I love singing the praises of Soldiers’ Angels, an amazing troops support organization that had 180,000 volunteer members in February 2008, when I attended their leadership conference in Pasadena, California.
Yesterday evening, the Soldiers’ Angles Benefit Gala was held at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington DC. It opened with Jennifer Diffell giving a spine-tingling rendition of the National Anthem.
Al Hunt, of Bloomberg News, acted as MC, keeping us entertained with election jokes, and praise for the organization and tributes to the men and women of the US military.
Patti Patton Bader, Soldiers’ Angels founder, told us the organization now has 250,000 volunteers, an amazing achievement. Those volunteers are all over the world and they are known world-wide for the fabulous work they do for the military and their families. Patti thanked the sponsors who made the gala and much of the organization’s work possible, with special thanks to the military men and women.
Congressmen Roy Blunt, House Republican Whip, and Steny Hoyer, House Majority Leader, both Co-Chairs, spoke eloquently about the men and women of the military, their families and Soldiers’ Angels.
Keynote speaker Admiral Michael Mullen a fervent supporter of military men and women and their families, spoke about how the military is changing – and needs to change more to support the men and women who support and protect us and defend the constitution of the United States of America.
The guests included sponsors, supporters and business partners (who are themselves supporters) and Angels. The most important guests, of course, were the wounded military men and women and their partners, who had given their time, effort and blood for all of us. What a great display of dress uniforms!
Entertainment, other than that provided by Al Hunt, was performed by Country Super Star Ricky Lee and his band, with their amazing patriotic, high energy country music.
May No Soldier Go Unloved
May No Soldier Walk Home
May No Soldier Be Forgotten
Until They All Come Home.
The companies what provided support were:
Wal-Mart
Exxon-Mobil
Peabody Energy
General Electric
Walt Disney Company
Edward Jones Inc
Time Warner
monsanto
HSP LLC
T-Mobile
Tri-West
Fundraising Strategies
Special thanks (from me), to the caterers – a great meal and wonderful service.
