Greenlawn Post 1244 Supports Jacob's Light
Jacob's Light Foundation has provided comfort from home for thousands of our deployed servicemen and women in Iraq and Afghanistan. The organization was founded by Dorine Kenney in honor of her son, Jacob Fletcher, who was killed on November 13, 2003 on Highway 1 in Samara, Iraq by a roadside bomb. It was just 11 days before his 29th birthday.
Prior to his death, Jacob had written his mother, Dorine Kenney and requested that she send one of his buddies a care package as his friend hadn't received anything from home. Soon she was sending packages to a number of deserving soldiers who needed some comfort from home.
Today Dorine, with the help of numerous people and sources, continue this mission to comfort and support our selfless, brave hero's overseas in her son's honor and loving memory.
Each month, a small army of volunteers from all over Long Island gathers at Joseph Loeffler American Legion Post 1006 in Brentwood and prepares over 8,000 pounds of everything our troops might need to make their lives more bearable and to let them know that we care about them and their mission. Donations of toiletries, foods and snacks, reading and writing materials as well as bug wipes, sunscreen, batteries and other necessities for our troops are included. Special items are sent for the holidays. Also included are letters from the public and letters and pictures from children. To date, over 170,000 pounds of materials have been shipped overseas by Jacob's Light.
Recently, Post 1244 2nd Vice Commander Dennis Giunta suggested that local Girl Scout Troop 3838 of the Elwood School District ask those who did not want to buy their Girl Scout cookies if they would be willing to donate them to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The idea soon caught on. The girls accumulated over 250 boxes of cookies for the troops.
On April 25th, the Girl Scouts helped the many volunteers, including members of Post 1244, to pack these reminders from home into hundreds of boxes for our Soldiers, Sailors, Marines and Airmen.
American Legion Greenlawn Post 1244 has nominated Dorine Kenney for the New York Senate Woman of Distinction Award, through the office of State Senator Carl Marcellino. We can think of no one more deserving of this honor.
For more information on Jacob's Light Foundation please see: