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America Supports You: Group’s Monkeys Minister to Troops
America Supports You ^ | Samantha L. Quigley

Posted on 06/18/2007 4:43:40 PM PDT by SandRat

WASHINGTON, June 18, 2007 – In Chelsea, Ala., offering servicemembers and their families encouragement is just plain monkey business.

Click photo for screen-resolution image
Beth VanSickle, founder of Sock Monkey Ministries, Inc., is joined by some of her creations before they ship out to provide hope and encouragement to deployed servicemembers. Sock Monkey Ministries volunteers create each monkey by hand, making it as unique as the message of support it carries. Courtesy photo
  

(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.
Since February 2005, Sock Monkey Ministries, Inc. has been letting servicemembers know they’re not forgotten with handmade sock monkeys. Each monkey wears a yellow ribbon and carries a message letting recipients know someone back home is thinking of them.

“It’s our responsibility as an American people to care and nurture our soldiers as they protect our freedom,” Beth VanSickle, founder of Sock Monkey Ministries, said. “We choose to do this by making a handmade treasure with special meaning attached to it.”

A card that accompanies the monkey explains its purpose and encourages servicemembers to pass it on to a child who could use a lift. To date, 1,500 volunteers have made 5,200 sock monkeys. The morale-boosting primates have been sent to civilians and servicemembers alike around the world.

In a tribute to the families of the fallen, Sock Monkey Ministries also makes what it calls the “Fallen Hero” sock monkey. This monkey has a U.S. flag embroidered on its chest and carries a special note for its recipient. Simply stated, it offers appreciation and gratitude for the family’s sacrifice, VanSickle said.

In addition to providing hope and encouragement to the troops, VanSickle said, her organization accomplishes another goal.

“Our organization provides a means by which many volunteers … can come together for a single purpose,” she said. “We are instilling patriotism in our communities and informing the American people that we still have many lives that are being affected by the global war on terrorism.”

VanSickle said she sees evidence the group’s efforts are appreciated. She said she receives many e-mails from soldiers and their families sharing the importance of our organization’s efforts to bring laughter, encouragement and strength through a simple stuffed toy.

Sock Monkey Ministries recently became a home-front partner in the Defense Department’s America Supports You program, which connects citizens and corporations with military personnel and their families serving at home and abroad.

Though Sock Monkey Ministries is a new member of America Supports You, it has already recognized the benefits of that membership, VanSickle said.

“Our organization has worked with another America Supports You group, Operation Homefront,” she said. “We sent over 100 sock monkeys to their San Antonio affiliate. They handed these monkeys out to a military hospital as an opportunity to bring cheer as the patients recover from injuries.”
Related Sites:
Sock Monkey Ministries, Inc.
America Supports You
Click photo for screen-resolution image Servicemembers proudly display sock monkeys they received from Sock Monkey Ministries, Inc., of Chelsea, Ala. Sock Monkey Ministries volunteers create each monkey by hand, making it as unique as the message of support it carries. Courtesy photo  
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TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; US: Alabama; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: americasupportsyou; minister; monkeys; sockmonkey; troops

1 posted on 06/18/2007 4:43:43 PM PDT by SandRat
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To: StarCMC; Bethbg79; EsmeraldaA; MoJo2001; Kathy in Alaska; Brad's Gramma; laurenmarlowe; ...

Sock Monkey Ministries for Troop Morale


2 posted on 06/18/2007 4:44:29 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: SandRat

Something doesn’t seem right. Why do all those “sock monkeys” bear a striking resemblance to Ahmadinejad?


3 posted on 06/18/2007 5:18:59 PM PDT by USMCPOP (Father of LCpl. Karl Linn, KIA 1/26/2005 Al Haqlaniyah, Iraq)
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To: SandRat

What a disturbing title for such a great article!

Thanks!

GB


4 posted on 06/18/2007 5:20:31 PM PDT by Grizzled Bear ("Does not play well with others.")
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To: USMCPOP

ummmm,... for “Rock-Em, Knock-Em, and Bop-Em!” use by the Troops????


5 posted on 06/18/2007 5:25:50 PM PDT by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: SandRat

“ummmm,... for “Rock-Em, Knock-Em, and Bop-Em!” use by the Troops????”

Bet the sock monkeys don’t smell half as bad...


6 posted on 06/18/2007 6:08:22 PM PDT by USMCPOP (Father of LCpl. Karl Linn, KIA 1/26/2005 Al Haqlaniyah, Iraq)
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