May 20, 2012 – 4 East

“The Unspoken Bond”

The best laid plans don’t always work out and I had to cancel for this luncheon. Katie was wonderful and took over coordinating the event with just a few days notice. Since everyone was coming from five different directions, logistics had to be rearranged and she, Elizabeth, Julie, Mary, Kathy, and Dina (her first luncheon) pitched in and put on an awesome luncheon! Reading the AAR Katie sent to me, everything worked out great, and they had a very busy day!

The menu was crackers, cheese, pepperoni and pickles, taco dip and chips, beef stew, chicken parmesan casserole, PB&J sandwiches, garden salad, watermelon and strawberries, green beans, macaroni and cheese, brownies, cookies and strawberry shortcake, smoothies and assorted drinks.

Katie paints a very good picture of how the day went. I’ve edited what she sent just a little bit for privacy purposes.

From: katie
To: jane
Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2012 11:34 PM
Subject: last Sunday

Hi Jane – I wanted to fill you in on how Sunday’s luncheon went. We did have plenty of time to get everything set up, we were ready to serve at 11…

When I walked in the lobby a Corporal from my son’s company was leaving with his wife, baby and Mom. They were going to go to the mall. He is doing so well.

Another Marine wheeled himself down to the room and had us in stitches; he was having a great time and loved the food! He and his wife came in to see us a couple of times.

I met with 2 other Marines from my son’s company and their families that day too.
…
Unfortunately I did not take pictures of the food set up.

Julie worked the smoothie making. Dina did the “cold” table, the salad, fruit, 7 layer dip. Kathy worked the dessert table. Mary and Elizabeth worked the hot food. I worked the door.

Kathy and I went up to the TBI ward to invite them down. The Nurse said they had some patients they wanted to bring down and would try to get down. Before we opened it up to staff, Mary and I went up to see if we could help them… Someone told Mary that we really lifted the patients’ spirits last time we were there. (Jane says: We had hosted our first luncheon on the TBI ward earlier in the month.)

I went to ICU to invite the families to the luncheon but I don’t think any came down.

The strawberries were from the Swann Farms in Owings, Md. The owner sold me the 12 pints (1.5 flats) at wholesale price. He said it was his pleasure…. We should mention his farm on our contributor list next month.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Swann-Farms/106242809412794

We only had one gift bag left. We left it in the pantry.

Katie

Thank you, Katie, Elizabeth, Julie, Mary, Kathy, and Dina! Job Well Done!

Thank you, Bonnie, for the cookies, and Thank You, Mr. Swann for the discount on the strawberries!

I’d like to say just a little bit about our luncheon volunteers… Our volunteers are pretty private people, are not looking for accolades, and do this for no other reason than because they truly care about our wounded Warriors and their families. This is true for all of our volunteers.

As you could tell from reading Katie’s email, her son is deployed at the time of this luncheon. Having a son deployed to a war zone and helping with the luncheons, seeing what “could be” is a very difficult thing to do.

At today’s luncheon, we also had a Gold Star Marine Mom, a Corpsman’s mom and two Marine moms whose sons are transitioned out of the Navy and the Corps – one about a year and a half ago and two very recently, and a Marine wife whose husband is now back in civilian life.

Most of our volunteers have been through deployments, either as an immediate family member, or as a Veteran of a war past or present, or as someone who has adopted Marines and Soldiers on deployment, establishing friendships with them that continue long past the “stop mail” date.

Some of our volunteers have replaced their Blue Star with a Silver Star or a Gold Star.

I cannot say enough good about the people involved with Marine Moms-Bethesda. Thank you all for helping with the luncheons!

Our volunteers, especially the moms, dads, siblings and wives, also have an “unspoken bond”…

mmm hmmm….. you can relate, can’t you?

(And if you know who did this picture, which came to me in an email, please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due.)

Wishing ALL a Happy Homecoming! To those who come home by way of Landstuhl, take it a day at a time, know there are a lot of people willing to help you and never hesitate to ask for it. We are SO PROUD of you! To those families whose homecoming comes through Dover… we will Never Forget the Sacrifice.

Until next time, continued prayers for our military and their families.

Love and Hugs,