Texas State Council: District I

District I

Alpha Gamma # 5284, Grand Praire, places Unites States Flag

in Veterans Memorial Park honoring all military men and women.

HOPE FOR HEROES

UNITED STATES FLAG SPONSORSHIP

District I, Alpha Gamma Chapter #5284, Grand Prairie, Texas has opted to sponsor the placement of a United States flag in the Veterans Memorial Park in Grand Prairie honoring all military men and women, past and present, as our way of supporting the “Hope for Heroes” Program.

Alpha Gamma has supported United Through Reading (UTR) at the USO/DFW for several years by donating books to the reading room. These books are made available to deployed troops who pass through DFW airport on their R&R, to read to their children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, brothers and sisters.

Each year Alpha Gamma makes a generous donation to Defenders of Freedom, a non-profit organization dedicated solely to the needs and wants of deployed troops and their families, and to wounded troops

Two members of Alpha Gamma, Connie Carman and Linda Tinnerman, have been going to the airport for 5 years on an almost daily basis to greet the troops when they come back for their R&R or seeing the troops at "Operation Sendoff" as volunteers with the USO. These ladies say that this is their ministry and they continue to show their love and support by emailing troops and sending pictures, sending packages and taking troops to lunch or dinner, always to come back to their chapter meeting each month and share their stories.

It is definitely a privilege and an honor to support our military heroes every day, and not just on “special occasions.”

ALPHA GAMMA #5284, “Huggin’ & Kissin’ Grandmas” by Connie Singleton, President

1. Connie Carman goes to the inbound flight most every morning, then Linda Tinnerman and Connie both go to the outbound flights nearly every afternoon. They continue to encourage the troops to go to the USO reading room and read a book to their children which they feel is one of the most important programs that the USO offers.

2. Linda Tinnerman, Mary Wells, Phyllis Campbell and Connie Singleton visited the Veterans Memorial Park in Grand Prairie for the ceremony on Veterans Day Nov. 11.

This is where the flag will be placed that Alpha Gamma sponsored for the Hope for Heroes program.

3. A few days before each holiday Linda and Connie Carman like to "dress up" and have fun, so for Thanksgiving they donned turkey headgear. Some of the troops lined up to have their picture made in the turkey hats also. On Thanksgiving day, they had a feast with the troops provided by one of the airport hotels. It was a delicious meal and everyone enjoyed it. A young man from West Fork Presbyterian Church asked these ladies if they could find someone to go to the Cowboys football game with him because he had an extra ticket. The USO director selected a young man who was a Cowboys fan to go with him; they had a great time.

4. Linda and Connie Carman also visit with the troops and hear about their new babies born while they were home on R&R; how excited they are, and they usually have lots of pictures to show them. Some tell them about getting engaged or perhaps breaking up with their girlfriend. Linda and Connie always try to be good listeners.

It's basically the same routine, day in and day out. December will be a really fun month for our "Huggin & Kissin Grandmas."