Soldiers' Angels New York

The time has come to begin moving.... my blog. Unfortunately, the spam problem here is unbearable. I have also been wanting a little more flexibility with templates. I have started a new blog here: http://soldiersangelsny.blogspot.com/ and I will be working on adding to my template and migrating posts as time allows. You may want to update your links and bookmarks to the new site.

Please visit my new location.

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2,996 is a bloggers tribute to the victims of 9/11.

Zhe “Zack” Zeng

Zhe "Zack" Zeng was born in Canton, China. He emigrated to the United States with his parents in the late 1980's. They settled in Brooklyn, New York. On that beautiful early fall morning of September 11, 2001, Zack was on his way to work at the Bank of New York on Barclay Street, not far from the World Trade Center, when he saw the first plane strike the towers from a nearby subway stop.

Zack had attended the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York, graduating in 1995. While in Rochester, Zack also held a job at the University and was trained as an Emergency Medical Technician. He worked with the Brighton Volunteer Ambulance. He went on to earn his masters degree in 1998 before returning to Brooklyn. On September 11th, the Bank of New York building was safely evacuated but knowing there would be injured victims waiting for medical care, he gathered all the first aid kits he could carry and responded. The last known images of Zack were aired on FOX TV in New York, shown helping an injured woman on a stretcher before the South Tower collapsed.

Zack's friends and co-workers were not surprised to learn he ran toward the scene, that is just the kind of person he was. They remember him as humble, intelligent, committed, kind, giving and selfless. A young man who was dedicated and took care of his family. Zack has been memorialized in the following ways:

-A space dedicated in James S. Gleason Hall at William E. Simon Graduate School of Business Administration at University of Rochester in memory of Zack and Jeffrey R. Smith, another graduate of the school who was lost at the World Trade Center.

-The EMS Memorial, Empire State Plaza at Albany, New York

-"Tree of Life" Permanent Memorial at the "To the Rescue" Museum in Roanoke, Virginia

-Zhe Zack Zeng Way in Chinatown, New York City, adjacent to a park where he used to meet his friends.

Zack was 28 years old. I never had the opportunity to meet Zack, but by all accounts I am sure he was the sort of person I would have liked and trusted. He died doing what he had trained to do, and what he loved doing... helping people.

Note: Click here for the permanent post on my new blog.

Calling all angels and potential angels! We have 600 Marines and 200 Soldiers newly submitted for adoption. Can you help? If you can commit to sending a card or letter a week and at least 1 or 2 care packages a month then please go to http://soldiersangels.org and ADOPT today!

I would like to thank the following businesses who donated goods & services for the fundraiser:

Arney's Marina
Bell's Supermarket
Bob Benosky Ford
Breens Market
Bulman's Cycle Center
Burger King
Carey's Cove & Marina
Cedar Liquors Ltd.
Cutters Fine Food & Spirit
DeRidder Garage
Geneva Harley Davidson
Henner Automotive
Joe's Market
Joseph Neri Chevrolet
K&M Liquor
Maxwell Creek Inn Bed & Breakfast**
Papa Joe's Restaurant**
P&C Foods
Rowe Automotive
South Shore RV Park
Sullivan Auto
Sunrise Imaging
Tops Market
Up-C-Dazey Hot Air Ballooning**
VFW Post Lyons
VFW Post Palmyra**
White Tiger Tattoos
WFXF-FM 95.1 The Fox

Bands in order of appearance:
Shattered Image
Mr. Dingo**
Kick Start**

**Major Contributors
And numerous individuals who donated of their money and/or time.

I am pleased to report that the fundraiser by Western New York members of the Patriot Guard Riders on September 3rd was a complete success. Over $2,500 was raised for the backpacks for the wounded project. I was going to wait to post this until I had the complete list together of people who donated items and services, but the list isn't ready yet, so I decided to post this anyway. Even though we had a much lower turnout than we expected due to the inclement weather the day before, everyone was so generous. So many things touched me deeply. First and foremost, the work put on by Dave and his whole family to pull it together. The gentleman who won the 50/50 raffle and then refused his half of the takings. The older veteran who resides at a VA hospital who pressed a $10 bill into my hand after he found out who I was and what the fundraiser was for. The lady from the local area who wrote me in care of the VFW telling how her son in law received a backpack and included a donation.

Captain Z. whom many of you may know from his blog was kind enough to travel here to be our guest speaker. Everybody appreciated hearing about his experiences firsthand and how much the support he received from Soldiers' Angels meant to him. I also showed a 5:30 minute video which you can watch from my Squidoo site (Traffic there also generates money toward Soldiers' Angels, so go watch it.)

Dave's Bike

Chuck & "Buzz"

People Watching the Video

Chuck Ready to Ride

The Ride

Posted at Old War Dogs Open Post

Started Blackfive's book last night, The Blog of War. Got teary eyed through the first 33 pages. Would have read more but it was late, and I've had a lot going on. Don't know if I will have any time for reading the next couple of days. Don't know if I dare try reading it in public, if I was crying on just the first chapter.

Squidoo rank is now 2,707! Thank you all, keep clicking!

Fundraiser is still proceeding in spite of what Ernesto might bring. Current forecast is for rain all day Saturday but maybe passable conditions on Sunday for motorcycling. We're preparing for the worst but hoping for the best. I stopped by the VFW this evening where this is going to take place, and they gave me a card they had received in the mail. It was from a lady whose son-in-law is at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas. He received one of the backpacks we are raising money for, as well as cards and letters from Soldiers' Angels, and she sent a donation. She lives in the next town over and must have read about this in the local paper!

Pillowcases have started arriving for the NY National Guard project.

That's all for now.

A painless way to give, and you won't be out one cent. How? Just click the link below. Why? Because if I get some traffic there, then my rank will improve, and funds will go to my chosen charity, Soldiers' Angels. Current rank, 37,776. Whoopee.

http://www.squidoo.com/soldiersangelsNY/

That's not too much to ask, is it? Every little bit counts.

If any of you are the praying sort, then get to work and pray that the remains of Ernesto either goes through fast, or goes another way completely. It needs to be out of here by Sunday the 3rd, or it will make me very unhappy after all the work that has gone into the fundraiser (Previously posted about on 21 August but for some reason my blog will not let me link to my own post, what's up with that? Further rant below.)

Rant mode on - I didn't intend this post to turn into a gripe session, but geeze, I am soooo sick of this stupid thing. I tried to link to my own post, it says "invalid URL". I try updating my sidebar, it says "invalid URL". There is nothing wrong with the URL's, my code is written correctly, how about, mmmmm, invalid blog? Not to mention the crappy anti-crap filters and the unwanted comments and trackbacks that arrive in droves day after day. Part of the reason I haven't had many new posts of late is being busy, and the time I do have to devote to the blog..... I'm spending hitting the delete/ban button. No, kidding, literally hundreds a day. I just don't have time for it, but I refuse to leave this crap attached to my posts. *sigh* Rant mode off - for now I guess.

Testing link to other url which worked in previous post. This seems to work fine, and I can link to some of my own posts, but just not the one about the fundraiser. Doesn't work with the perma link title nor with the post id number in the address. Weird, just weird.

If you don't know "Aunt Mary", you should, which is the reason for this post. She's not technically my aunt, but lots of people in Soldiers' Angels know about her, and call her Aunt Mary.

Aunt Mary is an angel, as is her niece Mary Jo. Aunt Mary celebrated her 101st (yes, one hundred and one) birthday this past spring with a big bash collecting supplies for the troops. In this more recent picture, she is putting together goody bags for patients in Balad, Iraq. I asked Mary Jo what it says on the little card inside each bag.

"This snack bag is packed for you with love and thanks for your incredible dedication to preserving the freedom of ALL Americans - THANK YOU!
By Soldiers Angels Mary Jo and Aunt Mary (101 years young!)

When I put out the call the other day for needing pillow cases for the NY National Guard, guess who was the first to reply... Aunt Mary & Mary Jo. Whenever I think I'm tired, I think about Aunt Mary and do just one more thing. Thank you, Aunt Mary, for being such an inspiration to us.

We were contacted by the NY National Guard Youth Program Director who read about "Operation Pillow Case" that was done by the Nevada angels at Nellis Air Force Base last Spring. The idea behind the project is to take family photos and transpose these photos with iron-on transfers onto the pillowcases to send to their loved ones who are deployed overseas.

The New York National Guard is going to be having a convention and one of the activities they would like to have for the kids is this pillowcase project. If anyone would like to donate white or light colored NEW standard pillow case, please contact me for further information. We need 75, and the deadline is 25 September.