Operation Mom, A Military Family Support Group

Support For Military Families and Troops

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Tri-City Voice
reviews Operation Mom

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10-16-07
Packages for Fremont Soldiers to Make a Difference
Submitted By Geeta Kadambi
10-16-2007

Make a Difference Day is approaching. As a part of this special day in our community organizations around the area are holding different events to make our cities better both in preparation of and on the official day. As a part of this special event, the Fremont Girl Scout troop is packing care packages to send to Fremont soldiers who are in Iraq.

Operation Mom representatives, and Army representatives with some World War II veterans are going to be present. The Master Masons, Order of the Eastern Star & International Order of the Rainbow for girls from the Bay Area are also participating. So, boxes will be packed and handed over to the Army on that day. Volunteers are still needed.

Please call for more information on how you can help with sending care packages to our home town heroes. Packages for Fremont Soldiers Fremont Community Center 40000 Paseo Padre Parkway (510) 252-1277 snogare@ci.fremont.ca.us

You can see this event on their website by following this link
10-17-06
Support our troops by enjoying food
10-17-2006

Operation Mom provides direct support to our military personnel currently serving in the Armed Forces by sending letters of encouragement, food packages and other necessities needed and appreciated by our troops.

Their motto is "Our family - your freedom." The soldiers appreciate their efforts. "Just the name mom brings comfortable thoughts of home," says a soldier on Operation Mom's website. "When you are so far from home it's nice to know that people care and are thinking about you." Now that the holidays are approaching, Operation Mom, a nonprofit organization, is holding their annual "Christmas for the Troops Spaghetti Feed" in the Niles district of Fremont.

This is a chance for everyone to show support for our troops overseas. Proceeds will go toward filling up packages to send to the troops for Christmas.

For more information call Maggie at (510) 582-1424 or Sandra at (510) 207-8299. You can also visit their website
www.operationmom.org.

For more information on Operation Mom you can visit TCV's online archives at www.tricityvoice.com. Christmas For the Troops Spaghetti Feed Saturday, Oct. 28 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. (doors open at 5:30 p.m.)

Niles Veterans Memorial Building 37154 2nd. St., Fremont Tickets are $10 adults, $5 for children 3-12, and under 3 free.

Musical entertainment by Kim Kelly

To see this event on their website please follow this link
06-20-06
Operation MOM
by Vidya Pradhan
06-20-2006

On a cool spring day in 2004, Diane Layfield heard the worst; Lance Corporal Travis J. Layfield was killed in action. He was her oldest son. Travis, a Marine assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 4th Marines, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, was killed in a battle in Iraq's Anbar province, a mere three weeks after his arrival in Iraq. Two years have passed, but for Diane, not a day goes by without remembering her brave son, sometimes with a smile, sometimes with tears.

She recalls his courage, determination and hard work toward his single-minded dream of joining the armed forces. Four years of Navy Sea Cadet training convinced Travis he wanted to be a Marine. The teen enlisted while still a junior in high school and never regretted it. In fact, in calls home from Camp Pendleton, he described the battalion as his new family. For Diane, the traumatic loss of her son would have been impossible to bear without the support groups formed to help members of military families through the grieving process.

One of these groups, Operation MOM, helped her so much that Diane decided to get involved with the group so that she could reach out to others enduring similar losses. During WWII, some mothers with children on active duty formed a support group called Today, with chapters in each of the military branches. Operation MOM was then conceived to encompass all branches under one organization.

Presently, family and friends of active personnel are welcomed to the group as are those whose children have served in the past. Their motto is, "Our family- your freedom." Apart from working as a support group at home, Operation MOM also provides direct aid to military personnel deployed overseas by writing letters and sending food packages and other necessities that remind our troops of how much they are supported and loved.

Periodically, the members meet to assemble care packages for shipment overseas. Operation MOM also sells T-shirts and other products honoring the troops. The proceeds go toward the packages and also to help needy military families. Recently, the group helped out Army Sgt. Brian Wells and his family after he was critically injured in the line of duty.

Support groups such as these were the lifeline Diane needed after her devastating loss. She says that others mean well, but the loss is hard to understand for those who don't have children in the military. After Travis' death, her social circle gradually began to revolve around members of military families because she found it easier to connect with them and share her experiences.

Their sympathy, understanding and counseling proved invaluable. Her home, which she maintains as a shrine to her son, is filled with outpourings of love and support. The walls are covered with portraits, posters and wreaths in Travis' memory. Complete strangers have written moving letters and poems honoring her son.

Now Diane counsels grieving families, herself. Every day calls and emails come in from all over the country asking her to visit, share her experiences and help to make sense of the stresses and strains of military life. Sad as it was, Travis' passing led Diane to her new calling in life. "I feel that maybe I can give back just a little bit of all that they gave to me.

Travis always said, 'Mom, this is my new family, these are my brothers.' I feel he would want me to send them cards and letters and let them know they are in my thoughts." Along with her work with Operation MOM, Travis' desires to help his military brothers compelled his mom to support another worthy organization, Soldiers' Angels. This group was started by the mother of a soldier in Iraq who has since returned home safely. In the summer of 2003, he wrote his mom, expressing his concern that some soldiers did not receive any mail or support from home. Patti Patton-Bader, mother of Sgt. Brandon Varn, decided to address this concern.

She contacted a few friends and extended family to ask if they would write to a soldier or two. Within a few short months, Soldiers' Angels went from a mother writing a few extra letters to an Internet community with thousands of angels worldwide and growing stronger daily.

Organizations such as Operation MOM and Soldiers' Angels need the support of the community as well as new members.

For more information, visit
www.operationmom.org and www.soldiersangels.org.

Mark July 22 on your calendars and join Operation MOM's next packing meeting at the Teamsters Hall in Hayward.

Call (510) 582-4611 for details. Operation MOM packing meeting July 22 8 a.m. to. 3 p.m. Teamster's Hall 492 C Street, Hayward

Currently Operation MOM is in need of office space in the Castro Valley-Hayward-San Lorenzo area so that they can process donations. If you have a vacant office, storefront, or warehouse space they can occupy for free or at a reduced price, please call Dotty at (510) 582-4611.

To seen this editorial on their website please follow this link
05-30-05
Special Home Town Event
Monday, May 30 2005 3:00 p.m.
Chabot College 25555 Hesperian Blvd, Hayward

Chapel of the Chimes presents "The Annual Memorial Day Veteran's Tribute" Special Guests Roberta Cooper, Mayor of Hayward, Sheila Young, Mayor of San Leandro and representative Louise Tamayo from "Operation: MOM" to speak at the event. Activities include: placement of wreaths at the foot of the memorial located in the Garden of Honor, Arroyo High School Band & Choir, Honor Guard of the 10th District American Legion, Pledge of Allegiance by the Cub Scout pack 603 Hayward, Two Bell Ceremony, gun salute, Posting Colors of over 15 local Veteran and service member groups, children's educational booth with Lulu the Clown, hot dogs and cold drinks. This is a free event.

This function can be seen on their website by following this link
07-20-04
Karts-N-Golf
07-20-2004

This international sport hosts professionals who compete in over 36 nations. Serious competitors on a variety of difficult "greens" vie for prestige and large cash prizes. Inches can be the difference between glory and also-ran status. It takes skill and nerves of steel to compete successfully. Is this a description of championship golf? Yes...and no.

This is the sport of "Mini Golf" and the wonderful part about it is that everyone can try it out without incurring outrageous greens fees, special equipment or groups of "serious" participants scoffing or verbally wishing you off the course. For most "duffers," participation is fun and enlivened by a variety of interesting and often fanciful obstacles. There are plenty of places to try your luck and skill at this sport and one of them is close by in the Tri-Cities. He says, "Some Seniors come here to play golf regularly and the batting cages are used by sports enthusiasts from 8 years old to 60 years old! We are basically a family fun center."

Darrell says that he is open to using one of the miniature golf courses as a fund-raiser for a worthy nonprofit group.

The Newark Chamber of Commerce has made use of the courses for an annual fundraising event and a San Jose chapter of "
Operation: MOM," a support organization for soldiers and their friends and relatives, recently made use of Karts-N-Golf for a fundraiser. "I am interested in helping with more of these activities in the future," says Darrell. He is open to working with charitable organizations that need a venue for a fundraising event.
One of the nice things about Karts-N-Golf is that entertainment is pocketbook friendly. "You don't have to pay to enter and stand in line for a ride. Miniature golf is affordable and a fun hour or two for the whole family." He adds that for couples on dates, miniature golf is a great ice breaker. "We aren't like a movie where you simply sit and watch the action. At Karts-N-Golf, we provide people the chance to interact and have fun together with activities that can be challenging, competitive, and above all fun." Karts-N-Golf 34805 Ardenwood Blvd., Fremont (Across the street from Ardenwood Historic Farm) (510) 790-1616
www.kartsngolf.com

This function can be seen on their website by following this link