|
|
|
It's been said of the Irish:
"Be they kings, or poets, or farmers, they're a people of great worth, they keep company with the angels, and bring a bit of heaven here to earth."
And this month, we're saying the same of you! Thank you for your support, for being "people of great worth" to Cypress Cares, and for bringing "a bit of heaven to earth" for our Soldiers at war. Through your support, letters, contributions and labor, we've filled more than 260 packages so far in 2011 for the Soldiers. This is a fantastic start to the year. Below are the details of our box packing, as well as the "thank you's" for our supporters and donors.
February's box packing resulted in 198 packages and 58 cases of cheese popcorn.
Supporters: Fr Dan Dunlap and members of the Church of the Good Shepherd, Tomball; Cy Ranch Key Club students; Houston Republican Ladies; Alpha Delta Kappa local chapter. Donations: Heidi Evans of Shreveport, Louisiana; David Bray (driving goodies from LA to TX), Langham Creek Girls volleyball teams; Langham Creek FCA; Karen Wilborn (coordinating and delivering collections); James Ginzel Family, Cypress; Girl Scout Troop 14207; Logan Powell; Marjorie Westmoreland/Girl Scout Troop 15307; Julie Westmoreland/Girl Scout Troop 15200; Support Our Troops(r); members of Good Shepherd and Cypress Cares volunteers.
Salute to Our Heroes, hosted by Cy Fair Educational Foundation, honored fallen service members from the Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District on February 12. Cypress Cares leaders and team members attended, and Founder Raquel Cunningham presented a community service award to Mr. Ed Station of Cypress that evening. Salute to Our Heroes is aimed at raising money for student scholarships by honoring our troops.
Pictured here are Raquel and CC Treasurer, Alicia Powell, with Congressional Medal of Honor recipient COL Bruce Crandall (ret). What an honor it was to meet this American hero!
Soldiers boxes were filled with sweet pink and red messages of thanks and encouragement for Valentine's Day, as Cypress Christian School 4th grade classes made Valentines for the troops.
Thank you Cristina Slabic for helping to coordinate this project for the students.
We received more cards designed by art classes at Labay Middle School. These will be great additions to the packages for the troops.
Thank you to students of Do Something Club and the staff at Labey Middle School for ongoing support.
Welcome Home Thomas! Cypress Cares package recipient, USMC Capt (P) Thomas Perrin returned home to his family last weekend! His wife Ashley, shown here in his arms, was very excited to let us know we can TAKE HIM OFF of the care package list! Thomas, thank you for your service and welcome home. We look forward to getting our chance to meet you sometime soon!
Please, let us know when your service member(s) return home so that we can remove their names from our mailing list, and of course, share in the joy of their homecoming!
Thank you and remember: We are thrilled that Girl Scout cookies are coming in by the truckload! Remember if you're dropping off cookies for our trips, make sure you include a sticky note on the cases or a note at our door so that we know who brought the cookies. We want to give you the proper thanks!
Enjoy the Month o' March and we wish you the Luck o' the Irish!
Take care,
The Cypress Cares Team
* Quote: www.islandireland.com |
| |
|
|
|
|
Cypress Cares 2nd Annual Golf Tournament |
To register to play, or to sponsor the tournament, visit our event website. There are a variety of sponsorship levels available, each with different benefits.
This is our primary fund raising event of the year. We hope that you will help us make it a success.
There will be a meeting held Thursday, March 3, at 6:30PM at the Cole's Crossing Community Center, for all individuals who would like to help us make the event a success. If you are available, please consider coming out to learn what you can do to support our tournament. |
|
Volunteer Corner | |
This month we'd like to shine a little spotlight on another volunteer here at Cypress Cares, This month we feature Mr. Allan Cleveland! A member of the Masonic Lodge in Cypress, Allan read about Cypress Cares in a newspaper early in 2010, contacted us to come and talk with his Brothers at the Lodge and has been involved with us ever since. Allan serves as an Advisor on our Board and is always ready and willing to help out, manning booths at community events and speaking with businesses and student groups when they show interest in our effort.
Allan Cleveland, thank you so much for becoming part of the Cypress Cares Team! We are blessed to have you helping us out! |
|
Save the date: Upcoming events | |
MARK YOUR CALENDAR!
8 March
Box Packing
Cypress Woods High School
Cypress, TX
2:30-3:30
The CWHS band students and band boosters have been collecting items for our troops. A couple of us will be helping them pack the goods and one of the band parents has offered to pay for the shipping of all their boxes! We're thrilled that these packages will be shipped to a couple of the Cypress Cares recipients.
3 April Box Packing Woods Edge Church Spring, TX 11:30-12:30 Help the members of WEC military ministry team to box packages for the troops. We need about 3 volunteers to help with this event. Let us know if you would like to help out.
16 April Box Packing Prince of Peace Catholic Church Houston, TX 9:00-11:00AM Bring some food items for this box packing. Microwave meals, trail mix, nuts, dried fruits and sunflower/pumpkin seeds would be great additions to our packages. Need enough to fill 100 boxes! Everyone is encouraged to attend this event. Bring a friend too! For more events, visit our Upcoming Events page on the web! |
|
Bake It Forward! | |
The Imperial Sugar Company of Sugarland, Texas has started a new campaign called "Bake It Forward." Through Imperial, you can receive tins, in which you can place home-made, baked goods to give to someone else. Each tin has a serial code which needs to be 'logged in' on the computer by the person sending and the person who receives the tin, so that Imperial can see just how far the bakers generosity has stretched.
If you'd like to make some baked goods that we can ship to our troops, just visit Imperial's website for more information. You can bring your baked goods to our box packing events or if you don't want to wait, we can help you get your goods out to our troops immediately. Oh, and there are coupons for Imperial products inside the tins, just to help with the cost of baking it forward! |
|
Troop Spotlight | |
Our spotlight shines again. Visit our homepage to read about US Army Jess Reid. | |
We try to feature a new service member every couple of weeks.
Please consider submitting your service member for our Troop Spotlight feature on the webpage. |
|
Support Our Supporters!! |
The following businesses or individuals have signed up as sponsors for the May 15 golf tournament. If you have the opportunity, please extend your thanks by supporting those who help our organization.
- Chili's, FM 2920 in Tomball: Dinner sponsor.
- Wine Styles Cypress: tee sponsor.
- Mr. Fred Adams: Veteran players sponsor.
- Sweet Tomatoes, HWY 249: tee sponsor.
- Hartwell Environmental Corp, Houston: tee sponsor.
- KBR: Military Sponsor.
- Ms. Marilyn Wist: Veteran player sponsor.
- Les Ellard Insurance Agency: Drink Cart sponsor.
- Arthur Murray Dance Studio Cypress: tee sponsor.
- The Lawrie Family: tee sponsor.
- Johnny Bang's Bang and Bump Shop: tee sponsor.
- The Paul Pizzi Family: tee-sponsor.
|
|
Cy Woods FFA Spring Craft Show |
The Cy Woods FFA will host craft show on Saturday, April 9 and Sunday, April 10 at the CFISD Telge Exhibit Center on Telge Rd. Cypress Cares will have a booth at the event and we can use a few volunteers to man our table. We'll just be handing out information about what we do, no sales at all. If you are able to help out by working a 3-hour shift, please let Raquel know via e-mail. There will be fun for the entire family, Easter photos, BBQ, and silent auction. Parking is FREE. |
|
|
The reason we serve
...feedback from the battlefield | |
We just got 4 boxes of girl stuff from Cypress Cares today and we wanted to thank you! There was some really good face creams and lotions which were much needed considering the low humidity is making us look a decade older. The Valentine's Cards from the young ladies were really sweet. Can you let them know we read them and were thankful they are thinking about us over here?
We were able to share some of the items with the Afghan females here on the FOB. It's difficult and expensive to get US brands and US quality items, so they were very appreciative, too.
Thank you again for taking care of us!
Laura
(The boxes that Laura speaks of were sent as part of Miss Morgan Marshall's Silver Award project for Girl Scouts.)
*******
|
******************** Membership Houston West Chamber of Commerce
|
| Honoring Military Family Members! | |
| |
The following have shown their support of US troops through Cypress Cares by sponsoring tee-box signs in honor of family service members, for our golf tournament(s).
- The Gary Davis Family in honor of CPT Kyle Davis.
- The Tom Yoho Family in honor of CPT Troy and CPT Kelsey Yoho.
- The Wilborn family in honor of PFC Brady Wilborn and in memory of SCPO John Brady.
- The Toby Anderson family in honor of LT Clayton and LT Aaron Anderson.
- Ms. Cindi Reibenstein in honor of Capt (P)Thomas Perrin, USMC.
- The Sam Trobee family in honor of soon-to-be commissioned Aaron Trobee.
If you have a family member or friend who has served or is serving in uniform, and you wish to honor them with a tee box sign at the golf tournament, please let us know by sending an email to Raquel.
|
|
|
|
|
Iraq and Afghanistan Memorial Monument |
| |
Our Editorial piece this month is a little different from the usual. This month we are helping to spread the word about another organization that is looking to help recognize those who have served or are serving in the current Iraq/Afghanistan campaign. Please read on to learn morel
The National Memorial Ladies are planning an 'Iraq and Afganistan Memorial Monument' to be constructed in Cy-Champ Park at Cutten Road and Cypresswood. The Memorial will include a flag pole and a Battle Cross with commemorative plaques extending 37 feet long and 9 feet high listing the names of each hero, their branch of service and date of death. A sketch of Iraq and Afghanistan also will be incorporated into the Monument. Along with the hoisting of the American flag, a tree will be illuminated for a period of time in shades of red, white and blue to signify when a Fallen Hero from the Greater Houston Area has been 'Killed In Action'.
The project will require an estimated $120,000 in funding. Donors will be recognized for their contributions. Engraved pavers may be purchased at $50, $100, and $500 levels. All pavers include 3 lines with 16 characters each. Paver donation forms are available on-line at www.kiamonument.org. PayPal is also included on the web-site. Checks may be mailed to: National Memorial Ladies, 11803 Grant Rd. Suite 108, Cypress, TX 77429. Your gift is tax deductible. NML is a 501(c-3) nonprofit organization (www.nationalmemorialladies.com). For questions, contact Cheryl Whitfield at 832-868-9810 ctw.whitfield@comcast.net, or Paula Alessi at 713-416-6559 malessi1@gmail.com .
|
|
|
