List
of items needed
45th
Infantry News &
Events
Operation
Pillow Project
Cell Phones For Soldiers
Airline Miles For Soldiers
Pictures
Mailing
Totals
Special
Holiday Needs
Patriotic
Quotes
Links
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To
Operation Pioneer Spirit
Ponca City, Oklahoma
Community-wide support for our US troops
Grand Total of boxes sent since August 9, 2006:
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Operation Welcome Home Parade
About
165 Ponca Citians serving in Oklahoma’s Army National Guard will be
returning home soon. These soldiers are part of our states biggest
deployment of state guard members since the Korean War. A total of over
2,600 soldiers will be returning home around the 19th of
October. These
returning soldiers, all part of the 45th Infantry Brigade, received
their mobilization orders on Oct. 19, 2007, and the clock on their
one-year deployment began ticking on that date. Col. Pat Scully, Guard spokesman,
said all of the troops should be back in Oklahoma by mid-October. He
noted the troops would begin returning in small groups, probably spaced
out over a week. He said they would all return by Oct. 19 at the latest. Before they headed to Iraq this
past January, the troops spent more than two months in mission-specific
training at Fort Bliss, near El Paso, Texas. When the troops return from Iraq,
they will first head to Fort Bliss for a day or two to be processed out,
and then they will return to Oklahoma, Scully said. For the most part, our Oklahoma’s
troops are providing security in Iraq. The bulk is at the “Green
Zone” in central Baghdad and at Camp Cropper, near that city’s
airport. Other members of the famed 45th are stationed in various
locations all over Iraq. Although they’ve been in Iraq
since January, more than half of the 45th Infantry have been
home on two-week leaves. An Operation Welcome Home committee
headed by Mayor Homer Nicholson and Mary Anne Potter, founder of
Operation Pioneer Spirit, was formed to begin making plans for a
countywide parade and reception to honor the 45th Infantry
and any member of the Armed Forces who has served in Kuwait, Iraq, and
Afghanistan. The City of Ponca City, the Ponca
City Chamber of Commerce and the Ponca City Tourism Bureau will be
hosting an HISTORIC homecoming-welcoming event for these returning
heroes. The members of the Operation Welcome Home committee is asking
everyone to join us in a flag waving welcoming to our troops.
Details will follow via our local media as soon as they become
available. A beautifully embroidered
commemorative Operation Welcome Home t-shirt can be ordered at the Ponca
City Chamber of Commerce for $15.00. A portion of the money will be
donated to Operation Pioneer Spirit to continue sending boxes to our
Oklahoma troops still stationed in the war zones. The committee is
asking everyone to either purchase a commemorative t-shirt or to wear
red, white, and blue the day of the parade.
Please ask your friends and neighbors, children and teenagers,
relatives, and co-workers to joining us by bringing an American flag and
standing alongside the parade route (1st and Grand Avenue to
5th Street ending at Hutchins Auditorium) the day of the
parade. We want to make
this one of the largest, if not THE LARGEST, parade to show our own
Ponca Citians and north-Central Oklahomans that we do appreciate the
sacrifices they have made in our behest. We want them to know that we
did not forget them and that we do appreciate this year of separation
from their families and friends. |
Kristin Chapman and her children Taylor (9), Lauren (7), and Samuel (3) from Liberia came to help pack boxes for Operation Pioneer Spirit to send to U.S. soldiers stationed overseas recently. This wonderful family, along with many other volunteers, helped bring the total number of boxes sent to the soldiers to to date. Kristin and her husband, Keith, a dentist, are missionaries who have lived the past 4 years on a medical missionary ship on the coast of West Africa. They have served with Mercy Ships, a nondenominational Christian organization providing medical services to third world countries in Africa including Liberia, Ghana, Benin, Sierra Leone, and Togo. Currently they are back in the US, raising funds to build a home and permanent dental facility in Liberia. They will be here for just a few more weeks before returning to Liberia to begin this new phase of their missionary work. (Currently, there are only 2 dentists in the entire country of Liberia!) We appreciate their help with Operation Pioneer Spirit while they were here in Ponca City. |
Our Troops need you. How can you help?
You can help by praying for our soldiers in Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan. Letters and cards of encouragement are also very important. Finally, a list of items is given below of the things our female soldiers (and male) need. Members from Sage, Rosemary and Thyme Garden Club, First Christian Church, First Baptist Church, and other area supporters pack the donated items up and mail them to the soldiers at least once a month.
Take
Letters, Cards, Items or Money to:
Pioneer Woman Museum
701 Monument
Ponca City, OK 74604
Note: The Pioneer Woman Museum Hours are:
Tuesday thru Saturday - 9:00 am to 5:00 pm
Sunday - 1:00 pm to 5:00 pm
CLOSED: Monday & Holidays.
Phone Number: 1-580-765-6108
Over 150 years ago, Abraham Lincoln wrote “I like to see a man proud of the place in which he lives. I like to see a man live so that his place will be proud of him." If Abraham Lincoln were alive today, I know he would be so proud of you. Operation Pioneer Spirit has attained the awesome goal of sending boxes, including 1000+ handmade patriotic pillows, to our courageous soldiers fighting overseas in Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan!!!
What started as a conversation in front of the Pioneer Woman Museum one Saturday morning has grown into a multi-state project. What began as an idea one hot August afternoon has grown into a project that no one in the beginning ever dreamed possible.
boxes!!! Yes, it’s hard to believe, but it is true. My fellow Oklahomans, you should be bursting with pride and patting yourselves on the back. It has only been almost two years since we began August 9, 2006, but Operation Pioneer Spirit has mailed over boxes to our troops fighting overseas. Our Oklahoma soldiers have been deeply touched by your generosity and your desire to help them. These young men and women will never ever forget your generosity! They will be telling their children, their grand- children, and great-grandchildren how the good folks in Ponca City, Shidler, Enid, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Texas, Tennessee, Kansas, New York, Florida, and Colorado reached deep into their pockets to make sure they would not be forgotten. They know without a doubt that you have not forgotten them and to a soldier fighting overseas that means everything!
Children and teachers from area schools, Sunday School groups, the Girl Scouts, volunteer firemen, senior citizens, businesses large and small, teenagers, college students, the handicapped, veterans of all ages, all have helped send these boxes.
You may think that a piece of hard candy, a package of peanut butter crackers, DVD's, a pillow, feminine hygiene products are not much, but to our soldiers it represents Oklahoma. It came from the BEST country in the whole world, the United States of America! It came from the land they love and dream about. The land they are fighting for. The land they are willing to lay their lives on the line for-AMERICA!
These courageous soldiers go out every night and every day knowing that the enemy is out there, waiting for them around the bend, on the other side of the bridge, waiting for them down the road and still they go. They go out every night and every day knowing that they may not come back and still they go. They know that out in the darkness danger is lurking and still they go. They go because they love this country. They believe in freedom. They go because they know in their heart of hearts that they are making a difference. They go because they believe in America and what it stands for. Most of them are just kids...but they are not just kids...they are warriors. They are our heroes.
They are making a tremendous sacrifice for all of us, and so, these things that we send...the toiletries, the socks, the books, the board games, the letters, the DVD's, the books, the pillows, and the prayers lets them know that they are loved, appreciated and that we are grateful for their sacrifice.
Please continue writing them letters of encouragement. Encourage
your children or grandchildren to write letters or draw pictures to be sent to
our soldiers. Bring your toiletries, snacks, games, food items, and
letters to the Pioneer Woman Museum. Money
is always needed to defray mailing costs, so please continue bringing or sending
your checks to the Pioneer Woman Museum, 701 Monument, Ponca City, OK
74604. If you live in Ponca City, you can take them to the Bank of Oklahoma
located in Food Pyramid. Make your checks out to Operation Pioneer Spirit.
Visit our website for a list of needed items and addresses of soldiers. It is www.operationpioneerspirit.com.
Yes, Abraham Lincoln would be bursting with pride because of your support of Operation Pioneer Spirit. Thank You.
Mary Anne Potter
A special "God Bless You" and "Thank You" to those who have helped with the packing of the boxes and filling out the customs forms. If you want to have the time of your life and do something that is both fulfilling and very much needed, then come help us when Operation Pioneer Spirit packs the boxes at the Pioneer Woman Museum. Mark your calendars for the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 1:00 p.m. or watch for special mailings on this web site, or in the Ponca City News.
Just a few of the many volunteers who help with Operation Pioneer Spirit.
"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and success of liberty." -- John F. Kennedy