Homecoming Initiative for Troops

January 4, 2012

It has recently come to our attention that a Battalion of armed service men and women who have served our country overseas will be returning home in the upcoming weeks. For security reasons, their identity and the specific details with regard to their arrival cannot be divulged. However, it has also come to our attention that budget constraints are making it difficult to adequately welcome these brave men and women home.

As I am sure many of you believe these brave men and women deserve an appropriate celebration in recognition of their service as they return, I am asking for your help. Operation Patriot Pride is going to provide this Welcome Home reception for these service men and women, as well as their families.

We are asking the area schools to coordinate an effort to have students make cards for the returning service men and women as they enter the reception. We have ordered yellow ribbon to be made into yellow bows to be displayed along the re-entry path to Devens. We have secured paper for sign making. We are also going to ask students to help us with this sign initiative.

For the celebration, we are asking for donations of baked goods and money to purchase goods for the party. As we do not yet know the exact date of return, we are asking that all donations be deposited to 214 Main Street, Groton on or before January 10th. I understand that this is a very quick turnaround but, unfortunately, this is all the time we have to safely pull this together. These donations can be dropped off between 9:30 and 5:00 pm Monday through Friday.

We are asking that baked goods not be dropped off until January 10th as storage and freshness are concerns. If monetary donations are being made, we ask that the checks be made payable to "Operation Patriot Pride" and mailed to Groton, or you can make donations directly at any North Middlesex Bank.

We are appreciative of any help we can get and I am confident that we will be very successful in our efforts to show our appreciation for the sacrifices made by these brave men and women.

If there are any additional questions, please feel free to contact my legislative aide, Katie Green, at 617.722.2637 or katherine.green@mahouse.gov or Representative Harrington's aide, Sara Walkovich, at (617) 722- 2305 or by email at sara.walkovich@mahouse.gov.

I thank you very much for your help in this initiative!

Jennifer Benson
State Representative
37th Middlesex District

Sheila Harrington
State Representative
1st Middlesex District