KidsLink Downrange needs 5,000 Card Kits by the end of March 2009!
The Need at Fort Hood is great! Help Now!
In a recent speech, Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno, commander, III Corps and Fort Hood, pointed out the post will reach a point at which more than 70 percent of Fort Hood’s soldiers will be absent from Central Texas. When Fort Hood’s soldier population reaches that point, it will be the first time in the installation’s history when nearly everyone is in a state of transition. With so many soldiers going, and so many soldiers returning and arriving for the first time, it is quite possible the army families left in the wake of all of this movement will experience feelings ranging from concern to confusion to loneliness to fear.
Kids at Fort Hood
Thousands of children ages 12 and under will have to say goodbye to a parent in the Fort Hood military community in 2009. Military personnel who are downrange love getting mail from home, and they especially love personal notes from their children. It is a joy and encouragement amid the long days, homesickness, and hard work.
Because of these large numbers of families affected by deploying military members in the Fort Hood area, there is an imminent need for MOPS Groups to help create Card Kits for kids there.
In this way, military children who are separated from a parent can still have the vital interaction they need with their parent as they grow and develop. Volunteers are needed to coordinate these MOPS groups who are willing to create cards and also be responsible to pray for the children and their families.
Currently, Cadence International is accepting KidsLink Card Kits through March 31, 2009 from MOPS Group volunteers around the world. Pledge your participation now by February 15! Let us know how many Card Kits YOU and your group plan to create for the Fort Hood Project.
14 people have asked a question or commented. How bout you? »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URL
What is a card kit? What does it need to include? Pre-made cards or kits that you let the kids make? I don’t get it. Please let me know. Thanks!
A Card Kit includes pre-made cards and other information in a kit for military kids.
We need MOPS people to be coordinators for this project in their MOPS group, or get some MOPS friends together to do the project. To become a coordinator, learn about that here: http://www.kidslinkonline.org/help/kidslink_coordinator/
You can see what is in a card kit here: http://www.kidslinkonline.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/kit-display.gif
You can download instructions here: http://www.kidslinkonline.org/help/instructions/
Hope this helps!
i have two kids of deployed soldier who would love to get a card kit and send letters to their daddy. HOw do i register my kids to get a card kit.
THank you
Nicole White
Does the kit have to be in the white pencil box? I have found some plastic envelopes that are more cost effective for our group. they have a velcro closure and are see thru can I use those???
@Nicole: For this particular project, only kids at at Ft. Hood will receive the kits that are being made, but we can keep list of kids not on Ft Hood that might to receive them. To inquire about this, contact us using the contact form.
@Erin: Thank you for your inquiry. Sounds like a great idea! Go for it. Could
you send information about these envelopes so we can share it with other
groups? Can they be viewed and purchased on-line?
If anyone else has suggestions or ideas of how to make the card kits better, please list them in the KidsLink Community.
I think this is a GREAT idea. I have plenty of people who are willing to make cards, donate supplies, their time, and even someone to donate the pencil boxes. We could do a ton, my main concern is the stamps…that’s $4.20 we’d have to donate for each box. I’m not sure we can do that. We have little to NO budget and many of our families are low income. Any suggestions for that step would be helpful. Thank you.
@ Ann; Thank you for your inquiry about the Kidslink Card Kits. I understand the financial cost of the stamps especially in light of our economic times. We do want to keep the kits somewhat consistent for the families receiving them so would like to see all the kits include the stamps.
Perhaps if your group could partner w/ the church where you meet and let them know your need to they might be willing to join you in this effort.You might also want to put out a message to the other MOPS groups in the Kidslink community forum or the Facebook network expressing your needs. If this does not work and the cost is too burdensome for your group to do the project we completely understand. Maybe you can join in prayer for the groups that are moving forward.
This is really exciting, I just happened to stumble on this today and will be proposing this idea to my MOPS group…thanks for putting this all together!
Jen
I am sending an email out to family and friends to ask for stamp donations. I figured if I get even a handful that is more than we started with. Hope that helps.
Jill in AZ
My MOPS group was thinking about doing this project. Is it too late to register?
@Kim - The deadline for pledging was set at February 15. However, if you have already discussed doing this with your group, please let us know how many you plan to make on the pledge form in the KidsLink Community. This page is: http://kidslink.ning.com/page/pledge-1
The pledge date was simply for planning purposes - to know how many we plan to get so our staff and volunteers can plan on how we will get them to Fort Hood.
The most important date is to make sure your card kits get to Cadence International postmarked no later than March 31.
Thanks, Happy Creating!
Since the pledged amount is well below what you are asking for are you thinking of extending the deadline for delivery? After getting together to make the 24 we pedged our group felt that we could easily make more, but with the deadline just weeks away we don’t have time to get them together and get them to you in time. If you are willing to extend the deadline our group could make more. I hate the thought of only some of the children getting kits, while other have to do without.
Hi,
Our MOPS group is planning to make 12 kits in mid-April. Is that too late to be used? I formerly could not find a due date for the kits other than “spring,” so we scheduled it to be done on April 15.
Thanks,
Lucy Phillips
@Lucy: The kits will be distributed the week of May 18th so if we
receive your groups kits by May 15th they will be included in the
distribution at Ft. Hood. If they are received after that we will make
them available to the military chaplains at Ft. Hood to distribute on an
as needed basis.
Thank you for participating in Kidslink Downrange!