RECENT NEWS FROM JACOB'S LIGHT FOUNDATION

Winter 2009

Happy New Year and May (may) 2009 bring you health, joy and peace. To our Grantors and Donors we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for your support. To our Volunteers we love each and every one of you and could not get the job done without you!

Recently a holiday special was done about the work of the Jacob’s Light Foundation,Inc. We hope you will check out this film on www.intheirboots.com. There you will be able to get a first hand view of how we accomplish our mission and how your donations are making the world of difference. Many of our wonderful volunteers are featured in this film. Also on You Tube

http://www.foxnews.com/video-search/m/21536848/jacob_s_light.htm.

you can find a Fox and Friends Interview on Dorine Kenney and the Jacob’s Light Foundation,Inc. There was also recent article in the New York Daily News about the work of the Foundation. http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/11/25/2008-11-25_mom_keeps_care_packs_coming_after_sons_k.html

Mom keeps care packs coming after son's killed in Iraq

BY STEPHANIE GASKELL
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Wednesday, November 26th 2008, 2:44 AM

Barcelo for News Barcelo for News

Dorine Kenney, whose son, Jacob Fletcher, was killed in Iraq five years, gets ready to ship tons of food to active servicemen as part of foundation she created to keep her son's memory alive.

Five years ago, Dorine Kenney's son, Jacob Fletcher, was serving in Iraq with the 173rd Airborne Division.

Kenney sent her son a care package every week filled with supplies and snacks - and a mother's love.

Just 11 days before his 29th birthday in 2003, a roadside bomb exploded in Samarra, killing Fletcher.

Kenney was devastated, but she kept sending the packages to her son's unit.

"It kept me alive," Kenney told the Daily News Tuesday, on what would have been Fletcher's 34th birthday. "He had wrote home once and asked me to send a box and some letters to one of his buddies who didn't receive any."

"I decided the best way to honor him was to send his buddies a box," she said. "It kept me going. I just never stopped sending boxes."

Kenney, who lives in Bay Shore, L.I., sent so many care packages and got so many donations, she eventually created Jacob's Light Foundation.

The organization has sent more than 225,000 pounds of supplies to troops all over Iraq and Afghanistan. Kenney and her volunteers pack up everything from baby wipes and batteries to letters from local schoolchildren and cookies.

They even include a list of nonprofit organizations that help deployed soldiers and their families, and the foundation's monthly newsletter.

"We focus on the smaller bases, the ones that don't have access to the things that the bigger bases do," she said.

Jacob's Light has grown so much over the past five years that Kenney buys in bulk.

"It's quite a process," she said, adding that most of her requests for care packages come from the troops themselves.

"They write to me, 'Ma'am, can you send us a box," Kenney said. "It's awesome."

To learn more or donate to Jacob's Light Foundation, visit www.jacobsprogram.org.

sgaskell@nydailynews.com

Here is a part of a letter that was sent from a soldier who is currently serving after receiving our Holiday Box December 2008:

"I was overwhelmed with happiness when I received this box to know that there are wonderful people out there who appreciate the sacrifice, the hard work and dedication we a military service members put in serving this great nation in the quest for freedom...freedom which is not free! Nothing boosts a soldier’s moral more than receiving mail, and my moral was definitely lifted. Thanks for your kindness..."

We also want to let you know that the majority of referrals we now receive are from soldiers themselves who ask for a package to be sent to a friend in need. This shows us that we are reaching our heroes overseas in a big way.

Our Next packing is scheduled for January 27th at 6:45 ( PM )at the Brentwood American Legion Hall 198 1st Street, Brentwood New York . We ask that our Volunteers be at least 16 years of age to pack. This is for the safety and wellbeing of all of our crew.

We will also need help on Monday morning January 26th at 10am at the Brentwood American Legion hall to unpack our truck and prepare for the packing.

On Sunday January 25th we will be loading our truck at 10am in the basement of the CVS at 1944 Deer Park Avenue in Deer Park 11729.

Please call 631-332-2867 for further details.

Alyse Spinner

Jacob's Light Foundation-Secretary/Treasurer