during this holiday season