Teens for Troops have “adopted” a group of soldiers deployed in Iraq.  Nevada’s own Captain William P. Gehlen of the 130th Engineer Group says his unit is comprised of 161 soldiers that could use our help. William’s family lives in Sparks and they have been sending packages to him about once per month, but the rest of the soldiers receive very little mail. We would like to change that by sending packages at least twice per month to as many of the men and women as we can. We will send the packages directly to Captain Gehlen to distribute.

We have asked for a "wish list" and these are a few items they would love to have sent over.
Chap Stick, foot powder, paperback books, gum, coffee, creamer, Stay Awake, Q-Tips, Menthol Sticks (similar to Icy Hot) Sports Magazines for stats, People or other magazines, hard candies, eye drops, Bug-Off, any kind of nuts, Phone cards, (AT&T works best), disposable cameras, powdered drinks, drawing paper, shaving cream, mouth wash, hot sauce, licorice, On the Go Charmin Toilet Paper, Life savers candies, popcorn. Funny pictures from home, jokes, CD’ or DVD’s (any age, any kind).  Although appreciated, chocolate does not hold up in the heat there. You get the idea; basically small comfort items and things that bring a little bit of home to those in the field.

We heard that a soldier some where had received a small amount of grass seed, which some soldiers kept watered until they had a 6 foot patch of nice green grass to walk on.   Putting your feet on something cool and fragrant as grass at the end of day felt almost as good as being home.  Very creative I would say.

If you would like to donate any of these items and need someone to pick them up please contact Ashley @ 775-575-4742 or email us to make arrangements. If you have some great ideas, let us know so we can add them to our list. Reminder: The collection of these items will be ongoing, not just for a few weeks or month. When grocery shopping every week, please consider picking up an item or two to send to the troops.

Thank you.
Ashley

FERNLEY – On Aug. 28, the cremated remains of five Nevada soldiers will be buried with full military honors at the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery.

This is the first such ceremony, which will take place at 2 p.m., and entails laying to rest unclaimed remains of veterans.

According to the Nevada Office of Veterans Services (NOVS), the five cremated remains were located in a funeral home in Elko.

The NOVS noted some of the remains had been left at the funeral home for nearly a decade and there are a number of reasons cremated remains go unclaimed or forgotten.

The remains will be escorted from Elko to Fernley by Nevada Highway Patrol and carried by motorcycle riders from the POW/MIA Association of Elko and the American Legion Riders from Reno, Sparks and Fernley, reported a NOVS press release.

For more details, call Dorothy Minor, Missing in America Project, at 775-777-1000.

WREATHS ACROSS AMERICA – NOVEMBER 2009 We will be promoting the sale of wreaths to place at the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Fernley. The cost is $15.00 per wreath. We currently have 5,000 interments at the cemetery and last year we only had enough wreaths for 500. Our goal is to increase that amount every year. Current orders will be shipped starting November 16, 2009.

If you place an order at the WREATHS ACROSS AMERICA website, please make sure to specify the location NORTHERN NEVADA VETERANS MEMORIAL CEMETERY in FERNLEY and the sponsor group ID: NVNNVC01 so that the wreath comes to this cemetery.

At this time the WREATHS ACROSS AMERICA website does not have the capability to assign your donation to a specific individual. If you wish to donate the wreath and make sure that a specific individual receives it, you will have to order one from the WORCESTER WREATH COMPANY and take it to the cemetery.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of these wreaths will help Wreaths Across America in their mission to Remember; Honor; and Teach. These wreaths measure 20″ in diameter and feature a hand tied red velveteen bow. SHIPPING BEGINS NOVEMBER 2009 but you can specify when to have it shipped when you order at the website. Customarily shipping takes 3-5 business days so that will help you determine when you want it to ship.

If you wish to order by mail; then print out this form and send it in.