Local
woman creates Web site to help deployed soldiers Published in The Progress newspaper - November 5, 2005 By Rebecca Koleno, Assistant Editor |
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Send home to them. A local woman is looking to do just that in support of troops overseas. Angel Ramsey of Morrisdale created a Web site so anyone, anywhere can send a piece of home to those serving and protecting our country. The Web site, www.troopcarepackage.com, is not only designed for people to be able to send much-needed items, but also to have those overseas keep in contact with home. The site is for all branches of the military. Mrs. Ramsey said an item drive was conducted where she works and then the items were sent overseas to the troops, including her coworkers’ relatives. A letter from a son of one of the women really touched her, and she believed she could do more. “Ronda Lansberry has a son over in Iraq and she posted a letter from him saying how thankful he was for the care package that we had sent him,” she said. “In the letter he also described how he had shared a lot of the items with the other guys who he is stationed with because a lot of them don’t get packages or much from home. “That made me want to do something to change that,” she continued. “I knew there was something I could do to help.” |
She would like people to send care packages to deployed troops, get people to sponsor deployed troops to send them care packages and letters.
“I just want to let deployed soldiers know that they have someone who cares about them and what they are doing,” she said. “A lot of people who I spoke with want to help the soldiers out, but they don’t know how. That’s where my Web site comes in; I connect us with them.”
Mrs. Ramsey said she has a database of soldiers’ names and contact information, so people can contact her and obtain the name and address of one or more soldiers.
Then, they become their sponsors. They can mail them a care package or write them a letter.
“Soldiers contact me daily to be added to the list,” she said. “So there are plenty of soldiers who would like to be sponsored.”
She added that when she writes back to the sponsor, she includes information about the soldier so the spon-sor can get to know him or her. Information includes their name, hometown, branch of military, where they are deployed, their expected date back home and requests. Most of the requests include items such as magazines, batteries, personal hygiene products, candy and homemade goodies. Others have requested let-ters and prayers, she added.
“I also include a sheet that describes helpful mailing instructions for shipping a package overseas,” she said.
She also created a short message that says, “This gift found you through www.troopcarepackage.com. A generous visitor to our Web site has chosen to sponsor you. Please pass this Web site on to your deployed friends so that they can receive packages and letters, too.”
Mrs. Ramsey said she includes this with the soldiers’ contact information and asks that the sponsor include it with their package or letter.
“Thanks to my mother, Charmene Raymond, I also include an encouraging verse from the Bible to help lift their spirits,” she said. “My mother came up with this idea and she takes the time to look through her Bible and choose different verses. I ask that this be included with the package or letter, too.”
Mrs. Ramsey said the main features of the site include sponsor a soldier, submit a soldier, troop stories, post a message to the soldiers and view photos of the soldiers.
Under sponsor a soldier, Mrs. Ramsey said visitors can sponsor, which means that they will get contact in-formation for one or more soldiers from her, and then they can send a care package, write a letter or send an e-mail.
Visitors who have a loved one deployed can also submit the serviceman or servicewoman’s contact infor-mation to be included in the database of names. This will make them eligible for a sponsor.
Mrs. Ramsey said she has pages of troop stories that visitors can look through, and each soldier has photos and information about them posted. Some write stories about their days in Iraq or wherever they are. She said it’s interesting to see where they are and learn about their lives.
Posting messages to soldiers is another option. Mrs. Ramsey said visitors can go to the message board and interact with soldiers. They can post messages of encouragement, read what the soldiers have to say and ask the soldiers questions. “It’s like an online community,” she said.
The site also offers a pen pal feature, where a visitor can go to the site and then to the pen pal page where a name and e-mail address for a deployed soldier are randomly generated to them. The visitor can then take the information and send a message to the soldier.
Soldiers also send their photos to Mrs. Ramsey and she posts them with a short description. She said it’s a good way for everyone to see who is serving the country.
She said the process took “a lot of thinking and planning.” After she read the letter from Mrs. Lansberry’s son, the ideas started flowing.
“I designed the Web site myself and obtained a domain name that I purchased,” she said. “Now that the site is up, I am working with it almost every day. Adding photos of soldiers, posting messages to soldiers, read-ing and replying to e-mails, adding names to the database, connecting a sponsor with a soldier and search-ing the Internet for more deployed soldiers.”
The site has been up and running for a little more than a month and she said Sgt. Greg Lansberry helped her get started by providing a list of names and addresses for soldiers with whom he is stationed. The rest of the names and addresses come from submissions through the site, and she also searches the Internet for de-ployed soldiers and contacts them.
Mrs. Ramsey said she has received plenty of feedback from the deployed soldiers. She said she has more than 600 who she is in contact with every day through e-mail and the Web site.
“The list is growing every day,” she said. “Many of them have written to me expressing their thanks for what I am doing. They are happy that people back home are thinking about them. One soldier wrote to me and simply said, ‘Thanks for not forgetting us.’”
Mrs. Ramsey also said 100 percent of the donations go into an account that she uses to purchase items for care packages and to cover the shipping costs. She said she randomly selects a soldier from the database and makes up a care package and ships it to him or her.
While the site has been a success thus far, there is still more she wants to do.
“Right now I have ideas every day,” Mrs. Ramsey said. “Friends and family members often share their thoughts about the Web site. If you have any ideas for the Web site, please e-mail or write to me and let me know.”
She also encourages anyone who is interested but who may not have access to the computer or Internet to write to her.
Mrs. Ramsey’s e-mail is angel@troopcarepackage.com; or write to her at Troop Care Package, in care of Angel Ramsey, 148 Old Route 53, Morrisdale, PA 16858 and include a self-addressed, stamped envelope.