SERVICE PROJECT FOR INJURED SOLDIERS

[scoutldr 732]

Red Cross Needs Assistance for Wounded Soldiers

 

 

 

The American Red Cross at Walter Reed Army

 

Medical Center is looking for incidentals/comfort

 

items for sick and wounded Armed Forces Personnel

 

now recuperating at the hospital. When someone is

 

stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere and

 

is wounded or falls ill, they are immediately

 

evacuated, and it can take weeks for their

 

personal effects to catch up with them. The Red

 

Cross is asking for donations of any of the

 

following:

 

- telephone cards of at least 30 minutes

 

- rolling luggage (small), totes, carry-ons

 

- individually wrapped snacks

 

- magazines

 

- notepads, pens

 

- playing cards and games

 

- sweat pants and shirts (all sizes)

 

All items should be addressed to:

 

ATTN: Barbara Green,

 

American Red Cross

 

Walter Reed Army Medical Center

 

6900 Georgia Ave, N.W.,

 

Washington, DC 20307-5001.

 

Checks should be made out to the American Red

 

Cross. For more information, call (202) 782-2080

 

or e-mail Barbara.Green.1@AMEDD.army.mil. For

 

more on the Red Cross, see

 

http://www.military.com/Resources/ResourceFileView?file=Active_Family_Red_Cross.htm

 

 

 

[Big_Dog 10]

Thanx for the info.

I printed it off and will drop it off with the SPL as a 'just for your info' kinda thing. If he doesn't run with it, will take it to the Cubs. I think kids/parents here would love to help - just don't know how

 

bd

[Fat Old Guy 11]

This is a nice idea but isn't it a bit pathetic that the DoD cannot provide snacks, games and stationery for wounded soldiers.

[nldscout 18]

Something doesn't seem right about this. I would call before I sent anything. FOG, DOD does supply most of the stuff listed.

 

 

[KoreaScouter 13]

Go ahead and check it out, but her e-mail address appears to be of the Army Medical Command variety -- my guess is that it's legit.

 

DoD does provide the standard "3 hots and a cot" (actually much more than that to hospitalized service members). But, the items listed in Scoutldr's initial post are comfort items. Most of these are and historically have been, donated or purchased with donated funds, by private organizations such as USO and Red Cross. Congress does not appropriate funds for these types of items, and unlike most of us who have family in the local area when hospitalized, these troops are on their own -- no local family support network. That's why the Red Cross and in other settings, the USO are the surrogate family.

 

Specifically, DoD will typically allow phone access; local calls are free. Most troops don't live in the D.C. area, and unless you can get a local patch from a base near your parents' home, it's a long distance call. Donated phone cards bridge the gap. Also, the food's good, and plentiful, but on a schedule. There are vending machines, too, but if a troop is not ambulatory, or was medevac'ed without his money, that's not an option and that's where the individually wrapped snacks come in. Next item, magazines. Where do the magazines in your doctor's office come from? His personal subscriptions, after he reads them, probably. Our hospitals are no different. The staff normally brings in their own copies, with the address labels cut out. In my last troop, we had a recurring service project that involved Scouts getting undeliverable magazines from the post office, obscuring the address labels, and putting them in the hospital and USO lounge at our passenger terminal. And so on, and so on.

 

If you want a real eye-opener sometime, look for the USO lounge at a major U.S. airport that also serves as a military hub (Denver, Seattle, LA, St. Louis, Baltimore, etc.). You'll have to look for it; they're not revenue-generating spaces for the airport, so they're not in high-traffic areas. You'll see families with kids moving halfway around the world in there, nervous young troops moving for the first time, etc., all being looked after by volunteers who are mostly senior citizens, who are operating the place on donations. What they're able to do on such a shoestring and in near-anonymity is inspirational, and a far cry from the frequent-flyer lounges and $5-a-cup Starbucks that most of us hang out in when waiting for a flight.

 

Honestly, I don't think this is one of those "kidney harvesting" stories...

 

KS

 

 

[NJCubScouter 1389]

Yeah... it does seem a bit odd. I could see if someone was hospitalized in some mobile hospital in the mountains of Afghanistan, there might be a bit of a supply problem. But if someone is at Walter Reed, I would hope they could give him a magazine or a pen. Also, for some of these items, it seems to me that it would cost more for the Red Cross to handle all of these small individual items coming in from all over the place... check the "snacks" and make sure they haven't been tampered with by some nut... check the "phone cards" and make sure they actually have time on them... and whatever else, than for the Red Cross to ask for the usual cash donations and go out and buy items in bulk at a discount, which I am sure it does all the time. One exception might be clothing, which I guess the Red Cross does seek for emergency victims, but again, if someone is injured in a war, I would be more than happy for some of my federal tax dollars to go to buy him a sweat-suit to wear in the hospital.

[NJCubScouter 1389]

I will of course bow to KoreaScouter's superior knowledge of things military. It just seems to me that there would be a better way to do this.

[FScouter 24]

I would guess that perhaps some people could get more excited about bundling up boxes of goodies for the Red Cross than in writing a check. Money is probably preferred, but a box of goodies is better than getting nothing.

 

I've always wondered why some people cut the address label out of their magazine before donating it to the hospital. What's the thought there? Are they afraid of identity theft, or what?

[Big_Dog 10]

I'm sure there's better ways, but this sounds like a good chance to do something with a personal touch.

[KoreaScouter 13]

On the magazine labels, I think it's probably more a "subscription theft" than identify theft thing. Most magazines require the label if changing the delivery address by mail, or a subscription number code and you can change the delivery address right at their web site. Scoundrels can be pretty resourceful...

 

KS

[mk9750 11]

We do a similiar project this time of year for our local VA Hospital. The boys stand in front of Wal MArt to solicit donations of socks, t-shirts, underwear, toiletries, pens, paper, etc. Most people just give money, and we buy these things for the vets. We usually also buy a small gym bag, or other kind of tote to put this stuff in.

 

On the night of our Troop Christmas party, we divvy everything up and put it into the bags. The Friday before Christmas, we all go down to the VA hospital, play bingo with the Vets who can come to the rec room, and then have a Santa who passes out bags to all. Then we take a few of the older Scouts with Santa on a tour of the parapalegic ward, going bed to bed talking to Vets. we usually hand out around 40 bags in all.

 

Two things have struck me since we have been doing this (7 years this year, I think). The first is that it is amazing how abandoned most of these guys are. The only visitors they seem to get are the Marine Corp League and other Veterans groups, and a small number of groups like us. Most say they won't see their family, even over Christmas. It's unbelievably sad.

 

The second is how much more we get out of going than we give. Every year, the new guys in the Troop need to be prodded into going. After they go the first time, you can't keep them away. Boys have made their parents change holiday travel plans in order to make this visit. We never seem to be at a loss for adults to drive, either.

 

If your Troop lacks a service project to do over the holidays, I strongly suggest either helping out with the Walter Reed effort, or starting your own VA hospital visits. My promise - You won't regret it.

 

Mark

[Fat Old Guy 11]

I never spent any time in a naval hospital so I don't know what the process is and never gave it much thought. Does seem a shame that there isn't money from congress to buy dice and cards for injured troops when they manage to find enough money to waste on other things.

 

A few years ago, I was cleaning out junk in my father's house and found about 20 years of Nat. Geo, Smithsonian and other magazines that are timeless. First, I tried to give them to the local library. They didn't want them. Next, I went to the schools. They didn't want anything that they didn't pay for (why are they always asking for money?). Finally I headed to the hospital where I was told that they would accept new subscriptions as donations but they didn't believe that anyone would want to look at an old copy of Nat. Geo..

[hops_scout 9]

FOG says,"Does seem a shame that there isn't money from congress to buy dice and cards for injured troops when they manage to find enough money to waste on other things."

 

Like what, might I ask?? And this time I'm not trying to be smart with you either, I just would like to know what you think they are wasting money on.

 

PS. I think doing something like that is a good idea:)

[Proud Eagle 13]

Here are some examples of Federal money from grants and even some specifically earmarked appropriations going just to my home town. My town is just 25,000 people. None of our Senators or our Congressman is from the town. The political leanings of the town makes it a lost cause for both our Senators and our Congressman. So, really we aren't getting any special favors to amount to anything.

 

So far all street lamps have been replaced with replicas of the originals. The lamps had to be specially designed based on photos of the old ones. That cost the Federal government something like a quarter million in historical preservation money pluss city and state money. Then there is the new historical replica fountain. This is a one unit special bronze casting that cost about another quarter million in Federal money that was supposed to go to highway construction. Also the town decided to tear out the Army Corps of Engineers owned boat launching facility down town and replace it with a river front ampitheater that can't be used most of the year, and by a pair of parks that actually existed already. The price tag for that was something like $1.5 million, just in federal money. Then there was city and state money as well. The latest budget contains another million and a half from what I understand to continue with riverfront improvements. I think the money is coming out of some kind of program to improve the navigability of the rivers. So now multiply all of this money that I was able to think of just off the top of my head, by the number of other towns and cities getting federal money for this that and the other little pet project, and pretty soon we are talking about the same amount of money it costs for new fighter squadrons or an aircraft carrier.

[captainron14 11]

What Koreascouter said is right on the money as is what mk9750 said.

DoD will provide for the "needs" for injured/sick troops. However the "wants" are usualy left to family, USO, Red Cross, and the Service member himself. I speak from one who was hospitalized when I was on active duty (some years ago).

As for the VA its much worse! A lot of these old guys have no one. And those who still have family are rarely visited or forgoten.

My last troop visited the VA home/hospital every few months (more if possible). It was hard to get things started at first. The boys were a bit timid going to a nursing home environment, but once they started to interact with the Vets things "got moving". The boys realized (as one said)that "these guys are part of history"! We had a hard time getting the boys to go home. One of the "Stars" of the Vets was a WW1 Vet (101 years old)who happened to be a former Scout and Scoutmaster. He was still very sharp and loved to have the boys recite the Scout Oath & Law for him (he would join in!). It became a favorite service project for the boys. As well a number of Eagle Projects were done for the VA. It was a special thing to be a part of.

I am currently trying to put together the same thing here in my new Council. I would encourage everyone to do what they can for the Veterans in their area.

A sign outside the VA in Boise Idaho sums it up:

THE PRICE OF FREEDOM IS VISIBLE HERE.

 

YiS

CR14