Update on Shoes for Kids

As most of you know we here at Keystone Soldiers have been collecting shoes and sandals for the children in Iraq. I must say too that the campaign has been very successful.

A large part of the thanks goes to Amy Ridenour at the National Center Blog. She ran our article back in July and we had many people contact us about the program. She also contributed a big box of shoes from her family.

Yesterday Amy ran another article on her blog with the thank you note from 1Lt Eric Sloan who is distributing the shoes. Once again the response has been great. We have had many people who have asked about the program and others have asked about other ways to help especially for the holidays.

I am including the thank you note I got from 1Lt Sloan this morning:

Thanks for the links. I was quite surprised to see the article. I must admit I am not used to this type of publicity. I just wanted to help some people out and it seems to have grown quite considerably.

At this point my count has exceeded 1000 shoes received and of that number, I have approx. 200 pairs waiting to be handed out. I am attempting to find a more streamlined method of distributing the shoes. At this point our methods are still somewhat crude.

The last time I took one of my Gun Trucks out on another Unit's convoy because they just happened to be going to a neighborhood friendly to the U.S. and was also very poor. Well we were able to hand out approx. 300 pairs of shoes there but began to get shot at, so we took that as our request to leave.

The hardest part of this process is handing out the shoes in such a way that the leader of each little village, or sheikh if you will, is the one who takes the credit for making this happen. It is their way of doing things. When I do this I have to coordinate with that leader and ask his permission. Even then I usually give the shoes to that person for him to distribute. It is a very difficult process to navigate but so long as the children and those in need get the shoes, it doesn't really matter who gets the credit!

Thanks again for making this happen!

Keystone Soldiers currently has about 60 more pair of shoes to be shipped and there are more being delivered this weekend. We just mailed 9 boxes of shoes, socks and some toys to 1Lt Sloan for distribution.

We would like to remind those who don't have children's shoes to donate that there are many other ways to help not only the children but also the troops.

We are in need of postage to help defray the cost of mailing the shoes to Iraq. The boxes are heavy and postage costs are our biggest expense with any of our projects.

We also have our Thanksgiving and Holiday programs going on to send care packages, Thanksgiving dinner and Christmas stockings to our troops.

We are funded 100% by public donations. That means everything we do comes right from people like you, who want to let our troops know that America supports them and is thinking about them. We are also 100% volunteer. That means every penny we get goes directly to the troops. No salaries are paid and our expenses are minimal.

You can make a donation for any of our projects by using the Paypal button on our front page at www.keystonesoldiers.com. In the comments you may tell us where you want the donation to go or you can add a personal message to be included in a care package. You can also donate by check or money order made out to Keystone Soldiers and mailed to: Keystone Soldiers, PO Box 152 Fleetwood, Pa 19522.

If you have any questions or comments you may contact us by email at: keystonemilitary@yahoo.com or by mail.

As always, we thank you for your continued support.

~Lordzmom