Jan. 24, 2010 – 5 East
Happy New Year!
I hope you feel better!
Just one of many Snowmen that Debra and Co. in New York sent us for the
patients of 5 East to include in their
encouragement note packets!
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I didn’t attend the January luncheon so this is the AAR I sent out to the luncheon crew after hearing from Deb,
Susie, and Barb.
*****
Yesterday was our
first luncheon of 2010 on 5 East and I hear it went really well.
Thankfully, the
number of combat patients on 5 East was down considerably compared
to the past several 5 East luncheons.
Janet had the encouragement
notes collected, formatted, and emailed to me in plenty of time to
print them out to send over with Brittany,
and she did a really nice job with them including some clip art this
time which really perked the notes up.
Deb and Robin coordinated
the luncheon this month, doing the shopping, food prep, and made up
the gift bags, and I think Jean helped them, too. They came in right
on budget and were finished with all of the prep work by 8 PM! These
ladies have it down to a science!
Barb and Don stopped
by my house the morning of to pick up the luncheon cookies I had forgotten
to send over to Deb by way of Brittany.
It was their first visit, but not their last, to the hospital.
Susie dropped off
the soup at the hospital for the luncheon and helped out. This was
Susie’s first visit with MM-B to 5 East although she has been to Mercy
Hall with us twice. She said some of our friends from the Mercy Hall
visits were there for the 5 East luncheon.
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A
message from Barb and Don:
Today was our first visit with “Marine Moms”
to the Bethesda
Naval Hospital.
We felt this was very rewarding to us to be able to give back to the
families that gave so much for us.
We hope we were a positive impact to someone is some
small way and brought comfort to them in their time of need.
The families, patients and staff were so grateful for
the luncheon and for the company. The people we met were so
courageous.
We hope to have the opportunity to help again.
Sincerely,
Barb and Don
Many thanks to Robin for taking pictures!
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And
then more…
Quilts, t-shirts,
afghans, gift bags with pantry items, and little gifties
to the moms as well as the encouragement notes were handed out.
Patients and family
members had a nice home cooked meal while some of the extra food was
taken over to Mercy Hall by Don and Susie, and the leftovers were
stashed in the pantry on 5 East for later.
There was nothing
left of Robin’s pork barbecue (so good!!!) and as always Deb’s smoothies
were popular. Susie, “more is better”, made way too much 3 Bean Soup.
Good day for soup. It’s been cold here! She also told me that one
of our friends there is looking a lot better than last time we saw
him, always nice to hear! The homemade cookies were so good that a
Marine mom came back for seconds for her Marine. He had not had an
appetite until he ate one of them.
Don spent time chatting
with a combat wounded Marine about “guy stuff” for quite a while and
Barb provided support and an ear to a mom who was a patient there.
Since we are on the surgical ward sometimes other patients besides
the combat wounded are around.
Just a few of the
stories I heard… Marine Moms-Bethesda provides more than “just food”.We provide a much welcomed distraction from
the daily hospital routine, smiles and encouragement, sometimes hugs,
an ear to listen, and a shoulder when needed.
Thank you, Brittany,
Deb, Robin, Jean, Barb, Don, Susie, and Janet for your help with January’s
luncheon!
Many thanks to our
“note writers” too! Month after month we ask for encouragement and
support notes for the patients. Sometimes we see the same faces at
the hospital at each visit so we do not reuse the same notes over
again. You can join our mailing list (to the right on the sidebar)
to receive the announcements of when we need notes for our next visit
if you would like to be one of our note writers.
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We are very grateful
to the individuals, organizations, and businesses across the United States for the support they provide to Marine
Moms-Bethesda which enables us to continue our mission at Bethesda serving the combat
wounded, injured, and ill Veterans, all service branches.
For 2010 we have
12 luncheons (now 11) scheduled and we will be rotating between 5
East and Mercy Hall again. We’ll be doing yard sales and a quilt raffle
again to raise money for the luncheons. We also have the MM-B Store
where all profits from the sale of the items go to the luncheons.
Our luncheon crew
has grown and some of the crew will be going to the hospital with
us for the first time this year. Hopefully our friends from the Choptank
Marine Corps League will be joining us again for some of the luncheons.
We’ll need them to help with the barbecue at Mercy Hall in August
and to play “Santa Marines” in December when we hand out the stockings
for the “Holiday Cheer” luncheon! We’re in this for the long haul,
as long as we are needed. The luncheons really are welcomed by the
patients, families and staff. Imagine cafeteria food or fast food
every day for weeks…
More Snowmen! Miss Kathie’s Kindergarten class made these
adorable Snowmen and Snow…women that we decorated the luncheon table
with!
Until
next time, continued prayers for our military and their families.
Love
and Hugs,
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