Rathschmidt said the inspiration for United for the Troops came after his son, Luke, joined the servicefive years ago. When Luke was in Iraq, his parents sent him care packages, but quickly discovered this wasn’t the norm.

“He told us that there were many men and women that didn’t have anyone sending them anything,” he said. “So we sent them 100 self-addressed envelopes, with a little note inside asking what they wanted. And we started getting these notes asking for what they wanted.”

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Thank you to everyone who showed up and gave their support and their contributions to help us raise money for supplies to send to the troops this Holiday season. We were able to raise an extremely significant amount of money for our operation and we can’t thank you enough!

We Have More Left To Do!

Remember though that we are only half way there. Saturday November 26th is packing day at the American Legion in Mahopac. We will be there early until all of the boxes are full which should be all day long. We could use any sort of help you can provide. Please show up and give us a hand so we can let our troops know we care!

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BRINGING A LITTLE COMFORT TO OUR TROOPS

United for the Troops and Southside Sports Bar & Grill at 927 South Lake Blvd. (Rte. 6N) in Mahopac, NY are hosting another big celebration to help send hundreds of needed gift boxes to our brave Troops serving our country.

Saturday, November 19th
5 – 9 PM

Bigger prizes (Ipad, golf outing for 4, limo ride to NYC & back, to name just a few), great live music, face painting, complimentary food & special quests! This is truly a celebration not to be missed!

Please share this with your family & friends so we can continue to “BRING A LITTLE COMFORT TO OUR TROOPS”

5500 BOXES & COUNTING!!!!!

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WESTCHESTER/SEPT. 29 — Morton’s The Steakhouse, Statewide Abstract, JP Morgan Chase, and Dillon & Dillon have all teamed up to support one of the area’s most appreciated organizations, United for the Troops. Formed five years ago while Luke Rathschmidt, a resident of Mahopac, was on tour of duty in Iraq, United for the Troops is a non profit, non political and non denominational organization whose sole purpose is to send much needed care packages to soldiers overseas.

“While stationed in Iraq my son Luke told us about the importance of receiving care packages and also mentioned that many soldiers never received even one package and we knew we had to change that,” stated Jim Rathschmidt. “To date we have mailed more than 5,500 boxes to soldiers around the world.”

Last year Morton’s held an event to collect items to ship overseas and the local community was very generous, donating three carloads of personal supplies. What they quickly learned however is that the organization also needed funding to cover the actual shipping costs of each box, normally anywhere from $10 – $20. So Kim O’Donnell of Morton’s and Karinta DiMartino of Statewide decided to hold another event this year to raise the money needed to ship boxes this holiday season.

“We are thrilled to be able to assist this dedicated organization,” stated Kim O’Donnell. “We thought it would be a great idea to create a giving tree for fall where people can purchase leaves on the tree for $15.00 each. Each leaf represents one package that will be able to be shipped,” she added.

To participate, individuals should visit Morton’s The Steakhouse between October 19th and December 5th to purchase a leaf. One hundred percent of the $15.00 will go directly to United for the Troops to cover shipping costs of one care package. On December 6th, Morton’s will be the site for another big event to present the check for all the leaves purchased to United for the Troops.

“We are anticipating a huge turnout for our culmination event at Morton’s,” said Karinta DiMartino. “Last year we had over 100 people in attendance and this year we expect even more.” People will be able to also purchase leaves that evening. The event on December 6th will run from 5:30 until 7:30 PM with a cash bar and complimentary Morton’s appetizers.

For more information about United for the Troops, visit www.unitedforthetroops.org or send an email to unitedforthetroops@gmail.com. To register for the event on December 6th, contact Kim O’Donnell at Morton’s at 914-683-6101.

Every year the supporters of Operation Defend the Holidays perform their most import task as an organization of the year; they come together on the weekend after Thanksgiving and pack boxes of supplies for our troops. It’s an inspirational day with Americans young and old from any and all backgrounds coming together to let the troops know we care about their service and we are thinking of them this holiday season.

Please come down to the American Legion in Mahopac, NY and give a hand. Whether you can lift heavy boxes or just come down and offer your moral support, we appreciate any time you can give to such a worthy cause. We will have food and drink and plenty of colorful characters on hand to make the day lively and special.

The day starts at 9am, but there are plenty of tasks that we could use a hand with all day long. We hope to see you there!

WHAT:

Making and Shipping Care packages to send to troops for the Holidays

WHEN:

November 26^th, 2011
9am

WHERE:

American Legion‎
333 Buckshollow Road
Mahopac, NY 10541-3759
(845) 621-2639

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Everyone is invited !!!  United For The Troops and South Side Grille in Mahopac have teamed up to host another big celebration to help send hundreds of needed gift boxes to the brave men and women serving our country overseas.

Join us on November 19th from 5 to 9pm at South Side for great live music, complimentary food, special guests and big surprises. Bring your family and friends so we can continue our mission of “Bringing A Little Comfort To Our Troops”—5500 boxes and counting.

Please share this with your facebook and twitter friends and you email contacts. It would be so helpful.

Peace,

Jim & Pat Rathschmidt and Family

South Side Sports Bar and Grille

November 19th from 5-9

927 South Lake Boulevard
Mahopac, NY 10541

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Hi folks,

We will be outside Elizabeth Ann Seton in Shrub Oak on Sunday collecting donated items and monetary donations from 6:45 am to 1:45. We need your help to stand at a table 15 min. before mass and 15 min. after mass. Please call  or text me at 845 729 4239 with any questions or if you can give us a few minutes. Your help is so important to getting needed items to our men and women serving our country. Thanks.

Peace,

Jim and Pat Rathschmidt

Hi Folks,

Just a reminder that “United For The Troops” will be packing gift box’s for our soldiers at Boces Yorktown campus, 200 Boces Dr Yorktown at the student services building from 8 to 12 on Saturday April 16. This is a great opportunity to get the feel of what UFT is about. Have a good one.

Peace,

Jim and Pat Rathschmidt

We are having a packing day at Westchester/Putnam BOCES on Saturday April 16 from 8 to 12. Many new friends of “United For The Troops” have asked us to let you know when you could help…this is it. Of course any of our friends that can help us out will be greatly appreciated. Please check your schedule and email us back as soon as possible, we have a few special requests from some of our soldiers. Have a good one everybody.

I’m the Officer-in-Charge of a six person Air Force weather team at Camp Victory, Iraq.  We support the Commanding General in charge of United States
Forces-Iraq and his staff.  Thank you for the treats and gifts you sent.

You brought joy to

• SMSgt James Dixon (hometown – Augusta, GA)
• MSgt Terrance Smiley (hometown – Augusta, GA)
• MSgt Josh Buck (hometown – Wichita, KS)
• TSgt Jon Liska (hometown – Johnstown, PA), SSgt Ryan Snider (hometown – Gomer, OH)
• and me (hometown – Bellevue, NE).

I wanted to send this letter as a simple thank you to you and all the volunteers.  The time and effort it took is not lost on us.  Also, your kind words and thoughts mean a great deal to all of us.  Being away from home for long periods can be very difficult and it’s compounded by the holiday season. Gifts and warm thoughts from back home help immensely.

Thank you for your continued support.  Our job in the military can bechallenging.  Knowing there are men and women back home who understand and
appreciate some of the sacrifices made is a source of strength and comfort.

Thank you again and Happy Holidays to you and your family.

Sincerely,

HOWARD T. MOORE, Capt, USAF
USF-I JOC Staff Weather Officer