Welcome to Let's Bring Em Home 2011!
Bringing military families together for the holidays since 2001!
TEN years ago I asked some of you folks for help with an idea I had. My idea was to gather up a few dollars and buy some plane tickets to allow some deserving young soldiers the opportunity to spend Christmas with their families. To say that I underestimated the response I would get, would indeed be an understatement itself. Rising to the challenge in grand fashion, you folks dug through your couch cushions and sent in over $14,000 dollars in just a few short days. Indeed, your generosity cemented the fact that our annual ticket drive would not be a one time shot, but an annual tradition. And hence the phrase, "Let's Bring Em Home" was coined.
For the next ten years following that otherwise uneventful Friday afternoon in December of 2001, I have put forth the call for your help. Where upon I throw myself on my knees and humbly beg that you, fair reader, will help me help our country's young soldiers. To show them that we understand they're people and not just statistics we see on our evening news, or blurry images that dance across our television screens. That we understand how they'd rather be with their families than any other place in the world, especially during this time of the year.
We're about to open the flood gates here at LBEH, but before we do, there are some folks that we have to take care of first. Each year there are inevitably some folks we can't help -- either they don't have enough leave to make a trip viable or their airfare is too expensive even for us. When that happens, we politely decline that servicemember's request, with the caveat that they will be first in line the following year. So before we start taking new requests for 2011, we have to make sure the folks we had to turn away back in 2010, are properly taken care of. Once they're all set, we'll open requests for: INTERNATIONAL flights and THANKSGIVING leave. We do this because international flights tend to be most economical when booked in advance, and Thanksgiving is only a few weeks away. When they get buttoned up, we open up for domestic Christmas & New Years flights.
As always, we exist exclusively on donations, and as our administrative fees were all the way fown to 3.66% last year, LBEH is a charity that you can be sure as much of your donation is going directly to our military's benefit as possible! The folks who run LBEH -- including myself -- are volunteers! So remember... Lots of donations = lots of airplane tickets = Lots of happy soldiers! And as always, your donations are TAX DEDUCTIBLE!
Thank you in advance for your support!
Ernie
thanks to express hosting for helping us out with our hosting!
remember, - you can view our tax returns by year: 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009
special thanks to michael monteforte jr. for helping us get our 501c(3) tax exempt status!
SERGEANT FIRST CLASS PAUL RAY SMITH, KIA IRAQ 2003, MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT
