Walter Reed USO Dinner Service Dogs

Due to a change in hospital regulations, the Warrior Support Team (WST) in Bethesda, Maryland moved its dinners from the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to the newly built USO (United Service Organizations) Family Center at the beginning of 2015. The Warrior Support Team will miss serving meals at the hospital itself, but is excited about the benefits of moving to the USO building. Since changing locations, WST has been able to get in touch with more recovering warriors and their family members and loved ones. The USO staff has said that our dinners are definitely proving popular, with many more people showing up than they normally get on a Sunday.

 

On February 8th, 2015, WST served its second dinner at the USO building. On this particular Sunday, two of the guests that attended were service dogs - Drew, one of our WST volunteers' dog and Brodie, a service pup in training. Everyone enjoyed having the dogs there, and the dogs got a lot of attention from the wounded warriors and their family members, especially from a 16 month old who just couldn't stay away. Many of the men and women who attended the dinner are actually slated to receive a service dog themselves, so being able to see and interact with service dogs ahead of time was a great opportunity for them. Click to continue reading.

 

MCB Japan (Official Marine Parents Duty Group)

 

MarineParents just launched another Facebook group; this one is for parents, spouses, family members, and friends of Marines stationed in Japan, Iwakuni, or Okinawa. OPSEC guidelines will be followed. Membership in the group will be verified. This is an Official Marine Parents Duty Group on Facebook.  

 

Click here to join the MCB Japan Facebook Group.





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MarineParents.com, Inc. is an IRS-approved 501(c)(3) public charity, founded on January 21, 2003, to provide support, information, and services to Marines and their family members, and to create opportunities for individuals to support our troops. In over 12 years of service, Marine Parents has made a huge impact in support of Marines, military personnel, and their family members.

Marine family members are encouraged to support one another through activities and networking provided by the organization and guided by trained volunteers. Outreach to injured troops is volunteer-centered with in-person contact. Additional troop-support centered programs are designed to actively engage individuals and communities across the United States while maintaining the privacy of military personnel. All services are offered free to family members, Marines, and military personnel.

In 12 years of service, MarineParents.com has:
  • Invested over $6 million delivering direct support to Marines, their families and other military personnel.
  • Provided information and a Place to Connect & Share® to more than 311,000 family members through a network of communities and educational websites.
  • Collected materials and shipped over 39,000 care packages to Marines and military personnel in combat zones.
  • Involved thousands of Americans in sending over 93,000 cards and letters to injured troops.
  • Served over 40,000 meals to injured troops and their families at military medical facilities on the east and west coasts.
  • Planned and carried out recreational events for hundreds of injured troops and their families.
  • Delivered materials and resources to aid in the recovery process to hundreds of family members of injured troops.
  • Provided support and networking to hundreds of Gold Star families.
Tracy Della Vecchia, Founder and Executive Director, leads the operations from the corporate office in Columbia, Missouri with staff, volunteers, and a volunteer Board of Directors. In addition to the moderated, OPSEC-compliant social media groups, chat rooms, and informative websites, several outreach programs to support Marines and families before, during and after the Marine Corps are provided by the organization. Funding for the programs is through donations, grants, fundraising and EGA Shop sales. In 2009, the 15-item online store began expansion, eventually becoming the EGA Shop. In 2010, the production facility was established on-site to design and develop custom product, dramatically boosting sales and providing additional funding for the outreach programs. The organization is an official Marine Corps Trademark licensee.

Statistics updated January, 2015.