I wanted to thank Acts of Appreciation for the pillows. Without them many of us could not have rested as well on the plane over for deployment. They are great. Also I wanted you to know that I read the verse that came with it often for inspiration.
Blessings, Chaplain Perez
“I used to attend your coffee + chat and I just wanted to say thank you for hosting a wonderful event for spouses of active military.
My husband is no longer an active marine and we have moved back home to Illinois but I always enjoyed attending your event. Your group is so kind and giving. I always felt so welcome and in those times it was nice to feel welcomed.
I hope you are all doing well and staying healthy. I just wanted to say thank you and to let you know that you make an impact on people’s lives, I know you did for me.”
Best wishes to all,
Robie G.
[Chaplain] Josh has been having spotty service and is trying to express his gratitude, but I too wanted to say thank you. Eight boxes arrived for the command and that will minister in so many ways. Josh will be able to pass those out along with his replacement. This will give them both another opportunity to encourage the sailors and marines on board. It is a tremendous blessing for them to receive these special care packages, especially over the holidays. Many are having to go a few years without seeing family, so the holidays are especially challenging. Thank you to you and everyone at ACTS of Appreciation for your extra love and care. Miss you all and hope to be able to see each of you in the future!
Hugs,
April
Thank you to Grace and Peace Quilt Ministry for providing this special quilt to be presented to Gunnery Sgt. Costello upon his retirement in December. He and his wife have done many things to help and promote Acts of Appreciation.They were thrilled to receive this beautiful gift!
“Hi, I have the triplets, not sure if you remember us. We moved to Virginia….we miss these events. You guys are amazing for doing them. Hope you have a blessed day and that your holidays are amazing. You all were such a blessing to us.”
Thank you,
Shannon
“I wanted to reach out and thank you for the September Coffee and Chat. I came with my daughter and we had to leave early so she could take a nap. I really appreciate the gift from the raffle — {my daughter] uses the ‘pack and play’ every day. I will not be able to make it to future coffee and chats as I start work in a school in October. I really appreciate what you are doing — it is so helpful to have a place where the spouses can meet other spouses. I will be sending other spouses your way! Thank you again!”
~ Jo
Good Afternoon American Heroes and Guardian Angels of Saddleback Church,
I would like to thank all those involved in producing these outstanding Care-Packages to our unit’s Marines and Sailors. Your hard work and patriotism go a long way in boosting the morale and welfare of our service-members. Every service-member throughout our unit is very humbled and appreciative of your selfless dedication. We hope and wish you fair winds and following seas, Semper Fidelis!
Respectfully,
W. Clarke
Wow! Thank you sooo much! Danielle emailed me a couple days ago to confirm the arrival of what you sent earlier. She said the Marines & Sailors are so grateful, 😀 especially since their operations tempo has been extremely busy.
~ Chaplain Gilkey
“I just wanted to thank you so much for the letters, goodies, and beanies you sent us. They were a huge morale boost for the Marines and they loved the beanies. The boxes did a great job bringing a taste of home out to the Marines and that is priceless. I have attached some photos of the Marines enjoying some of the goodies to show our appreciation. Thank you again. I hope all is well.”
God Bless,
1stLt Jack K
“Last week I was able to hand out the last remaining gift bags from Acts of Appreciation. To say this has been an interesting for all of us is understatement. When you look at being forward deployed it makes it even interesting. As we got closer to the Christmas season there were a lot of unknowns for Sailors and Marines stationed overseas. We found out that Sailors and Marines were able to go back but only in small numbers as we need maintain a healthy Navy and Marine force. That being said many found they were not being able to go home. Around that time I started receiving the boxes from AOA and began to hand them out to the crew. As I would talk with sailors a lot were I tears that a group of people in California would care that much to make their Christmas a little brighter. The conversations I was able to have with them about the heart of AOA was amazing because of how April, the kids, and I have gotten to serve along side with you all. They started to ask why does anyone care that much for me. That has opened up a lot of follow on conversations. The last five bags I was able to give out were three to Sailors on duty on a cold night. As I was walking off the ship the Sailors were on watch making sure we as Sailors on a ship were safe, but bummed a little bit to be on duty on Christmas. When I handed them their bags they started to cry a little because of the care I have for them, which I am only able to do with partners with that same heart like AOA. The last two I was able to give out was to a family who has been going through a rough time. One of the family members is a sailor on our ship. With the rough time it had been weighing heaving on my sailor when I hand them the bags they broke down and was blown away that anyone should care that much. Acts of Appreciation, thank you so much for your faithfulness to minister to those who where the uniform of our great country. Having men and women like you who take time to make the bags for deployed troops blows me away. You allow someone get amazing touch from home, and you never know it might be during one of the most pivotal times in their lives and it lets them know someone cares for them. As a chaplain you give me open doors into my Sailors and Marines lives that I might not have, but because I have a goodie bag they want to sit down and talk. Thank you for your heart and passion to support our troops. I say this with more passion because you continued to serve during the unknowns of COVID. May we see more Sailors, Marines, Soldiers, Airmen, and Coast Guard connected and ministered too in the year of 2021.”
Blessings
Chaps (Josh, April, Hayleigh, and Austin)
“Happy New Year!! I appreciate everything you all do for my family and all the military families at Camp Pendleton.
The Drive thru holiday event was amaaaaaazing!! I felt very safe and very welcomed. We couldn’t have asked a better way to end 2020!! Though the pandemic isn’t over, I think it’s the beginning of the long end……Again, thank you sooo much for everything.”
Yumiko I.
“Thank you for the baby gift!”
“Our family is extremely grateful and feel so blessed. We wish we could thank you ourselves and just let you know how grateful we are. Thank you so much!”
— R. & Family
“Thank you for our custom made blanket! We love it.”
— Katelyn T.
“Just wanted to say thank you for supporting our military. I really want to say thank you for support April and I as we serve the men and women who serve our great country. This has been a very hard year for our command and our crew is feeling it. I have been handing out the goodie bags and gifts you sent. My crew as I hand them out have been in tears. They are blown away a group (of amazing people) that has no connection to other than the Chaps would send all these gifts. You are truly ministering to my crew. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart. April and I are blessed to call you family. Wish we could be with you all.”
— Merry Christmas from Josh, April, Hayleigh, Austin, and the crew of the Green Bay
“I am a recipient of the baby girl gift basket you have donated. Just wanted to come and say thank you very much everything is very much appreciated and will definitely be put to use we appreciate everything you put together in the basket for us and supplies that will definitely help out a lot such as diapers, wipes, clothing. The knitted clothes are just adorable and I cannot wait to put them on my little one upon her arrival once again thank you so very much for everything that was in the gift basket.”
— Abby B.
“I really appreciate what you ladies do for us here on Camp Pendleton. My daughter was so excited when I gave her this sweatshirt and book. You put a smile on her face. I always leave this Coffee and Chat event feeling better then when I arrived. I miss my family dearly and y’all help fill that void a little. Thanks for loving on us military spouses and families.”
“I read the book I got from your Christian Resource Table called, “God, I Need to Talk to You About Talking Back,” with my child after he’s been in Time Out. My child is now getting so much more respectful and loving. Thank you for the book!”
