To read the September/October Afterglow
click here.
Brandon Varn:
"Letters From Home" in the current issue of Angels
on Earth
A Thanksgiving or Christmas message for the troops overseas can be as simple as a letter or postcard. Packages should be no bigger than a shoe box. Include food such as beef jerky, candy, gum; reading and writing material; personal hygiene items; and news from home. “Think of what you’d want over there,” says Patti Patton-Bader, BRANDON VARN’s mom and founder of Soldiers’ Angels. “It’s the hardest camping trip ever.” Some of the most requested items are homemade cookies, Kool-Aid, hot cocoa mix, instant soup, toothpaste, sunscreen, insect repellant, antacids, CDs and magazines. Go to www.SoldiersAngels.org to “adopt a soldier.”
For more information go to
anyservicemember.navy.mil.
Mark Lazar:
"Secret of the Streetlamp" in the current issue of Angels
on Earth
He lives closer to the big city now, but
MARK LAZAR has never forgotten growing up beside the Mennonite and Amish communities of
Shipshewana Indiana. The “plain people,” as they are called, avoid modern inventions like cars
and electricity. “The community influenced the whole area where I grew up,” says Mark. “There was
no liquor, no McDonalds—it was very family-oriented.” Visitors to the Town Hall can view a Blessing
Quilt stitched by the women of Shipshewana. The quilt is a visual prayer that honors the people of
the community, from the Native American Potawatomi, to the many immigrants who settled in the area,
to those who will live there in the future. A sign below the quilt asks,
“May all the people be remembered, and blessed.”
Click
here to learn more about Shipshewana Indiana.
Angela Posey-Arnold:
"Uncle Joe and the Angels" in the current issue of Angels
on Earth
Good stories run in ANGELA POSEY-ARNOLD’s family.
Like the story of Uncle Joe’s grandfather, Willie Brice. “During the Civil War, Willie’s
wife and three daughters were washing clothes in the river when a black bird came and sat on
a limb in front of them. Right away his wife started to cry. She knew it was a sign that Willie
had died.” Soon after, his family received word that indeed Willie had died—in the battle at
Gettysburg on the very day they saw the bird. He was buried at Arlington. “Uncle Joe’s mother—Willie’s
daughter—never forgot it,” says Angela.
“That’s why she gave her son, Joe, the middle name Bird.”
Click
here to learn more about
the Battle of Gettysburg.
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