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GreenCare for Troops

July 21, 2010 By Leave a Comment

GreenCare for Troops is a nationwide outreach program initiated by Project EverGreen that connects participating landscape maintenance professionals and citizen volunteers with families of the men and women away from home serving our country in the Armed Forces. Lawn and Landscape maintenance becomes a definite hardship when a military family’s primary breadwinner is on active duty away from home. GreenCare for Troops seeks to ease this burden by helping affected families with the important task of caring for their yard and landscape. Landscape professionals and individual volunteers donate their services to the military families during deployment time not to exceed one year.

Based in New Prague, Minnesota, Project EverGreen is a national non-profit organization representing the green industry service providers, associations, suppliers, distributors, and individuals. The link between the families and the volunteers is done at the Project EverGreen headquarters.  If a volunteer is located in the area of a military family, the military family is contacted by telephone or email with the volunteer’s information.  It is the military family’s responsibility (due to confidentiality of the family’s information) to contact the volunteer. Due to the number of military families and volunteers participating and our skeleton staff, a participating military family will hear from GCFT only when we have a volunteer to assist them.

Receiving free lawn care service depends on the volunteers in areas of need; this service is not guaranteed in all areas, but we make every effort to accommodate as many families as we possibly can with the volunteers we have and by recruitment of more volunteers for those areas of need.

To date, we have more than 9,000 military families and more than 2,600 volunteers nationwide who have registered with our program. To participate as a family in need of lawn care, or to volunteer to ease this burden for a military family, please complete and submit a short on-line registration form which can be found on www.projectevergreen.com/gcft Donations welcome.

Filed Under: Announcements, Featured

Deployed Night Out

July 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

091118-F-3431H-281Deployed Night Out is a Military Moms of Texas program that provides an evening out for Soldiers and their families through donated gift certificates and tickets to shows, events, restaurants, sports, concerts, and more. This effort is supported by the generosity of community members and local merchants that donate gift certificates to their establishment. Help us to give thanks to our Soldiers today!

If you would like to donate, please contact us:
Military Moms of Texas
PO Box 1627
Round Rock, TX 78680

For questions and more information on donations, please contact Tracy LaPorte, 512-470-3485 or tlaporte@militarymomsoftexas.org.

Filed Under: Announcements, Featured

Celebrate Austin Assists for Deployed Night Out

June 9, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Celebrate Austin is a tourist, newcomers and locals guide in over 30,000 hotel, motel, corporate housing and resort rooms in Austin and the Texas Hill Country. In celebration of their 30th Celebrate Austin has partnered with MMOT as a deployment sponsor.

Celebrate Austin supports local troops and their families with gift certificates for dining at some of Austin’s finest restaurants as part of MMOT’s Deployed Night Out Program. This is a great way to Welcome home our soldiers and a special way to send them off . Celebrate Austin’s Judy Barrick says, “We will be with them as long as they need us.”

If your restaurant or business is interested in being part of this support group please contact Judy Barrick at 346-6235 ext 202

Filed Under: Announcements, Featured

American ingenuity – Williamson County Conservative Examiner

June 4, 2010 By Leave a Comment

American ingenuity

June 4, 2010

Click here to link to article.

As we read of the impending state budget cuts, the rising unemployment rate and other dismal news, I would like to take a moment to salute folks that look for ways to solve problems using their own time and talents instead of merely bemoaning some of the life’s lesser moments. “American ingenuity” is defined as being resourceful and innovative. One of my neighbors in the Round Rock area is an excellent example of American ingenuity. Tracy LaPorte is a business owner, mom and founder of “Military Moms of Texas (MMOT).” When her son, Adam, was deployed to Iraq about a year ago, she looked around for a group of other military families for support and found none in our area that met her needs. So, instead of looking for the government or others to start and fund a program, she started one herself. Since that time, MMOT has been involved in a variety of activities including sending care packages to the deployed troops, having support group meetings, taking soldiers without transportation to and from the airport, manning booths at various local events and more. One of the most moving things Tracy organized was a neighborhood parade to welcome home a local Marine who was returning to our area briefly after two tours in Iraq, before he left for his third tour. Tracy managed to turn out hundreds of folks to line the street with American flags and homemade signs to let him and his family know that we appreciate his and their sacrifice. She did all of this while also working and raising her other children, one of whom is a toddler. Currently, she is organizing a care package drive to send to deployed soldiers in honor of the 4th of July. She is in urgent need of cash to ship the packages. More information is available on the MMOT’s website, http://www.militarymomsoftexas.com,   Click on the care packages link for a list of needed items.   Additionally, Tracy and MMOT will have a table at the grand opening of the Williamson County Jester Annex on June 16th from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. to accept donations.  For more information on the event, see my earlier post on this site.  If you can help, please do so.

Folks like Tracy LaPorte inspire others to do what they can do to improve our community. I know many local citizens have lost their jobs, are doing with less and are in need. I urge everyone who can help others, if it is by donating to MMOT, by showing up at a parade to welcome home a Marine or by solving another problem in our community, to use your American ingenuity to work for a positive outcome.

Filed Under: Featured, MMOT in the News

Military Moms of Texas Chat Group

June 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

SavorChat is a new app from Facebook that allows you to create chat groups. Military Moms of Texas has created a that members can join using your Facebook account.

Follow this link and join us today!

http://savorchat.com/r/3cn

Filed Under: Announcements

Savannah La Porte – 5 Kids Who Care Winner

May 23, 2010 By 2 Comments

This story aired on KVUE Saturday, May 29, 2010 at 6:30pm.

Savannah La Porte is KVUE’s youngest Five Kids Who Care winner.  She’s a remarkable little girl whose love for her older brother moved her entire Great Oaks Elementary School class into action.  KVUE’s Terri Gruca has the story.

Filed Under: Featured

Message from a soldier

May 23, 2010 By Leave a Comment

One of our Military Moms of Texas Soldiers asked us to share this video.

Filed Under: Announcements, Featured

Community Welcomes Round Rock Marine (FOX Austin)

May 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Community Welcomes Round Rock Marine


Friday, 14 May 2010

People and American flags lined the streets in Round Rock as the community welcomed home Staff Sgt Christopher Petty. The marine said the surprise was a bit overwhelming.

Filed Under: Featured, MMOT in the News

Round Rock Marine gets hero’s welcome (KVUE)

May 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Round Rock Marine gets hero’s welcome

by JIM BERGAMO/KVUE News

May 14, 2010

A drive down Great Oaks Drive Friday afternoon revealed two solid blocks of Round Rock revelers. There were big flags, small flags, homemade signs and electronic signs, all there to welcome home Marine Staff Sergeant Chris Petty.

“I can’t wait to meet him and see his face when this happens because this doesn’t happen a lot anymore,” said Staff Sergean. Scott Jackson of the U.S. Army.

The crowd continued to grow the closer it got to Petty’s scheduled arrival.

“It’s amazing,” said Tiffany Wilkes,a family friend who thought Petty deserved a special welcome home after returning from his second deployment overseas.  So she contacted Military Moms of Texas, who arranged the parade and community support.

“It brings tears to my eyes,” said Wilkes.  ”It’s amazing that everybody would come out and want to show their support.  It’s great, I love it,” said Wilkes.

The Patriot Guard riders, Williamson County Sheriff’s Office and Round Rock Fire Department helped lead the guest of honor to his hero’s welcome.  As Petty waved to the crowd, his father was overcome with emotion.

“Glad he got home.  I’m just glad he got home safe and sound,” said Ron Petty, as he held back tears.

Chris Petty’s wife, Bri Anne, and 6-year old son Andon met him at the airport but didn’t tell him about the welcome home parade, and Petty said he was surprised.

“Oh my God, I had no idea,” said Staff Sergeant Petty.  ”I was wondering why she was sitting in the back of the car not talking.”

Chris, Andon and Bri Anne all took time to thank those who lined the streets to say welcome home.

“It’s very sweet that people would do this for (us), because we live it everyday … it’s normal life for us, and to see people’s reaction to us it’s amazing, because he’s our hero and to see that he’s everybody’s, it’s very honoring,” said Bri Anne Petty.

Chris Petty says the first thing he’s going to do is get some Texas barbecue.  His third deployment is already scheduled.

Filed Under: Featured, MMOT in the News

‘Military Moms” coming to SA to support troops

May 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

‘Military Moms” coming to SA to support troops

By Tony Cantú – Contributing writer/Southside Reporter
Web Posted: 04/29/2010 12:00 CDT
Provided by sacommunities, click here to link to story.
When her son was deployed to Iraq, Tracy LaPorte sought a support group of like-minded moms not with whom to commiserate but to galvanize around community projects honoring soldiers.But her search proved fruitless.

“The groups I found didn’t fit the bill as to what I was looking for,” the Austin resident recalled. “I wanted something more than a support group. I wanted a group that was making a difference, not just with care packages.”

Her son, Adam Huckstep of the U.S. Army Infantry Division – a member of the renowned “Hell Hounds” – gave her the nudge she needed while stationed abroad, encouraging her to create the group herself.

In October, Military Moms of Texas – now 3,000 members strong – was born.

Austin-based, the organization will next month launch a branch in San Antonio, from where it receives its greatest support, she said.

“Some of my most active members are from San Antonio,” LaPorte said in a recent interview. In addition, locally based Fitness in Motion – a supplier of fitness equipment to commercial clients owned by local businessman Paul Cuevas where her husband works – is the group’s biggest sponsor, she added.

Military Moms of Texas offers the full range of support to a military contingent – preparing care packages, collecting food for families, home repairs, organizing welcome home gatherings send-offs for soldiers and more.

LaPorte expressed particular pride in the group’s Deployed Night Out, providing an evening out for soldiers and their families through donated gift certificates and tickets to shows, restaurants, sporting events, concerts and other diversions.

“They’re giving us the ultimate for our freedom, so whatever I’m doing I’m doing it for them,” said LaPorte, mother to three other children, ranging in ages from 17 to a year. “What little part I can do needs to be a million times more, but I’m going to try to make a little bit of difference.”

Some of the group’s other activities include delivery of much-needed but suddenly unaffordable baby formula for a young soldier’s wife, the clearing out of accumulated brush at a widow’s Seguin property – vegetation her husband had hoped to get to before being deployed but now never will.

“She needed manual help clearing out the brush and changing the property to the way it was before he left,” LaPorte explained, describing how a team of volunteers rushed to the widow’s aid.

Such needs abound, she said, and provide her greatest motivation: “It puts a fire in me.”

But with a soft economy, she noted donations have begun to dwindle. The group is always in need of cash donations and items for soldiers’ care packages including beef jerky, energy drinks and protein-packed snacks.

She added that despite the group’s name – a moniker born of a distressed mother’s instinct – anyone can join, regardless of gender and with or without family members stationed overseas.

“It’s kind of a Catch-22,” she said of the group’s identity. “But you don’t even have to have a soldier. You can adopt one of ours!”

But the most efficient communication conduit has been a popular social networking website.

“Facebook has become a powerful tool,” she said. “That’s how our soldiers communicate, and that’s how we have found 99 percent of our soldiers.”

Those interested in contacting or donating to Military Moms of Texas can visit www.militarymomsof texas.com. The mailing address is P.O. Box 1627, Round Rock, TX, 78680.

Filed Under: MMOT in the News
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