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Hello Cypress Cares Volunteers and Supporters!
We know, we know...it's been quite a while since you've heard from us. Nearly four months, in fact. It's been a crazy summer and we took a much needed break, at least from newsletters. However, some of us were still working here and there. Let us try to catch you up on what's been going on.
In June, we teamed up once again with the First Ladies of Bridgelands for our third packing event. The Ladies were able to gather items to fill 25 care packages that evening, and they were all mailed off to one particular Army unit. We've not heard from the recipients, but we know that the generosity of the Ladies is much appreciated.
Karlie Alms, one of our student representatives from Cy Woods HS and her brother Garrett, conducted a donation drive at their grandmother's church in Bellaire, and they took on the task of filling the flat rate boxes themselves, filling out their own customs forms, and delivering the boxes to the Post Office all on their own. We, and the recipients of those boxes, are so grateful for their selfless work over the month of June.
In July, we held a packing event at Foundry Church in Houston. The church had conducted a "brown bag drive" for goodies and we were able to ship over 100 boxes to our troops with what the church had contributed.
Technically, we took August and September off to be with our families, enjoy some summertime and get ready for school. However, we did manage to have a Board meeting in August and get the help of some Girl Scouts (thank you Randi Lewis!) to fill out customs forms for our Halloween shipment. These girls have NO idea how helpful it is for us just to have someone do that writing!
In the last few weeks, there have been a few fun things we've had going on. A few of us got together to see the Astros one Friday night. Though Houston didn't win, we all had fun...especially the five children Raquel took to the game, four of whom had never been to a baseball game!
A whole group of volunteers worked at the Copperfield Women's Club's "Shop till you Drop" event at the Berry Center, getting participants to write thank you letters to our troops. Those letters will be included in our Christmas tree packages in November. Thank you Theresa Bradshaw, Sarah Gates, Elaine Olbrych, Libby and Paige Grumulaitis, Sue Ayers, and Paul Marshall for working that day.
Leslie Lawson and Raquel Cunningham worked about a week ago at the George R Brown in Houston at the Girl Scouts "BIG Event". There were over 5,000 Girl Scouts and their supporters in attendance and MANY of them brought donations with them as part of their service project. Leslie and Raquel boxed up 30 care packages while they were there, and brought home even more items for future shipments! Those girls really were amazing.
Finally, our thanks to Ms. Kay Routh and her daughters as they continue to provide a home for our package items, keeping them out the Cunningham's living room. The girls have been filling boxes as items come in and helping to ship the goodies to various men on our mailing list. They've been shipping in bulk, about 10-20 boxes at a time, to individuals that then see to it that the packages are distributed to others deployed with them. The Routh family has enjoyed the volunteer work and the Cunningham family enjoys the use of their living room for the first time in nearly 5 years.
As always, thank you for your continued support.
The Cypress Cares Team | 
