CHRISTMAS PARTY!!!

Harrisonville Armory

Sunday, Decemeber 6, 2009

12 Noon

Santa, Presents and more!

Come ready to eat! :)

College for your military dependent!

The Scholarships for Military Children Program was created to recognize the contributions of military families to the readiness of the fighting force and to celebrate the role of the commissary in the military family community. Learn more about the program >>

If your mother or father is active duty, reserve/guard, or retired military personnel or you are the survivor of a deceased member, and you have a military dependent I.D. card you can apply! You must be planning to attend a college or university on a full-time basis.

http://www.militaryscholar.org/

Are you a runner?

Date/Time:
June 5, 2010

Place:
Mid-America Airport
Mascoutah, IL
30 minutes east of downtownSt. Louis, MO

Directions:
ê Hwy 64 East to Exit 23
ê Right on Route 4
ê Right on Airport Blvd,
ê Follow Signs to Race

Course Description:

This is a timed 5K cross country endurance run designed for individuals and 5 member teams. Intended for testing endurance; this military style, cross country mud run is comprised of mud pits, “challenge points,” and water crossings. This will be a challenging course! Be warned racers; don’t wear your new running shoes….you may not make it out of there with them both!

Registration & Fees:
We will accept day of entries but the fees will be more! Secure your spot and teams early so you don’t miss out on this unique racing opportunity.
Individuals: $ 25.00
5 Member Teams: $100.00

Race Day Pre-Registration will be available from 7:30am till 8:30am
Individuals: $30.00
5 Member Teams: $150.00

Race Categories & Age Groups:

Teams can be:
ê 5 Member Male,
ê 5 Member Female, or
ê 5 Member Co-Ed

Team Awards will be issued to the top team in each category.

Individual Racers will be broken into the following age groups:
14-39
40-49
50+

Awards will be given to the top female & top male from each category.

Awards must be picked up the day of the race.

How should your prepare for race day?????

Before race day try running in mud run conditions. Wear old clothes and boots. Specifically, you need long pants to protect you from scrapes and thick socks because cotton + water = blisters. Jump into a bog or a lake, then go for a run. You'll quickly determine which pieces of clothing won't work. It wouild be infuriating to discover half way through the mud run on event day that your clothing or boots are uncomfortable and chafe when wet and muddy.

Other commonly asked questions:

Will I get wet? DEFINITELY!

Will I get dirty? GUARANTEED -- THE CLOTHES YOU WEAR WILL NEVER COME CLEAN!

Do I need gloves? IT'S A GOOD IDEA, THEY WILL PROTECT YOUR HANDS WHILE PUSHING ASIDE BRUSH, CLIMBING AND CRAWLING.

Will I loose my shoes? BETTER BRING A ROLL OF INDUSTRIAL DUCT TAPE! YOU'LL WANT TO TAPE YOUR SHOES TO YOUR PANTS SO THE MUD PITS DON'T SUCK THEM RIGHT OFF YOUR FEET!

12/11/2009 : Santa's Express (Military Appreciation Event)

There is also a KANSAS CITY locatoin that is happening at Union Station on Decemeber 11 (3:30 - 5:30) and 12 (8:30 - 10:30). Please contact Amy.Stephenson@us.army.mil

When: Saturday, December 5, 2009 8:30 AM - 1:00 PM
Where: Union Station 820 Market Street, St. Louis, MO 63103
Who: Active Duty, Guard, Reserve Military and their direct dependents only

This event is FREE for all active duty, guard and reserve members and their immediate family. NO retirees or civilian government employees please.

This holiday season you’ll find a morning of holiday cheer waiting for you with the USO at Union Station. Board the MetroLink at the one of the stops listed below.

Look for USO of Missouri representatives at the Shiloh/Scott and North Hanley MetroLink stations and show them your military ID. They’ll give you a FREE MetroLink ticket and you’ll be on your way to Union Station for all the festivities!

There will be fun activities, a continental breakfast, entertainment and the big man himself…Santa Claus! So come on out for a great time with your families and the USO of Missouri, Inc.!

Pre-Registration is NOT required, however it is strongly recommended to cut down your wait time to register on site the day of the event.

http://usomissouri.org/santa-express-registration-form#

KC Cheifs Games

They are doing it again! If you would like to go to the game, click on the military appreciation website and get some tickets for the game!

www.kcchiefs.com/military

MEETING!!

Remeber FRG meets today at 12 pm at the Harrisonville Armory!!! Can't wait to meet everyone!

Jessica

Veteran's Day Novemeber 11th!

As we all know November 11th is Veterans Day! Well many times people forget about the families that are left behind while our Veterans are at war. Well, Branding Iron in Harrisonville, MO has generously offered all military families with a dependent ID 20% off their entire meal on Veterans Day!! I will be there on Wednesday night, please come and join me! This is a great way to meet up with people before we have a huge meeting on Nov. 14! And plus, who doesn’t like some good ‘ol Barbeque!

Branding Iron Barbeque
2027 N Commercial St

Harrisonville, MO 64701-1282

(816) 380-2214

Veteran's Day Novemeber 11th!

As many of you know Veteran’s Day is just around the corner! And so is our first FRG meeting!! I would love some pictures of different activities anyone is doing over Veteran’s Day to go in the first news letter you will receive at the first FRG meeting!! We will be posting Veteran’s Day events as we receive word of them! Have a great Weekend!

The difference between Veterans Day and Memorial Day
Memorial Day honors servicemembers who died in service to their country or as a result of injuries incurred during battle. Deceased veterans are also remembered on Veterans Day but the day is set aside to thank and honor living veterans who served honorably in the military - in wartime or peacetime.

Sesame Street Family Connections

Sesame Street announced the launch of their latest resource for military Families, the Sesame Street Family Connections’s website at: www.sesamestreetfamilyconnections.org/login/.
Sesame Street Family Connec-tions is a bilingual (English and Spanish), child-centered online space where both children and adults can interact and stay connected when distance makes everyday communication difficult. With the help of their favorite Sesame Street friends, Family members can compose en-couraging messages to each other, share artwork and videos, upload photos and get answers to some questions they may have but did not know how to ask. Sesame Street Family Connections will serve as the common and private online place to keep military Fami-lies connected across the globe.

YMCA contests and more!

The YMCA has a whole website that is dedicated to military families, especially for children. There are essay contest, art contest, and much more. Check it out!!
http://asymca.org/Default.aspx

Fort Leavenworth Dinner

The next Deployed Families Dinner hosted by the chapel will be held on Friday, 13 November at the Main Post Chapel on Fort Leavenworth at 5:30 p.m. This dinner is free and open to all spouses -- whether your Soldier is serving in Iraq, Afghanistan, Korea, Guantanamo or elsewhere -- you are invited. It's an opportunity for you and your children to socialize with other families going through the same experiences. Watchcare for children is also free and includes pizza, fruit, cookies and age-appropriate activities. To make reservations or ask questions about the Deployed Families Dinner, please contact Tricia Sheaks by telephone at 913.758.1724 or via email at psheaks@kc.rr.com.

Christmas Time

Can you believe it is almost November!! Christmas will be here before you know it! We will be having the FRG Family Christmas Party at the Harrisonville Armory on December 6th at noon. We understand that this time of year can be especially tough on everyone especially children, so we are hosting a toy drive with a goal to have a gift for every to open at the Christmas party.

For those who are not in the FRG and are interested in getting involved please contact me at FRG1139th@gmail.com and I will get you more information.

Also for those families in need we do have an Adopt-A-Family program. If you would like to find out how to be adopted or for those not in FRG who want to adopt another family, please contact me at FRG1139th@gmail.com.

If you would like to send a soldier a Christmas gift, all packages must be mailed out by November 27 in regular mail or December 4th December 4 priority Mail , to ensure all gifts are there by Christmas.

I look forward to meeting everyone on Nov. 14!!

Updated Mailing Info

In the event that you would like to send a care package to a Soldier in the 1139th MP Co, you may send one to the following address:

(Soldier's Name)
WXGHAA, 1139th MP Co
APO AE 09333

The Address in your FRG Letter will also work, so if you have sent stuff already you are fine.

A couple of guidelines:
- Do not send contraband (keep the porn and alcohol at home)
- Send electronics or anything of high dollar value ...in a plain box (don't send an XBox in the XBox packaging). There are lots of people from all over the world that handle the mail that gets sent to us and not all of those people are as forthright as you'd like them to be.

- If you would like to send a package to a Soldier but you don't have one in particular in mind, send it to 1SG Steven P. Squires and put a note in the package that you'd like it to be delivered to a Soldier in need. Not every Soldier in our unit gets lots of mail and even an "Any Soldier" letter or package can really improve morale. (1139th Care Committee, this is your job for the FRG)

- Suggestions:
1. Batteries (only new)
2. Wet wipes
3. Junk food
4. Powdered drink mix
5. Bodybuilding supplements
6. Pre-paid phone cards
7. Photos/drawings from the kiddies
8. Swiffer brooms and the wet wipe packaging
9. Power bars

Also Kathy Steven found out you may also call the USPO at 800-610-8734 and request a Military Kit. They will mail you at no charge 6 flat rate boxes (two of each size, all paperwork and forms needed as well as USPO tape.

Social Activities!

I am slowly receiving everyone’s letters! Yay! However, our Social Chair Nichole Goben would really like to get a jump-start on some ideas on different things the FRG would like to do over the next year. Please contact her with any Ideas that you have at Nichole.Goben@yahoo.com. Also don’t forget to resend your paperwork back with what committee you are interested in getting involved with!!

FRG Letters

Hello Everyone!

This is a reminder that all letters have been sent out via snail mail. If you have not received a letter by now, that means, you were not on my address list. Please contact me at FRG1139th@gmail.com to ensure I get the information to you! We want everyone to be a part of the FRG. IF you know a soldiers family that has not received a letter please be sure to pass on this information to them. Remember the first FRG meeting is Nov. 14 at Noon at the Harrisonville Armory. We will have competition to see which platoon has the most in attendance. I hope to see you all there!

Jessica

Calling ALL DADS!!!!!

On November 15, Buffalo Wild Wings (Belton Location) is hosting a Dad’s Day Out! Any male spouses and fathers of soldiers may attend! Basically, if you are a Dad in the FRG, you are invited, we also will be providing childcare for those fathers with little ones! Buffalo has given us 100 free wings to enjoy during the Kansas City Chiefs vs. Oakland Raiders game. As you know, Buffalo Wild Wings can get very busy during football season, so they are sectioning off a space just for the Men of the FRG! If you are interested in attending, please contact Jessica Omoile at FRG1139th@gmail.com. So get some of your buddies together and go have some fun!

Download Skype!

I have been a user of Skype for over 2 years and I have rarely had problems with it. I have used it to talk with my sister in Italy, Hong Kong, Uganda and Australia!! Now I use it to talk to Jerod in Iraq. It is free skype to skype, you just need to set up a user name. There is also video, which is great to see our loved ones since they are so far away!

From Skype website:
We all love something for nothing. With Skype’s free software – by the way, it works seamlessly with your internet connection – you can chat away with free Skype-to-Skype calls and never worry about cost, time or distance. Share the love and get your friends to download Skype so you can talk, instant message (IM) or make video calls for nothing. You can also make calls to phones and mobiles at home and abroad at great rates too.

Free 5X7 to Deployed Soldiers

Hi all, I did a search on igoogle free stuff using military as the search word and found a link to a website that is offering a free 5 X 7 photo to be sent to your soldier for the holidays. It is called Portraits of Love - Military Families. You will go to that site and click the families’ link, choose the state you live in and it will give a listing of the photographers that are working with this program. It says that you will also get a coupon to receive a duplicate print for yourself for free! I haven't tried it yet so let Jessica and I know if it works!!

Missi Fouts
816-522-7689
palehorseriders@gmail.com
frg1139th@gmail.com

Here is the link http://www.pmdaportraitsoflove.com/

And they're off!!

FRG letters have all been mailed out!! Please contact me if you do not receive one by Saturday! I will get one too you as soon as possible. Thanks for all your patience in getting the FRG started! If you are interested in Helping with FRG in the letter there are a list of committees that we need volunteers for, here are the descriptions so it gives you some time to think about them before you get them in your letters. Also the Children's list was left out of the letters. There is a section of the letter where it gives you space to put all your children's information to be mailed back. Please fill that out!

Each Committee will have a Chair, a co-chair and at least 8 members not to exceed 12. Please only apply for a maximum of two committees, that way everyone who wants to participate can at least participate in one committee. All committee chairs will have weekly correspondence with me or Melissa Fouts (Assistant Leader) and keep me updated on their groups progress. To be a chairperson it is a full year commitment and I will have documentation to be signed. After committees are established, committees should choose a chair if one has not been appointed.

Christmas Party Committee- As many of you know the Christmas party will be held on December 5th at the Armory beginning at noon. Well we have a ton of work to do!! Cherry Mickelson was the last FRG Lead of the 1139th and is a corporate event planner for huge events, she has agreed to Chair this committee since we have less than a month to get it together, so we need people to help! If you would like to be a part of this committee, let me know we have decorations, toy drives, food and much more!

Social Committee – This committee is responsible for setting up social events for each region that we have families living. There needs to be at least two events a month planned and then different locations that will give regular discounts at various locations (i.e. bowling night). Nicole Goben has already begun to set up events such as family bowling night. She will be chairing this committee since she took initiative to start events for the FRG before it was established. I look forward to getting to know her along with everyone else!

Fund Raising Committee – This committee coordinates with the social committee and the FRG Leader on different events. They are responsible for finding different avenues to raise money for FRGs activities. (I.e. Car hopping at Sonic)

Helping Hands Committee – This committee is vital for the FRG families. This committee will help construct a list of maintenance repair companies/persons that are willing to offer services to families in the FRG at a free or reduced rate while spouses are away. They will also be responsible for maintaining the food pantry at the armory. In addition, if an emergency happens with a house repair they are the point of contact or if there is a need for things like firewood.

1139th Care Committee – This committee ensures that we are sending birthday cards to the soldiers overseas. Additionally, they will ensure that every soldier receives encouragement while overseas, whether it’s by drawings from the kids, kinds words, or getting companies to donate gifts for the soldiers.

Newsletter Committee – There will be a monthly newsletters produced every month solely for the FRG families.

Welcome Home Committee – This committee will be planning the big welcome home ceremony for the soldiers.

Phone Tree Leaders – I need about 20 people to be leaders on phone trees. This is the person that I will cal if I hear any news about the soldiers. Then these people will call the people on their trees to pass around the info. This will be done by county to ensure it does not call for a long distance phone plan.

Here is a photo of the wall that the soldiers created after they arrived in Kuwait. Not a real clear shot but if we can get one later we will upload it. I think they did an awesome job for creating it after arriving there.

Family Bowling Night!!

Thanks to Nichole Goben she was able to establish a Family bowling night at Harrisonville Bowling Alley. The cost is $5 per person and you must have military I.D. This will be held every Tuesday night 6-9pm.

Side Note: Letters will be going out to everyone on the contact list, even if you received an email already. If you do not receive one by Friday October 23rd, please contact FRG1139th@gmail.com

Military Appreciation at Arrowhead!!

The Kansas City Chiefs invite all members of the Armed Forces (Active Duty, National Guard, Reserve, and Veterans) and their families to Arrowhead Stadium for the San Diego Chargers game on October 25th as we celebrate MILITARY APPRECIATION DAY! For this day only we are offering all members of the Armed Forces the significant benefit of purchasing a limited number of $35 Field Level Tickets (subject to availability). There is no minimum or maximum purchase required. As part of this special day, you will be honored throughout the game, witness a flyover and enjoy halftime entertainment including a US Army induction ceremony.

http://kcchiefs.com/military

Mailing packages - additional information

We just learned that if you set up an account with the USPS you can actually have them come and pick up your box. For those of you who have very busy lives and have a hard time making it to the post office - this is perfect!!! Just create your account online and pay for it online and they should come and pick it up!!Thanks Krisen Main for that information!! You can also order your boxes and labels through their site to be delivered to your house! Just type in MILI in the search and it should give you the options to choose from but don't forget the Custom's forms when you get your shipping items!! If you have any further questions, please contact us at frg1139th@gmail.com or palehorseriders@gmail.com.

First FRG Meeting will be Nov. 14 at noon

Hello to all family members! Again, welcome to the FRG blog! All of you who did not receive an email should receive a letter in the mail within the next week. They are being mailed out Tuesday October 20th. The first meeting will be held at the Harrisonville Armory at noon, and we would like to make it a potluck so bring a treat if you can!! The letter that is going to be mailed will cover most of the agenda at the meeting (i.e. setting up phone trees, getting people in committees, & making our goals for the FRG). We are going to have a competition to see which platoon has the most people attending the FRG meeting. So if you don't know what platoon your soldier belongs to its a good time to find out :) I am so excited to meet all of you and get this going! Have a great week!

Sending Mail

The United States Post Office now has flat rate boxes. At the First FRG meeting, I will have pamphlets of information and the forms needed to mail the package. If we send the largest box, we receive $2 off the package forsending it to an APO. When you take you items to the post office, they will have boxes there for you to select. (The post office will allow you to take some home) Then they will have you fill out a customs form/address form.

Click on the link below to get more information:
https://shop.usps.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/CategoryDisplay?storeId=10052&parent_category_rn=10000002&categoryId=10000033&top_category=10000002&catalogId=10001&langId=-1

Welcome!!

Welcome to the FRG blog!!! Hello my name is Jessica Omoile and I recently was appointed your new FRG Leader. Melissa Fouts(Asst. Lead) and I will regularly update the blog with information as we receive it! We are very excited to be leading you during this time and please feel free to contact us at anytime. Please let me know if you did not receive the initial letter that was emailed on 10/15/2009. We will be mailing those whose emails we do not have, so if you are getting this via Facebook and have an email address, please send your email address to FRG1139th@gmail.com. I look forward to seeing all of you on November 14th!