Issue link: https://imageup.uberflip.com/i/1506028
44 | LIFE IN SOLERA | SEPTEMBER 2023 | There were no occasions to raise the Flags in August. They will be raised in September for Labor Day (9/1/23), Patriots Day (9/11/23) and Pow/MIA Day (9/15/23). Since these days are close together, the Flags will remain up until 9/18/23. Thank you to those few dedicated resident volunteers who are up "at the crack of dawn" on these special days to put up and take down our flags. Contact for the Flag Brigade – Nick Gercis, nick.gercis@gmail.com. Jesse Donardt is a resident of Solera and someone who cares for our troops overseas. Jesse collects things that our troops need and enhances the morale and well-being of these troops worldwide by shipping care boxes containing items specifically requested by them. Please support Jesse and the SUPPORT OUR TROOPS program. Jesse can be reached at 951-845-9028. To all veterans, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!! Billy (Mitch) Mitchell is a resident and veteran who has voluntarily worked with individuals and the Veterans Administration (VA) in order to assist veterans in obtaining veteran benefits. If you are a veteran and interested in finding out which benefits you may be eligible to obtain, contact Mitch at (951) 797-0800. For those who don't know the story behind Solera's troop care package project, I would like to give you some background. The program was started by my wife, Linda, and three of her card playing lady friends. They wanted to send a package to one of the lady's nephews at Christmas time. When Linda's friend found out her nephew was in charge of a platoon, they asked him for the names of each member so they could send each a package. During this time, Solera had its own Veteran's Club. They went to the club, and asked for assistance. They were immediately given $200. By the end of the week they had all sorts of grocery bags, from the veterans, scattered on the garage floor, and an additional $500 from individual donations. Now the work began. Once they had mailed packages to everyone, they still had money and supplies left over. They were not interested in continuing the project as it interfered with their Solera cards and games. I agreed to find the troops and use up all the remaining items and cash to close out the project. I did so. Now it was time for me to go on my annual fishing trip to Idaho. Every week or so, Linda would mail me a large envelope containing any mail she thought I should look over. In this mail would be letters from the service members thanking us for the packages. I began thinking that I would like to mail just another package to a couple of the soldiers who had sent letters. I was discussing this with a neighbor lady at the RV park where I was staying. She thought it was a good idea and offered to pay the postage on the two packages. During the rest of my fishing vacation, I was giving a care-package project some serious thought. One thing in my decision making was remembering how badly our citizens treated our soldiers during the Vietnam era. Upon returning home, and being a member of Solera's Veterans Club, I went to them as the ladies had done. They again donated $200 to get started, and my fellow vets donated the items. The new project has been going for 17 years, with five to six packages mailed every week from both Solera and Idaho. Thank you for caring. ~ Jesse Donardt SUPPORT OUR TROOPS VETERAN ASSISTANCE FLAG BRIGADE Billy (Mitch) Mitchell is a resident and Veteran who has voluntarily worked with individuals and the Veterans Administration to assist Veterans in obtaining benefits. If you are a Veteran and want to know which benefits you may be eligible for, contact Mitch at (951) 797-0800.