Lottery winner Linda Provenzano with SOT volunteers
Lynne Moore
The Support Our Troops (SOT) Silent Auction held on Veterans Day was a wonderful success. We had dozens of items that were donated or purchased and resulted in terrific interest and lots of enthusiasm from the purchasers. There were also lots of gift cards for restaurants, nail salons, automotive repair, lessons, gift cards for jewelry, and so many other items. The wine and liquor baskets were well received, as were the wonderful handmade cards from our Sassy Stampers. Raffle tickets were sold out for a chance to win $1,000! There were many unique items, such as the Elton John signed poster and the goodie wagon from the LOL group. Every year, folks at the Ranch show their caring and generosity by buying these items that help SOT support the men and women of our military. This year’s auction raised over $18,000, which goes to support our military with monthly shipments to those deployed, as well as select charities that help these folks and their families. All of this money goes directly to support our troops. So, thank you, Robson Ranch, for all you do!
One particular group we would like to thank are the Robson Ranch Featherheads. This group of male golfers donated $1,700 to SOT this month. Since they started donating, they have given more than $30,000 of their winnings to SOT. Thank you so much, men—you are truly special!
At our November meeting, we discussed the troops we support. Presently, we have six deployed folks as well as five people who work together in Egypt. The others are located in Germany, Okinawa, and Korea. We also sponsor 81 non-deployed troops. This past month, we sent out 32 boxes of goodies to our deployed troops. Before Christmas, we will also be sending out handwritten cards and Amazon gift cards to all those we support.
The Argyle Young Men’s Service League works with SOT and comes to the Ranch on the third Sunday of each month with their moms. They write letters to the troops we support and also get to hear from a veteran about their experiences. The YMSL Living History Project, where veterans record their military history for saving in the Library of Congress, is proceeding with several Robson Ranch veterans participating, and will continue into next year. We also want to thank those young men who helped with the auction this year.
Support Our Troops meets the second Monday of the month in the Lone Star Room of the clubhouse, at 1 p.m. You do not have to be in the military or retired to join. We would really like to have you come and experience what we do. If you have a family member who is in the military presently, please let us know. We would love to be able to support them.
To all those who worked so hard on making our auction fundraiser a success, Thank you!