Prior to Aaron and Ryan becoming Marines, we have not been a military family. Perhaps that explains how foreign the process of all of this has seemed to us, although I suspect that there’s really no amount of information that can prepare you for an event of this nature. But in spite of the difficulties of the last few weeks, we have been blessed to stumble upon or be sought out by the following organizations who make it their sole mission to assist military families in times of crisis. If you want, take a minute to stop by the Web sites of these organizations.
Soldier’s Angels, www.solidersangels.com, performs multiple services for deployed or injured soliders including an adopt a solider program which allows an individual or organization to choose a soldier to write to or send a care package. They also make themselves available to families of injured troops and helped us find the next organization listed here:
Operation Hero Miles, www.heromiles.org, allows organizations and individuals to donate frequent flier miles into a fund for soliders and their families. If I am not mistaken, our family took advantage of Operation Hero Miles during the last several weeks. This is an interesting program, because a provision for these donations was actually signed into law as part of the 2005 Defense Appropriations Bill. Information on how to donate miles is on the site. We can attest to the fact that an event like this makes for a lot of unexpected travel for families, and any help with the expense of that is greatly appreciated.
The Fisher House is another great organization. Here is some information from their web site, but to learn more, visit www.fisherhouse.org.
“Because members of the military and their families are stationed worldwide and must often travel great distances for specialized medical care, Fisher House Foundation donates "comfort homes," built on the grounds of major military and VA medical centers. These homes enable family members to be close to a loved one at the most stressful times - during the hospitalization for an unexpected illnes, disease, or injury. Annually, the Fisher House program serves more than 8,500 families, and have made available more than 1,500,000 days of lodging to family members since the program originated in 1990.”
Also, the Web site address for Walter Reed, where Aaron will be doing his rehabilitation, is www.wramc.emedd.army.mil. They have a lot of really interesting information there, if anyone wants to learn more about it.
Just thought that might make for some fun light reading for y'all. If you have trouble with the links here, I'm sure you can just Google the names of the organizations and find their sites easily.