We were blessed to have so many schools participate this year.  The response was overwhelming from the children.

Some of our schools that so generously helped were Bullard Elementary, Dodgen Middle, Carmel Elementary, Dowell Elementary, Fair Oaks Elementary, Kehely Elementary, Mabry Middle, McCleskey Middle, Murdock Elementary, Picket’s Mill Elementary, Timber Ridge Elementary, Tritt Elementary, and Westside Elementary.

Doug Rohan with Rohan Law, PC collected hundreds of pounds of candy from children and families who took their donations to a local drop-off location, then he delivered the carload to our office to be packaged to go overseas.  We were amazed at the turnout. Thank you, Doug!

Our faithful volunteer, Steve Bass, has been so kind to transport much of the candy for our friends at Gaines Park Assisted Living Community to help package.  He served our country as a United States Marine and continues to serve generations of Marines that have come after him.

The wonderful residents of Gaines Park packed over 1800 bags of candy in an afternoon to put in our stockings going overseas this holiday season.

There were many Scout troops, families, and dedicated volunteers that made this project a success.  Our troops will certainly be appreciative this holiday season when they open their stockings and find delicious treats.  Thank you for helping to make Operation Trick-or-Treating for the Troops a success!

Above is one of our favorite photographs from this week of Ms. Adelle packing the markers, bouncy balls, marbles, and more.  She has been such a faithful volunteer and donor over the years.  Ms. Adelle works tirelessly each week to let our heroes know she cares about them and remembers them in her prayers.

We are currently working to provide some of our troops in Afghanistan with needed items for a local orphanage.  They currently are in need of gently used winter jackets, scarves, and gloves, as well as blankets for the boys’ beds.  If you would like to help our soldiers bring some happiness to these little boys, please contact us.  We would love to let you know how you can help!

We are very appreciative to Stampin’ Up for their generous donation of fabric and to demonstrator Monika Davis for her support on this project.  They donated enough fabric to sew 600 holiday stockings for our troops!  Our wonderful volunteers are busy cutting and sewing the beautiful fabrics into stockings.

We enjoyed talking with other Stampin’ Up demonstrators recently at their convention in Chattanooga, Tennessee.  If you are a Stampin’ Up demonstrator and would like more information on how you can support our troops at no or very little cost to you, we welcome the opportunity to speak with you.

The photograph below shows our hand-sewn items and postcards on display at the convention, using the beautiful Stampin’ Up fabrics.

If you are interested in purchasing fabric from Stampin’ Up to donate to Operation Stars & Stripes, Inc., please e-mail us at Info@OperationStarsAndStripes.org.  They have some lovely fabric packages on sale for .99 cents, which provide our volunteers with enough fabric to sew 3 stockings for our heroes this holiday season.

Another batch of stockings is ready above to move onto the sewing team!  Thank you to the most wonderful volunteers for bringing a sense of home to our men and women overseas this holiday season.

We would like to extend a huge thank you to Sandford Brown College — the Departments of DMS and CVS.  We were overwhelmed by their unexpected generosity.  The Department of DMS under the direction of Mr. Dillmon and Mr. Gunter put together 350 gallon-sized care packs.  The Department of CVS, organized by Ms. Conklin, packaged another amazing 80 gallon-sized care packs with additional entertainment items.  There was a large turn out of students who gathered to sort items, write letters of support, and pack the care packages. 

Along with the photographs, Mr. Gunter shared with us the following words, “The students were motivated, engaged and several of them expressed how much they enjoyed participating in this small token of appreciation for our military overseas.”

We appreciate your efforts in sending a piece of home to our heroes!

Thank you to everyone who helped make Operation Holiday Stockings a success!  At Operation Stars & Stripes, Inc., we begin preparing for this project at the beginning of August.  It is always so wonderful to see the many lives that are touched during the holiday by the generosity of our volunteers and donors. 

The photographs above are of the wonderful people who helped us transport and process the thousands of stockings that were sent in November and December.  

Pat Rogers-Brown, pictured above, was the original owner of Major George Thompson’s POW/MIA bracelet.  She has continued to honor his memory through Operation Stars & Stripes, Inc.

Meadowbrook Manor’s Corporate Office was instrumental this season in providing for our troops.  Package after package arrived along with their personal sentiments to make each one special. 

Ms. Price’s Art class and Ms. Underwood’s Marketing Education class at SCHS Vocational Annex in Shelbyville, TN handmade the most beautiful ornaments for our troops this holiday season.  To the right is Ms. Ahrens of UPS Store #2687, located at 2451 Cumberland Pkwy, Ste. 300, Atlanta, GA.  Her love for the troops coupled with her drive and creativity resulted in an overflowing collection bin weekly during November.  We hope that you will support Ms. Ahren’s store as she works to support our troops.  She is currently collecting items for Operation Bags of Love.

Above are three of the many volunteers that worked around the clock to help us fill the stockings — Ms. Dorothy Ball, Ms. Carol Fagan, and Ms. Lillian Smith.  Lillian also overseas the development and production of our many sewing projects for our programs throughout the year.

Dr. Ken Farrar of Go Straight Orthodontics in Marietta, GA collected a car load of candy to be used in our holiday stockings.  Both he and his office staff actively support our troops each year through this program.

Pictured above on the right are the children of Varner Elementary School — one of the many Cobb County schools who helped to raise over 4,000 pounds of candy to be included in the stockings.

Thank you to Melody Shelton, the faculty, and students of West Side Elementary, one of the Marietta City Schools that so generously donated to our troops this year. 

Ms. Jenna Rodriquez, co-president of Immaculate Heart Academy’s Support Squad in New Jersey, organized a collection to raise 240 pounds of treats for our soldiers this holiday season.  It is always encouraging to see our youth so actively involved in programs to better our communities and world.  Ms. Rodriquez has a true passion for service and a natural ability to rally others in support of our troops.

Another one of our youth volunteers is pictured above, Chris Bahr.  We were so very touched, as were the recipients of his donation, by his selfless idea to ask his birthday party guests to bring critically-needed items for the troops in lieu of birthday gifts.  They stuffed the stockings, took photographs, and Chris included the most wonderful note of gratitude to be sent overseas.  This is one of the finest examples of service to others that we have had the pleasure of being a part of this year.

As 2010 has come to a close, we are grateful for the many volunteers and donors who helped to make this year a success.  We wish we could highlight everyone and share pictures, as those above, for our troops to see.  However, we hope you know how truly appreciative we are for each and every one of you.

In the beginning days of 2011, we are hard at work organizing, envisioning, and preparing for the year ahead.  We are especially excited this year, since May 2011 will mark our 10th Anniversary!  We hope you will join us this year and check back often to see the wonderful things we have planned to show our support for our troops, as we honor the memory of Major Thompson.

Photographs and letters from our troops are coming soon.

Due to the overwhelming volume of requests that we are receiving from the troops, we decided to develop this new website that is more user-friendly.  We hope you will have a look around, and we welcome your feedback to help us better reach out to our troops and connect with our volunteers and donors. 

We have some very exciting things in store for the coming year, so please check back here often to keep up-to-date with Operation Stars & Stripes, Inc., our troops, and ways you can get involved.  For more information on our current event details, please view the calendar by clicking here. 

We also want to thank Sara of Sadie Olive Design and Nick of Clear Right Web Development for their tireless efforts in helping us to acheive our vision for this website.  They are both such a pleasure to work with.  We hope for your graphic and web design needs that you will visit them, as they have so generously helped us to better support our troops!

Thank you, again, for stopping by! 

~ Rosalyn-Sue Smith, President