No images? Click here
Food Distributions Kick Off 9th Year
The Soldiers' Angels Food Distribution program has successfully kicked off its ninth year! This critical food assistance program has supported low-income, homeless, and at-risk Veterans across the country since 2015. Started in San Antonio, the program has since expanded to support Atlanta, Charleston, Denver, Detroit, and Orlando, with an additional location slated to open this year.
The events are quite an undertaking. Serving 200 Veterans with approximately 75 lbs. of food each and every month rain or shine, it's an orchestration of volunteers, grocery bags, and cars. But thanks to incredible volunteers who endure rain, snow, heat, cold, and every other unexpected challenge thrown their way, the program is able to serve nearly 15,000 Veterans in need each and every year.
With inflation added to the ever-increasing rise in food costs, the Soldiers' Angels Food Distribution program is more in demand than it has ever been. When registration opens for the larger sites, especially San Antonio and Atlanta, the event is filled in about 8 minutes— which includes 200 registered spots and an additional 50-80 waitlist spots!
We are so honored to be able to provide this critical assistance to those who have served our country and we are grateful for the army of volunteers and sponsors who have helped keep this program running nationwide for nearly a decade. We could not do these events without your incredible support!
Follow the events through the year via our Flickr albums here!
Volunteers are always needed to support these events. If you are interested in getting involved by volunteering or sponsoring, click through to learn more now.
All Ways Caring Homecare Partners with Soldiers' Angels to Support Caregivers Through 'Women of Valor' Program
All Ways Caring HomeCare announced earlier this week its partnership with the national nonprofit Soldiers’ Angels to support caregivers through its “Women of Valor” program. Focusing on female caregivers of post-9/11 wounded, ill and injured Service Members and Veterans, the San Antonio-based non-profit provides Women of Valor caregivers with encouragement through personalized cards, letters, and care packages, as well as services to address the many challenges caregivers face while supporting their loved ones.
Women Making An Impact in the Military Community
In honor of Women's History Month, we wanted to highlight some women who are making history right now through the work they do in or for the military community. We asked our community to share their stories or nominate an impactful woman and it's been an honor to get to hear their stories. Click through to read more about Kelly & Chelsea and be sure to check back to read more stories of impact throughout the month.
Kelly Mathis, Army Chaplain
How did your experience in the military-connected community shape your career?
“As an Army Chaplain, I’m in a male dominated field within a male dominated field. There are always those who don’t believe I should be there, but also always those who have my back. The latter encouraged me to trust God with my calling and my career and gave me the right opportunities to learn and grow.”
Chelsea L., Military Police Officer
Why is it important to support the military-connected community?
“It makes the time away from family and the U.S. way better. Depression is a real thing out here. Not much to do, and can hardly talk to family sometimes. The adjustment takes time. A little bit of home is always good to brighten my day or someone else’s.”
Keep the Socks Coming!
We're just a couple of weeks away from the end of Warm Feet for Warriors and we'd love your support to keep our troops' toes feeling toasty!
Supporting Deployed Chaplains
We received a great email from one of our deployed Chaplains who has been blown away by the support he received from the Soldiers' Angels Chaplain Support Team. Great work, Angels!
"I just wanted to send you a quick note to say thank you. I received an overwhelming shipment of support today from your team. All I can say is wow!! I have taken time to read the letters and send some thank you notes via email, but it would be tough to personally thank everyone."
Veteran Supported by Soldiers' Angels Receives Recycled Ride
San Antonio Veteran, Gary Tisdale, can breathe a sigh of relief. After months of challenges getting to work and getting his two kids where they need to be due to transportation issues, Mr. Tisdale received a new Bronco thanks to USAA, the National Autobody Council, and Recycled Rides.
Recently, Gary received an email from Soldiers' Angels looking for nominations to receive a Recycled Ride and mentioned the email to his mother, Maria. Maria knew the many struggles Gary has been through since his return from the war in Afghanistan— a recently broken-down car just being one of those many challenges. So she took the initiative to nominate Gary through Soldiers' Angels and share his story about how a new vehicle would impact his life. Then, weeks later, on a day that just happened to be Gary's birthday, he received the call that he had been selected to receive the recycled 2021 Ford Bronco!
Click through to watch the Facebook Live Videos from the event.
Help Ship Popcorn!
A huge thanks to Boy Scouts from across the country who collected roughly 480,000 bags of popcorn for us to ship to Service Members and Veterans during their Popcorn for the Troops campaign!
Can you help us by covering the shipping cost for one or more boxes of popcorn?
Caring for Caregivers
Military Caregivers often spend so much time caring for others they don't make time for themselves. This is why Soldiers' Angels provides free Telehealth to all of the caregivers we support through Women of Valor. It's made a huge impact on caregivers, like Jennifer:
"I'm a busy mom and caregiver, I work two jobs. I never have time to take care of myself. I've been in pain for 3 days and ignoring it as best I could. I went on MD Live and spoke to a doctor in less than 10 minutes. Thank you so much for this program you've provided for those of us who just don't have the time."
Gunn Auto Group's Operation Book Drop a Huge Success in San Antonio
Due to the overwhelming generosity from San Antonio, also known as Military City USA, Gunn Gives, Gunn Auto Groups volunteer corps, and volunteers from Soldiers’ Angels sorted, boxed, and shipped more than 25,000 books weighing some 15,000 pounds.
We can't get enough of cute kids and handmade cards! This group of sweet youngsters from Voorhees Township Public Schools created handmade cards to go in care packages created by Radian employees through the #RadianSalutes employee resource group. We love that this company thought to include a local elementary school in their efforts!
