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Imagine being half a
world away from a
husband, a mother,
or brother, and having
nothing more than
a few post-it notes
and maybe an envelope
and a half-inch
length of pencil to
write with that you
sharpened with your
pocket knife. Diane
Loughrey, a Warren
woman, has
not known this
type of trial but
she knows that it
exists because she works tirelessly to make a difference
for those living this reality.
“The soldiers that receive the cards I make are
the most grateful people,” she said. “Sometimes they
write back to me and tell me how they have had no
way to get cards or even paper to write letters on and
how much they appreciate the program.”
The program that Loughrey is referring to is Operation
Write Home, a non-profit organization that
was founded in 2007 by Sandy Allnock in Federal
Way, Washington. The group of crafters is nationwide,
with hand-crafted cards being created on a
revolving basis and care packages of cards being
sent to contacts every month or so who see that deployed
soldiers have a way to write home. The cards,
Loughrey said, are varied in theme ranging from
birthday and anniversary cards to holiday cards and
“just because.”
“This last year alone I have made 238 cards,”
Loughrey said. “Combined with last year, I have
made nearly 400 and Operation Write Home has
passed the two and a one-half million mark. I also
write Hero Letters, and think that those are as important,
if not more, than the write home cards
we send.” Hero Letters are letters that are mailed
to deployed soldiers that simply say hello to a hero.
Loughrey said that the parameters for writing are
wide, with the only real rules being that the tone is
upbeat and positive and cannot have a political undercurrent.
“People write about their families and their pets,”
she said. “Nothing negative. No one living in war
wants to talk about war so the point is to tell them
about positive things and give them a person to correspond
to.”
Interestingly, as committed to the cause as
Loughrey is she has no direct experience with deployment.
She said that she originally became involved
after seeing an advertisement for the organization
on a blog that she frequented and she felt that
it was a calling to use her crafting talents as a way
to help others.
“I consider this my job, even though it’s not
paid,” she said. “I have had people who have wanted
to support me and sent me materials to use and that
sort of thing. My family threw me a party for my
birthday back in August and as part of my gift they
had people write letters to the troops that I could
send.”
Loughrey said that she has been crafting since she
was a little girl and her love, and talent, has gradually
grown to its current level. Most recently, she was
awarded a presidential citation by President Barack
Obama for her efforts and dedication to Operation
Write Home.\
“I wrote to the president and the objective was to
get him to honor the woman who started this whole
program,” she said. “A short time later I received a
presidential citation thanking me for my dedication.
It was pretty exciting.” Loughrey said that what she
would really like is to see more people become involved
in the project.
“Every time even one more person becomes involved,
it makes a huge difference,” she said. Loughrey
said that people who are interested can find out more
about the organization at operationwritehome.org or
on her own blog, which can be found at allfromtheheartcrafts.
com.
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