She's spent more than a decade sending care packages to military members around the world and now she's on a new mission. She's this week's KRLD Difference Maker.
It was a chance meeting on a plane out of Dallas that led Trish Schallenburger to befriend a soldier heading to Middle East. He was worried about getting sunburned so Trish sent him and his entire unit - 177 soldiers - care packages with sunscreen, snacks and handwritten notes.
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Later, that soldier sent her a letter telling her how much those care packages had been appreciated.
"You have to know there are grown men crying here because this is the first time they've received a mail call," the letter said.
And that's how a Soldiers Hands - now a 501(c)3 non-profit - began. Over the years, Trish and thousands of volunteers have sent care packages to military members around the world.
Most recently....
"We sent to this unit in Syria and we have sent them care packages. We've sent to the U.S.S. Russell, a Navy ship. And we're just about ready to send to the U.S.S. Stockdale," Trish said.
But Trish's latest mission is even bigger.
"We learned there are 50,000 Americans serving in bases in Germany. Rarely do they ever get a mail call and I wasn’t bold enough to say we’d send care packages but I thought, ‘You know what? We can all write a letter,’” Trish said.
And she's getting all 50 states involved.
“That’s our vision to spread this message nationally and getting all the states involved. Fifty-thousand seems like a big goal so we’ve broken it down to trying to get state captains. So if we can get 10 captains in each state and each captain is responsible for 100 letters, that’s 50,000 letters,” Trish said.
If you want to be a team captain or send a letter to a military member serving overseas, go to [asoldiershands.org]asoldiershands.org.
We're proud to call Trish Schallenburger and A Soldiers Hands this week's KRLD Difference Makers
If you know someone who is making a difference in the community, send us an email at differencemaker@krld.com and to check out more difference makers, go to our website at KRLD.com and click on the podcast page.
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