Message from OWHMD Founder – January 2012
Operation Welcome Home (MD) statistics for 2011 broke all previous yearly records with a total of 58,974 passengers greeted at 242 events. We are so blessed to have a terrific base of dedicated volunteers, to include a generous list of schools, organizations, Veterans groups and others whom have provided us with their time, and items/donations for the goodie bags, so that we can do what we do. A big thank you is extended to each and everyone of you who have assisted with OWH(MD) through the years! An extra big thank you to our servicemen and their families for their steadfast sacrifice to our nation.
Volunteers have recently asked if we will be diminishing our organization mission due to the draw down in Iraq. The answer is emphatically no! BWI receives the highest number of returning troops in the nation, and OWH(MD) will continue to be here until all come home; I am sure each of you knows a friend or family member who is still deployed in this war.
OWH(MD) is only the first step of letting our servicemen and women know a nations support them. It’s up to each of us to take a moment and reach out to a military family and help. It can be during a loved one’s deployment, or when they arrive home. Every one can do something to help even if one can’t come to an OWH(MD) event. You will feel good you did!
Sincerely,
Kathy Thorp, Founder, Operation Welcome Home (Maryland)
About Operation Welcome Home Maryland!
Hundreds of our Sailors, Airmen, Soldiers and Marines return from the War on Terror every week through the gates of the Baltimore/ Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport.
Since March 2007, Operation Welcome Home volunteers have greeted over 700 flights and more than 150,000 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and Coast Guard service members. We invite you to come on out and help us welcome them home!
Take a look at the EVENT CALENDAR on the right side of this website to see the current month’s event dates or call our hotline at (410) 630-1555 for recorded information about our next event–and PLEASE be sure to call the hotline again before you leave for the airport to make sure the flight has not been delayed or cancelled.
We are also meeting many unexpected flights so keep watching the calendar for changes; we suggest putting our hotline telephone number in your cell phone to get up to the minute news on new flights we will be meeting…
Thank you for your interest in supporting our troops and giving them the hero’s welcome home they truly deserve!!!
We encourage military personnel from all services to come in uniform to greet your fellow servicemembers!
ATTENTION: Companies, schools, church groups and other organizations:
We invite you to come out and support our welcome home events, and/or contribute water and snacks for the troops; please email us at webmaster@owhmd.org
Volunteers are always needed to give our troops the hero’s welcome that they deserve. Operation Welcome Home (Maryland) averages one welcome home event per week, and YOU could be part of the excitement. Individuals, corporations, youth groups, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, civic organizations, religious organizations, and government agencies have all participated in events since our founding in March 2007.
Volunteers help decorate the lobby with patriotic signs and banners. They also package “goodie bags” for the troops, many of whom are hungry, thirsty, and tired from their travels and will be waiting on a connecting flight. When the troops arrive through the doors of the International Arrival terminal, we shower them with praise, cheering them on, hugging them, offering them a “goodie bag,” and thanking them for their service.
Email any questions you may have to: webmaster@owhmd.org … Thank you!
