Greetings from sunny and HOT Southern California!
We completed our "mission" yesterday, much to the delight of several Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and one Airman. My daughter, Christa, and I donned our Soldiers' Angels gear, and delivered Subway sandwiches, chips, soft drinks, and cookie platters to the recruiting offices in Mission Viejo, CA. We had an awesome time, visiting first with the Army recruiters - and they were SO happy to receive the goodies! They absolutely LOVED the lunch treat, and they were all very warm and welcoming! They even gave us a bunch of very cool Army stuff - hats and mouse pads and water bottles. One of the Soldiers had actually been there last year when we did ORA, and he remembered us, and was very happy to see us again. That made us smile.
Next we visited the Navy recruiters were also warm and wonderful, and very appreciative! Like the Army, they too gave us a whole bunch of very cool Navy parephenalia, including a very cool compass light keychain, and some cool coffee mugs, pens and lanyards. The Sailors were eager to learn more about Soldiers' Angels - so of course, Christa and I totally promoted the organization and told them everything we could, including about Patti's recent "America's Favorite Mom" win! They were so excited about Soldiers' Angels! They told us that they often receive coffee donations from the nearby Starbucks, but that they have been having difficulty facilitating the shipping of the coffee to deployed personnel. They asked if SA might be able to assist them in getting the coffee out to those people, and of course I told them YES! I have no idea how much coffee they're talking about, but it sounds like SA may be getting some donations from Starbucks shortly - yayyy!
We visited the Marines next. They made us laugh because the Sgt. with whom I had spoken on the phone the day prior, and whom had also been present at last year's ORA - had actually stepped out of the office and completely neglected to tell his fellow Marines that we were coming and bringing lunch!!! So needless to say, our visit was a complete surprise to them - and Marines don't fare well when they're caught off guard! They had already sent another Marine on an "IN & OUT" run, and they were so embarassed! But they apologized profusely, and in the end they were a little bit confused, but still very grateful.
Our lone Air Force recruiter was sort of a "happen-stance" situation. You see, the Army, Navy, and Marine recruiting offices are located right next door to each other in the same building in the little strip mall in Mission Viejo. Last year we had a difficult time trying to locate an Air Force recruiter, so we didn't plan on doing lunch for them this year. But this year as we were leaving the parking lot after having given lunch to all of the other branches, we saw a sign for the Air Force recruiter located in an ajacent building at the opposite end of the same parking lot! Guilt swept over me as I realized that we had neglected them, unknowingly or not. But then I remembered that the nice lady at Subway had given us an extra cookie platter with a dozen cookies - on the house, as her way of thanking us for our rather large (23 sandwiches) order. The cookies were still in the back seat of my car, so I quickly turned my car around and parked near the Air Force recruiting office. I walked in - totally unexpectedly to the poor Airman there (since I had not called him, obviously, as I had the others) - and presented the cookies, along with my SA business card, and exclaimed, "Happy Recruiter Appreciation Day!". The Airman looked stunned, but he had a HUGE grin on his face, and he thanked us profusely ... and that made the whole event feel so worthwhile! I know that it was divine intervention that the lady at Subway gave us those extra cookies, and thank goodness that she did! Because of her, we were able to recognize FOUR branches this year, and we will remember the new Air Force office when we participate in ORA next year -- and yes, we are already planning to be back again NEXT YEAR!!!
We took some pictures, which we will pass along as soon as we get a chance to upload them this weekend. We had a great time on our mission, and we can't wait to do it again next year!!! Thanks so much for including us in this operation!
Respectfully,
Dea and Christa Ogata
Lake Forest, California USA |
