Every year from May through June 14th the President, Congress and the Department of Defense calls upon all Americans to participate in National Military Appreciation Month. This includes VE Day, Military Spouses Day, Loyalty Day, Armed Forces Day, National Day of Prayer, Memorial Day and lastly Flag Day. "I would like to see this event be the first of an annual program in our community of Tulsa, Oklahoma," states Blue Star Mother, Kelly Cross Oakes. She goes on to say, "The goal of this event is to promote patriotism and community support for our past and present U.S. military service members and their families, and raise money for the "Freedom Boxes" that Blue Star Mothers of America - Oklahoma Chapter 1 send to our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq."
Kelly, like every American during the events of September 11, 2001, was horrified, shocked and filled with tremendous grief at the loss of our American citizens in New York City, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania and dismal morning. During the days and months that followed, the search and rescue, the night-long candle-light vigils, and recurrent images in the forefront of our daily lives, she sensed the very heart of the American spirit had been wounded. With the subsequent wave of enlistment and deployment of our young military men and women to Afghanistan, Kelly prayed a mother's prayer that God would keep our American soldiers in His tender care. She thought of her own son, not yet enlisted but who had chosen a military career like his father, grandfather and great-grandfather before him. In response to that prayer and the outpouring of her heart, including the events taking place in our American history, she wrote the poem Dear American Soldier.
The support program Kelly is organizing for NMAM is called Operation American Soldier. She has assembled a comrade of student volunteers attending alternative, charter, homeschool, private, and public schools. Their ages range from elementary to college students. Their united purpose is to sell wristbands and shirts with Dear American Soldier imprinted on them. The students will sell the wristbands and shirts in the month of May at their schools, churches, neighborhoods, etc. Additionally, they will hold community public events at Reasor's Food locations in Tulsa and surrounding communities in the month of May. A donation box will be available with the supply list for those who'd like to purchase items for the "Freedom Boxes" Blue Star Mothers send to our troops overseas. Kelly plans to have a sample box at the community events she says, "For those Oklahomans who haven't seen our "Freedom Boxes," they're quite impressive. It's amazing how much you can get into such a small space." The postage of the boxes is one of the organizations greatest expenses, costing between $17 to $24 to ship. The goal of Operation American Soldier is to provide many ways for Tulsa and surrounding communities to support our military service members during National Military Appreciation Month.
Greeting card designer and author of Dear American Soldier, Kelly Cross Oakes came up with the idea to use her poem for the wristbands and shirts in the support program. "The wristbands are made in the USA," she proudly claims, "and will sell for $5." There are two styles to choose from; one is camouflage and the other is a patriotic design with the title of her poem embossed on the bands. The shirts are made by the company Creative Ink here in Oklahoma, "another Made in Oklahoma product," she says, "and will sell for $10." The shirts will have the theme of the support program Operation American Soldier imprinted on the front of the shirt and on the front of the shirt and on the back will be the poem Dear American Soldier. Kelly also got the idea to turn her poem into an electronic-greeting card on her web site, www.gloryfirst.com. She shared the idea with Jonathan Ratzlaff, an homeschool Senior and web designer who enthusiastically offered to have it ready for NMAM. Kelly says, "Jon is one of literally hundreds of precious friends and acquaintances God has put in my life this past year to get this event off the ground. I couldn't have done it without them and I am so blessed and grateful to know them."
