The Honor Flight Mail Call

Honor Flight Chicago's mission is to fly World War II veterans to Washington DC to see their memorial (and the other memorials) and to honor and thank them in the most amazing way. Once or twice a month from April-October, we fly 80-90 veterans and a group of volunteer "guardians" out of Midway Airport to Washington DC. In DC, they get on chartered buses, see the memorials, sometime see a museum, or Arlington Cemetery and then they fly back. On the flight home, the veterans are surprised with a military-style "mail call" announcement, and they each are presented with an envelope of letters written to them (in secret) by their families, friends, neighbors, strangers, school children & community leaders. Most of the veterans say that Mail Call was the most meaningful part of the day for them.

Our L.W.A. member Kimberly been volunteering with Honor Flight since 2009, and this year they didn't have anyone to do Mail Call. In the past, the mail was collected in offices but Kimberly doesn't have an office, so she offered her apartment as the Mail Call Center. They have a team of volunteers that reaches out to a family contact for each veteran. The contact then spreads the word about Mail Call to all of the veteran's family and friends and then those people write a card or letter of thanks to the Veteran, send it to her and she--like the mailman she's always wanted to be--collects the mail and doles it out into a big envelope for each veteran.

Some veterans get a TON of mail. "So far," she says, "I have a couple guys with 50+ pieces of mail, and there are 2 more weeks before the flight, but some veterans don't have any family left and get very little."  We spread the word about these guys and volunteers jump in and make cards or write letters so everyone gets a nice packet of mail.

"My mailbox has never seen this much action, and somehow, I don't even mind that none of the mail is for me. If any LWA members want to write letters, I'd be happy to accept them!"

The Honor Flight Chicago Mail Call

c/o Kimberly A.

211 Elgin Ave. Unit 2K

Forest Park, IL  60130

For those of you sending in letters about what you need to do to earn Inklings, this is a wallopping good example. Kimberly, your Inklings (because this is worth more than one) are in the mail, along with some honor flight letters from me.

Comments

[amber]

Wow. What an amazing program! Brought tears to my eyes. My great-grandpa was a WWII vet. I would love to write some letters. Thanks so much for telling us about this!

[Sharon]

Do you have any idea of how many vets are in need of letters? I'd like to know how many to write. Great project. These vets need to feel our love and appreciation.

[kimberly]

Thank you, Donovan & Kathy, for featuring Honor Flight Chicago's Mail Call! It has become a labor of love & I have an even greater appreciation my letter carrier, John, who has become an "accidental" volunteer :)

Sharon, to answer your question, we do 9 flights between April and November, and usually about 10 veterans per flight need a little mail "boost" because they don't have enough family or friends left to write letters. Feel free to write as many or as few as you'd like--I promise they will get used throughout the season :)

[Sharon]

Thank you Kimberly! Good to know that I can send a bunch now and more later too.

[Carrie]

Just a general note of thanks? any other suggestions for what to include in the letters?

[kimberly]

Hi Carrie!
Most people just write a short note thanking the veteran for his/her service, and some people add a bit about their family's military service (if applicable) or what kinds of freedoms they are thankful for in daily life.

Anything is really appreciated by the veterans...

Thanks for your interest :)

kimberly

[tracey k in ohio]

Would love to be a part of this. Question: do I write several letters, put postage on them, then send them all to you @ the address listed? Please let me know. Thanks :-)

[kimberly]

Hi Tracey!
You can send as many letters as you would like and mail them in a larger envelope. If you do that, there is no need to put postage on each individual letter, because once I get them, I collect all of the letters for each veteran and he/she is handed a big envelope with the collection on the flight home from DC.

Thanks for writing!!

kimberly

[Sister M. Virginia Sztorc]

Dear Ms. Kim Adami,
This is an ECELLENT IDEA. I am sending an envelope with cards for the Veteranss today. When is the latest they can reach you for this trip? I can be reached at 773-463-3020 extention 4541. God BLESS YOU for this wonderful tribute.
I am honored to be part of this project.

[kimberly]

Dear Sister M. Virginia Sztorc,
Our 2013 flight season ends on October 30th, but anything that is unused this year is saved for next year. Letters are always used and always appreciated. Thank you so much for participating!

[Nancy Peddle]

Is this still viable address for the July 29th flight? Thanks!

[LV Smith]

Greetings,
Can we still send letters to Veterans at the address listed above?
Thank you!

[Kathy Zadrozny]

I think that is out of date. I recommend looking it up online to verify.