Marine Corps Moms: Operation Santa at Bethesda and Walter Reed

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November 20, 2006

Operation Santa at Bethesda and Walter Reed

Carrie Costantini who has more energy than an entire squad of Santa's elves, is making sure that our nation's wounded at Bethesda and Walter Reed are remembered at Christmas with a touch of home.

Christmas.
Just typing the word brings back memories of happiness, of warm cookies, of trees decorated with colored lights and glass ornaments, of grandmom's Chanel No. 5 scented hugs, and of festively wrapped presents.
My favorite part of Christmas was seeing what Santa had put in my stocking.

Hospital.

That word also brings memories. Memories of rubbing alcohol, bright lights, kind nurses and especially, of missing home.

I was born without hip joints and spent quite a bit of my earliest years at Walter Reed. I can remember being in the cast room there alongside wounded soldiers from Vietnam. (Yes, I'm that old).

I'm sure you're all wondering why I am writing about two words that seem mutually exclusive. They're not, at least not to the wounded Marines, Sailors, Soldiers and Airmen who will be at Walter Reed and Bethesda this Christmas.
There will be servicemembers in those hospitals on Dec. 25th. That is a sad truth.

I know that they'd rather be back with their units in Iraq or Afghanistan AND at home with their loved ones but they can't be either place. They must be there to heal.

I am pleased to announce the newest Operation Santa venture: Operation Santa/Bethesda and Walter Reed.
It will work mostly the same was as the other Operation Santas. We want to bring them a stuffed stocking and a little bit of home. Candy canes, cookies, crackers, ornaments, cards, books, dvds, cd's, batteries, new socks.

You can help us do this. You can send some Christmas cheer to a wounded servicemember at Bethesda or Walter Reed.

You can donate money, you can donate gift cards from Sam's, Walmart, Target, etc. You can donate material goods.

You can make a difference in a servicemember's holiday away from home.

The question is: Will you do it?

If you have any questions or comments, please email me at wrcostan@comcast.net or Andi at andi@andisworld.com

Tax deductible contributions to support Operation Santa at Walter Reed and Bethesda can be made by mailing checks to:

Marine Corps Family Foundation
4000 Lancaster Blvd. St. 57
Salem, OR 97309

or via Paypal at donations@marinecorpfamily foundation.org. Here's a handy link. Please be sure to designate your request for the Bethesda/Walter Reed effort.

Andi from Andi's World spent last Christmas without her husband who was deployed, so she spent the day visiting wounded troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.. She said she left feeling "more blessed" than when she entered, visiting those who could not be elsewhere.

"One soldier told me that some of the letters were very emotional, "tear jerkers". Without a doubt, they are grateful for your cards and well wishes, though I have to tell you that I personally saw buckets, boxes and baskets of cards - thousands of them. It will take some time for them to even make a dent in the cards and letters."

Read more at Andi's World and please consider supporting Carrie, who volunteers year-round at Bethesda and Walter Reed, in making sure our wounded know that they are loved and supported by a grateful nation.

We'll continue to post more Operation Santa updates as they come in - I spent the weekend in North Bend, Oregon with a group of Marine moms, dads, aunts, and other supporters who packed 72 large boxes filled with thousands of Christmas stockings and gifts that will help make the holidays merrier for our deployed troops. We had a great time and I'll post more on this tomorrow morning.

Posted by Deb at November 20, 2006 09:32 AM

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