First thing first: please donate to this worthy cause or I will cross you off my Xmas card list! Worse than that, you will not get any more troll recipes from me! Having said that, I'd like to tell you my story about receiving a parcel, and what it means to get one when you don't expect any. As a boy beset by a troubled childhood I had a dark secret: a faulty bladder....which meant that on average I found myself waking up in a wet bed two or three times a week. This went on until I turned twelve and a bit. Now, you're wondering...where is AAF going with this? Bear with me, it has a good ending. I had a recalcitrant bladder, unperturbed by shame and humiliation, with its own free will and wishes and there was precious little that I could do about it. Being somewhat incontinent did severely limit my ability to sleep in beds other than mine. I had become remarkably skillful at building up a repertory of crafty excuses when asked to slumber parties and the like which was not infrequent, being a popular young buck with interplanetary ambitions.
One particularly busy summer my aunt did finally talk me into going to a summer camp, high in the lavender-scented hills of Provence. She practically sang its virtues, with great flourish: obscenely-luxuriant-coniferous-trees-bearing-succulent-ortolans-towering-over-shallow-streams-abound
ing-with-dappled-brown-trout-zig-zagging-through-the-underbrush-blanketed-with-wild-artichokes-and-a
sparagus et cetera (when my aunt - like everyone else around my neck of the woods - described places to visit, she rhapsodized endlessly about the nourishment potential and related benefits to every part of the body and soul).
Anyway it turned out to be an unmitigated disaster and managed to live through the worst day in my life. I was supposed to camp there for two weeks and roam like a wild Catholic boy during the day and sing along roundelays seated around the campfire at nights but the first four nights were a disaster: floodgates were flung open and instead I found myself in her Provencal paradise, billeted in one of the fifteen army canvas tents - thirty kids with missing teeth per tent - and on the fifth morning (a wet run so far), my tent supervisor, a mentally defective man with a bovine affinity, decided to make a spectacle of my bladder's prowess and had the wet sheets stretched out on two poles outside for all to see, inviting below-the-belt sarcasm from the whippersnappers...and a well-aimed foot to his groin from me.
He did of course, make the cardinal mistake of having underestimated me, the plucky youth that may have had faulty plumbing but possessed a fearless heart - and a strong left kick! I felt like disappearing into a crevice and probably would have done so if it wasn't for the postman showing up with a bunch of parcels. My name was called and I was given an enormous package which was filled with local delicacies. My life was worth living again, the shame vanished and I sat on the spot and began to share the loot with my fellow campers. I became suddenly popular and all my anxieties had evaporated. That is why my fellow Kossacks, it is important to take a moment from your busy life and put together a parcel that will benefit and pleasantly surprise someone, someone who is far away from home and living under constant threats.
And now let's get to the nitty-gritty of this operation and see how you can help:
Our goal for Netroots For The Troops 2009 is $50,000.00 (cash or in-kind donations).
PLEASE DONATE HERE
We realize that you would like to donate something tangible to go inside the packages that will be mailed to the troops. Unfortunately, accepting in-kind donations from individuals is not practical in terms of storage and handling of the items. The Pittsburgh Convention Center is a union shop so we have more stringent rules that need to be followed. Instead, we will only be accepting corporate donations or cash from YOU to purchase items for the care packages this year.
Here’s how YOU can help:
- Please contact Donnamarie or VeloVixen if you know someone who might be helpful in securing the corporate in-kind donations. To help you think of companies who could donate products, see below* for a list of potential items. Put your thinking caps on and let us hear from you. It takes time to get through the corporate processes so we need to hear from you ASAP!
- We are accepting cash from individuals and
beg ask that you DONATE HERE to contribute to this worthy cause. Your donation will enable us to purchase the things that we are unable to obtain through corporate donations, and will help to pay the costs of shipping them to our troops. This year your donations will be tax deductible, thanks to Netroots Nation and their partner Netroots Arts and Education Initiative, a California 501(c)3 corporation.
- Sign up for a diary! Our goal is to post two diaries per day until NN09. That’s a lot of diaries! Don’t worry---we’ve made it easy for you. We’ve got a template set up, and all you need to do is add a small introduction telling us why you are donating, sharing a story of someone you know who has served or is serving, or any other thing you want to share that might help motivate others to donate. Please contact politik if you are interested in posting a diary.
- Do you know a service member who would like to receive a care package? Email a request to: NFTT.request@gmail.com before July 31, 2009.
Please include all of the following information. Unfortunately we will not be able to process any incomplete requests:
Rank:
Last name:
First name:
APO Address Line 1:
APO Address Line 2:
APO Address Zip:
- Help us assemble the packages in Pittsburgh. It's fun! More information will be forthcoming for those of you who are going to be in Pittsburgh and would like to help there.
- Please consider joining the NFTT FaceBook Group. Invite your FaceBook and non-FaceBook friends.
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*The following list contains some of the things we would like to include in the packages. Please let us know if you know someone who might be helpful in securing these corporate in-kind donations. (Please DO NOT send these items yourself! We have no way to accept them. Instead, your cash donation is the very best way to help make this happen on the ground in Pittsburgh.)
- Baby wipes
- Mechanic's gloves
- Language translation books or CDs (Rosetta Stone as an example)
- LED flashlights
- Gel shoe insoles
- Goop Cleaning Gel
- Powdered energy drinks
- Gel energy food packets
- DVDs and CDs
- Letters to the soldiers
- More suggestions coming soon
Books for Soldiers
Soldiers love to receive books, but due once again to the logistics of collecting and storing them prior to NN09, books will not be included in the packages that NFTT will put together this year. Other organizations are more specialized in the collection and distribution of books to Iraq and Afghanistan. If you are interested in sending books, please consider checking out the Books for Soldiers Website. It is run by DKos's very own StormBearand is a great resource for giving.
Important Note about Successful Online Donations
PLEASE DONATE HERE
When you make your online donation, the screen indicates that you are donating to Netroots Nation. This is the right screen! Rest assured all donations WILL go to NFTT. If you wish, feel free to use the comment area provided to note that your donation is intended for Netroots For The Troops. It isn’t necessary to do this however, as this is the only fundraising activity being conducted for Netroots Nation at this time. For further information about online donations, please read TexDem's diary on the subject.