Staff Sgt Jordan Pritchard: We Have To Live This Life For Others

This picture of Staff Sgt Jordan Pritchard is from WSMV.com.

Our Marines are always faithful. Staff Sgt Jordan Pritchard, a former Marine, volunteered to stand guard outside the front door of his children’s school, Gower Elementary School, in Nashville, because of the recent school shootings.
He will be at the school until Christmas break.

He said, “We need hope”. The local police force is unable to take on the extra security job of guarding the school at this time.The parents and families at the school feel better that he is there.This father of two is in uniform, but unarmed as schools are a gun free zone.

In an article by Philip Caulfield, Jordan said he believed the sight of a soldier standing sentinel would make a gunman think twice about attacking the school. “What this uniform represents, the hope it brings, is larger than any weapon that I would ever need.”

Jordan believes, “If you are able and capable of doing something, you have the responsibility to act.” The students and parents at the school have thanked him with words, cards, and pictures.

Jordan explained, “We have to live this life for other people,” he told newschannel5.com. “That’s the only way that happiness and true peace and hope will come back to our nation is when we all come back together and love each other.”

Thank you Staff Sgt Jordan Pritchard for showing us how to have hope, to act responsibly, and to love each other. God bless you and your family. Your are a good  man and make the world a better place. Glad you have our backs.

A Promise: No Veteran Dies Alone

This summer my mother passed away.  My siblings and I divide our time when my Mom was in the hospital, so that someone was always there. Nights are the loneliest to me and I stayed with my Mom at night singing hymns to her, praying with her, and sometimes just holding her hand. It was a sacred time and I am so happy that my Mom was not alone when she passed away.

Bill Whitaker in an article  quotes President Lincoln. The Department of Veterans Affairs says its mission is “to fulfill President Lincoln’s promise … ‘To care for him who shall have borne the battle.’ “At 14 VA hospitals around the country, that includes the special care veterans need when their final battle is coming to an end.”

At the VA hospital in Fresno, Dr. Wessel Meyer, chief of the medical staff oversees the end-of-life program. This program is run entirely by volunteers. Barbara Stadler, a secretary at the VA during the day, donates much of her spare time — and all of her compassion — to make sure the veterans here have a human hand to hold till the end.

Think about volunteering at a VA hospital. You might find the opportunity to offer your hand so a veteran doesn’t die alone.It is another way for us to say thank you to our veterans for their service.

Higher Ground Serves Our Veterans with Volunteers

My friends, Mike Gaul of Gates Mills, Ohio and Tim Rocco of Chagrin Falls, Ohio are passionate about the sport of fly fishing.

In early October, they  will be traveling to Sun Valley, Idaho to volunteer as fishing guides and companions for disabled veterans working with the staff of  Higher Ground at a fly fishing camp.

“Higher Ground (HG) is a nationally recognized veteran rehabilitation program that combines sports, family and coping therapies to restore and rehabilitate men and women of the armed forces who have been severely wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan.”

I am proud of Mike and Tim for volunteering. Together with other volunteers and the Care Team they “will remind our Higher Ground veterans throughout the year that their heroic acts are forever in our thoughts and in our hearts.”

Little Things

It doesn’t seem like much–a package here, an email there–sending little things to our deployed soldiers just to let them know we are thinking about them. And yet the thank you back says it all. It does make a difference.  These are excerpts from emails from two deployed soldiers:

“It brings a smile and a warmth to my heart whenever I walk into the mailroom and see I have a package or letter.”

“. . . ( I ) would gladly defend everyone in it (our country) at anytime!”

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“It means alot to me.”

” . . . It touches me and keeps me going! ”

“. . . (People are) the reason Im proud to serve our country and keep everyone safe!!”

Another little thing we can all do is to say a prayer for all of our troops. God bless our servicemen and woman and bring them home safely to those who love them.

Find your local USO and volunteer.