Oh yeah!..almost forgot here. Ya know my old friend, Mary, had half her guts ripped out, second time cancer? Well, yer prayers worked. She is very "febble", be 60 soon, but so far, so good, and she is "spunky" again. How long, no one knows, but so far, so good.
But we had..(I didn't make it, too far away, did the road trip back there, the first thought of..2006, all year, anybody, ), our annual now old HS "BLAST From the Paste", picnic again. It was this weekend. An old friend, knew since knee high to a "knee", is the most solid people you could ever meet. She has been a nurse for decades. She wanted to go to Vietnam, but dad said no way. She did years as our old HS nurse, married a Nam vet, going blind now, rode Harleys, Agent Orange spray is killing him. Anyway,, she's now in bad ways, a coming. Diagnostic test say "ALS" Lou Gehrig's disease..brain that tells the muscles to work the body, sends a dead signal. And the skin/muscles, just droop. She wondered why, when picking up a coffee cup, it would fall out her hand. Been 2 years in the making. She knew something was not right, and we call each other as needed. Been her friend for decades, and will tell anything, to me first. Always trusted me. But the word is out now. Got the following from our old HS group. This girl has done MORE FOR the troops overseas, started .."Operation Stars and Stripes", sending care packages to them, all non profit. Anyway, heres what I got a few days ago, as she said .."its OK, let people know, I have a problem"
I've known about this for awhile but have not said anything waiting until I heard that it was OK to let people know. For those of you who know Meredith (Hay) Kelly from the RB class of '68 you may be aware of all the hard work she's been doing with Operation Stars & Stripes. This is an organization that she has started here in this area. She spends ALL her free time working on collecting, packaging, wrapping and mailing supplies to our Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. She started by doing this in her basement and it grew so much that the Village of Lyons donated an area where she could keep the supplies while getting them wrapped. Over time, Meredith was recognized as "Someone You Should Know" by Harry Porterfield, first on ABC-News and again later on CBS-News. The amount of work she has devoted to this cause is more than I've EVER seen anyone even come close to doing.
So between Trudi (Sauter) Franson (RB class of '68), Sandi (Rumph) Bromagen ('68), Doug Rumph ('67), Tom Uhlich ('67), and myself, she was nominated and won that nomination for the RB Alumni Achievement Award this year. The award dinner will be in October - not sure of the date yet but anyone is welcome to attend the dinner so if you'd like info on it when I find out I'll let you know.
Now for the bad news - Meredith has been diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease). She just found out a short time ago. Of course Meredith being Meredith, her main concern is that someone takes over this job of collecting and getting packages to the Troops when she no longer can. She has now started medication for this horrendous illness. She no longer has control of her fine motor skills and her biggest hope is that she will be able to get the Christmas mailings out this year to the Troops. They are sorely lacking the simple .."from home, basics, toothpaste, a "clean wipe".. the little stuff, and of course, a box of cookies!"" and some of the other things that in wars past were furnished free of charge - not to mention health, welfare, and comfort items that are so expensive for these troops to buy, or they are simply unavailable. Below is Meredith's website on all of this.
(click the link below, to see what she has done..)
http://www.operationstars.com/index.html
The Suburban Life is doing an article about the Blast coming up next week. I'm sure they will be featuring Meredith so I thought I'd make sure all of you are aware of this also.
One more thing, this may be the last RB Blast coming up this year. The work has been overwhelming for some of the old farts in the group so if anyone is interested in taking it over, or knows of some younger people who would like to devote their time to it, I think you can just let Doug or Tom know - or, of course, you can tell me.
The RB Blast has always donated any and all proceeds to Operation Stars & Stripes.
And of course, I know Meredith would be thrilled if she knew that there was someone who would be interested in keeping the Operation Stars & Stripes going when she no longer is able.
So, for me, as worked before for Mary...say a quick, heart felt "prayer", for someone ya never meet, but if did, ya would meet on of the best people known...click the link, of what she started.OSS..Robby
Little more ,off the website..
Operation Stars & Stripes
About Us
Who are we? And what are we about?
Operation Stars & Stripes was founded in 2003 by Meredith and John Kelly after talks with General Motors /SPO in Bolingbrook, U.A.W. Local #2114 Veteran’s Committee and the Region 4 U.A.W. Veterans. We are a non-profit 501-C3 organization that sends care packages and much needed items overseas to our men and women in all branches of the military. All donations support our men and women overseas.
Mission Statement:
Operation Stars & Stripes is a non for profit group of volunteers who provide support, morale, and “care packages” for our military personnel deployed to Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Horn of Africa, Kosovo and S. Korea. Our mission and goal is to provide them with some comforts of home, equipment, and uniform needs when needed. We also send support to our Combat Support Hospitals here and at home.
Our Troops need to know they we stand “united with them."
We are all volunteers and no one is paid for services rendered. All money that is received goes toward mailing the care packages to the Troops or to buy items or necessities that are needed by our Troops.
"Operation Stars & Stripes" dedicates this website to all our American Heroes present, past, & future..........
