Antelope High School Key Club volunteers serving our community

Recently we had the opportunity of welcoming members of Antelope High School Key Club to join us for a fun-filled day of assembling care packages for our troops. Key Club was a perfect fit for us as the four values of Key Club; leadership, character building, caring and inclusiveness, are a natural fit with our mission at Troopathon of serving and supporting our deployed troops.

We were impressed by the dedication we experienced from this young team of volunteers and we enjoyed the opportunity of working with them all. Lisa Baron, our Director of Troop Support was able to interview the Vice-President of Antelope Key Club, Diana Jimenez. Diana joined the Antelope Key Club last year when they came back to school after Covid suspended in-persona instruction. Diana was drawn into Key Club by her good friend Angel, with whom she began attending meetings. "It was so good, because of the people, the energy there, it made me feel part of a community. That is what is so great, Key Club is all about being part of the community and trying to do your best to make other people feel good." said Diana.

Diana enjoyed helping out at Troopathon. Her grandfather served in the military in Mexico for ten years and rose the the rank of a general, and even though he passed away several years ago, Diana remembers his stories of the hardships he endured in the service. Diana also had an aunt who served as a nurse in the military, so she felt honored to help serve our troops. "It felt so great, it just felt awesome to help. The troops are risking their lives for us, so I wanted to give back and say thank you, and not just say it, but through actions."

After high school, Diana plans on attending college, although at this point she is uncertain about what she is interested in pursuing with regard to course work, but she does know she would like to continue with Key Club. In college, students become members of Circle K International which is the world's largest student-led service organization with thousands of members on five continents across the globe.

Diana said she would love to come back and help out again at Troopathon, "It was an amazing experience, being able to learn about the military and how people are helping and I just want to continue to bring Key Club, we just like helping our community and it is a very special environment. It's not just for us, but for the betterment of the community. We got to help make the boxes and see the letters and it was surprising to me that people wrote to them (the troops) it doesn't have to be a grand gesture, a small gesture can really mean a lot," she said.

Like Diana and Key Club, our Troopathon supporters all come together to support our Military community. We hope you enjoyed hearing our experience with our Key Club volunteers and we wish Diana and all her fellow volunteers the best for the future. We know they will work together for a bright future.

Happy Mother's Day to our hard working military moms

Our troops fulfill many key roles: defenders of our nation, loyal servant, proud patriot, weary soldier, and for thousands, one of their most important titles is MOM! Our military moms face unique challenges. According to a 2018 report by the General Accounting Office, women make up approximately 17% of our Armed Services, with an even smaller percentage of that number being a mother. Even though the Pentagon has pledged to grow the opportunities for women in service, they still remain a distinct minority.

Our deployed mother, face many unique challenges from the guilt and loneliness associated with leaving ones family behind, to isolation and difficulty associated with reintegration with family and community upon returning from deployment. Many of our troops serving far from home this Mother’s Day have only the hopes of an email or cheerful card from home or for the lucky ones a chance to chat with their families via the internet to help soothe the loneliness.

Our deployed moms accept this separation dutifully as part of their commitment to our nation, and they do so proudly and often with the hope of providing a better life for their children. But we all have a duty as well to make certain that those serving in part to protect their children and everyone else’s are looked after too!

May 7th is Mother's Day so we wanted to give special recognition to all our warrior mothers. We want to make sure these super-moms will have a package in hand to remind them how much they are appreciated!

We wanted to share some notes we have received over the years from some of our very own military moms.

Our military Moms know the meaning of SACRIFICE better than anyone, so join us thanking them with a care package from home during May for Mother's Day!

Troops stationed in Eastern Europe reach out for support

We are receiving direct requests from U.S. Troops on the front lines in Eastern Europe for support and care packages!

On February 24th, the world watched aghast as Russia invaded neighboring Ukraine and sent thousands of their troops across the border in a drive towards the Ukrainian capitol of Kiev. Months later the conflict continues to shock the world with the destruction and misery caused by Putin's regime.

Even though "peace talks" have officially occurred, the negotiations have not produced much hope of this conflict ending anytime soon, and Russia is only ramping up the intensity and atrocities. Ukraine has impressed the whole world by holding the Russians back and resisting far longer than anyone could have guessed.

The United States has sent over 10,000 troops to Eastern Europe, to countries like Poland, and notified troops at bases in Germany and all over Europe to be on high alert and ready for action. We are currently working to support those troops and fulfill those requests!

https://youtu.be/LQXXwwYe4I4

Thanks to a very special edition of Troopathon that aired exclusively on Newsmax leading up to Easter, we were able to muster up additional support to help fill some of the new care package requests we have been receiving due to the changing state of the world over the past few months.

At Troopathon we take our mission of troop support very seriously, we don't want to leave our troops empty handed when they ask for help.

Care packages offer a sweet surprise with SweeTarts inside

Thanks to a recent donation of SweeTarts candy, our troops can enjoy a classic candy treat from home while supplies last. Whether you like your candy sweet and sugary or with a little bite to make you pucker up, SweeTarts offer both in one classic candy that will make our troops remember childhood days of chomping on chalky little candy bites until their tongues turned blue or purple just for fun. Of course we will still include lots of classic care packages items for our troops to enjoy from personal care items like hand and face wipes or lotion to treats like Girl Scout cookies or beef jerky. We load our packages to the brim so our troops can enjoy a bounty of goodies and a personal note of support from home.