Soldiers' Angels Volunteers Send Halloween Fun to the Middle East
In addition to the regular support that our Angels provide for deployed service members, every once in awhile an opportunity comes along to provide additional support for extra special celebrations— like a Halloween party!
Several weeks ago, a Chaplain stationed in the Middle East reached out to Soldiers' Angels to see if we could help provide a few supplies for his unit to celebrate Halloween. Without hesitation, our incredible volunteers jumped at the chance to provide a much-needed night of fun for our men and women in uniform.
Angels sent care packages full of party supplies, decor, candy, costumes, the cutest Halloween cookies, and more! The party took place this past weekend and it is easy to see in the photos that these heroes had a Halloween party to remember!
Celebrating a Young Philanthropist
Libbie Stanton was just seven years old when she became inspired to start giving back to our troops and veterans. After seeing a sign on vacation about a business collecting Halloween candy for troops, she decided that she wanted to do the same. With her mom's help, she set up Soldiers' Angels Treats for Troops collection bins at city buildings throughout her hometown of Vail, Colorado. That first year she collected 60 pounds of candy.
The following year at age 8, Libbie signed up for Treats for Troops again and she grew her campaign to collect 200 pounds of candy. In 2018, at just 9 years old, she rallied her entire community in order to grow her campaign even further and collected 2,000 pounds (1 ton!) of candy!
This year, Soldiers' Angel's leadership knew they needed to recognize this incredible young philanthropist for her dedication to supporting our troops and veterans. Amy Palmer, Soldiers' Angels President and CEO, made the trek to Vail, Colorado on Wednesday, October 30th to surprise Libbie with a Soldiers' Angels Crystal Wing Award. With the unexpected weather in Colorado this week, Amy battled record-breaking temperatures, blizzard conditions, and many other unexpected challenges in order to make it to the award ceremony that would take place during the Town Meeting. (Stay tuned for a blog on Amy's entire travel adventure to Vail...)
“It’s the little things, like Halloween candy, that can lift spirits when these men and women are in the field, far from their friends and family. Libbie’s commitment, at such a young age, should inspire Americans to think bigger in their charity work, and to continue to support our troops overseas. Soldiers’ Angels is driven by tireless volunteers like Libbie, and we thank her, the Stanton family, the Vail Mountain School community, and the Town of Vail for their support,” said Amy Palmer, CEO of Soldiers’ Angels.
It's yet to be seen how much candy Libbie will collect during her Treats for Troops campaign this year-- but given her drive and determination to support our troops, we are certain it will be tons (literally!).
Happy Halloween! We hope your day is filled with treats!
In the event that you are stuck with too many treats after today, don't forget to share your extra candy with deployed service members and veterans by donating to Soldiers' Angels Treats for Troops. Currently, we have over 400 registered collection sites across the country.
Traditionally, we see a huge spike in website traffic on November 1st due to so many people searching for a collection site near them. Beat the traffic and search today! This year we have two ways to search— a zip code search or an interactive map of the country that displays all registered locations. Save time and check 'em out today!
Thank you for your continued support of our troops and veterans!
Soldiers' Angels • 2895 NE Loop 410, Suite 107, San Antonio, TX 78218 • www.SoldiersAngels.org
Soldiers' Angels is a 501(c)(3) charity, gifts to which are tax-deductible as allowed by law.
Our Tax ID# is 20-0583415.
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