Two Grannies Show Compassion--When JWs Will Not!

by Voyager 6 Replies latest jw friends

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  Voyager

  Some soldiers who have family that are JWs receive (no) mail or packages at all. So there are two Grannies who take up the slack and show compassion when the JWs will not!

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  http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=2928307&nav=6DJHWD7S

  http://www.wlox.com/Global/story.asp?S=2928307&nav=6DJHWD7S

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  02/10/05 Two Grannies Become Pen Pals To American Soldiers Sisters Frances Metcalf and Jeanne Graeser are known as the two Grannies to hundreds of U.S. soldiers deployed overseas. They, along with neighbor Andrea Coote, are among 20,000 people who take part in the national "Soldiers' Angels Program" The goal is to ensure everyone serving the nation gets letters during mail call. "We have had someone tell us that a grown man will cry because they don't receive mail," Coote said. "Recently we were sent an addie. That's what we call an address from a soldier who received no mail. On the bottom of his letter he put, 'My family are Jehovah Witnesses. They do not believe in war, therefore I don't receive any mail or packages,'" Graeser said. It's often fellow soldiers who notice those who aren't getting mail, and turn their names into the Soldiers' Angels Program. "We adopted our first soldier in August. From then on we must have written to or sent packages to over 800 soldiers up to this point. We go through about 300 stamps a month," Graeser said. The Soldiers' Angels say they grow attached to their pen pals. Graeser's walls have become a shrine of sorts to those soldiers who write back. A recent message from one troop member told the two Grannies they complete their military family. It brought the women to tears. "It touched our hearts. We don't expect anything back from them. We're here to support them," Graeser said. Local merchants, like the Waveland Wal-mart, donate gift cards to help buy merchandise for the soldiers. If you'd like to become a pen pal, you can find more information at www.soldiersangels.org. by Al Showers
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  candidlynuts

  awww. what nice women they are!

  i wonder how young the soldiers are? thats so sad that their own families wont reach out to them

  while they are over there with their lives in danger.
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  Voyager

  candidlynuts:

  I agree with you candidlynuts, it is sad. Especially if it is a soldier's own family.

  Thanks my friend!
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  poppers

  Having been in the service myself I know how much mail means when you are far from home, and being in harms way makes it that much more meaningful. What a wonderful way to show support; conversely, I don't know how those jw families can look at themselves in the mirror.
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  Voyager

  poppers: I could not have said it better myself. Very well said! Thanks poppers!

  I don't know how those jw families can look at themselves in the mirror.
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  jgnat

  I read once about the terrible toll Tuberculosis took on families before antibiotics were discovered. This highly contagious disease was contained by sending the sick off to sanatoriums to die or get well. People were so afraid of the disease that families would return mail to their sick relatives unopened.

  You can imagine the terrible isolation and despair that overtook the sanatorium residents.

  Community and a common misery helped these residents bond, however, and lively social clubs blossomed in the hospitals.

  Shunning has convinced me that the Watchtower organization is run by fear, not love.
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  RescueMe

  Shunning has convinced me that the Watchtower organization is run by fear, not love.

  I have to agree with this. If love were the motivator, then these people would not be so quick to just shun those who are not in perfect sync with their own thoughts and feelings. It's an isolation tactic used to keep people in line.