Offer Memorials and Condolences for Fort Hood Victims

Friday, flags flew at half-mast around the United States, and public school principals asked students to take a moment of silence to remember all the victims of the November 5, 2009, Fort Hood shooting.  Media around the world also focused upon the horrific nature of the event. Sunday, November 8, at 5 p. m. CST, two memorial services will take place in Killeen, Texas, at the Killeen Civic Center and the First Baptist Church of Killeen, where Texas Governor Rick Perry will speak.  Tuesday, US President Barack Obama will speak at a memorial service at Fort Hood.  Even so, Americans as well as all those who cherish freedom and peace whatever their nationality may wish to take a pro-active response in remembering these troops and their families.

Two Fort Hood based charities are funneling memorial funds to help the families:

—Chaplain’s Fund Office, Building 44, 761st Tank Battalion Avenue, Fort Hood, Texas, 76544-5000; checks should be made payable to “CTOF” (Chapel’s Tithe’s and Offerings Fund), with a memo noting, “Nov. 5, Tragedy”).

—Fisher House, Building 36025, Fisher Lane, Fort Hood, Texas, 76544

Additionally, the following charities can be accessed over the Web:

—The American Red Cross: http://www.redcross.org 

—United Service Organization (USO): http://www.uso.org

—Catholic Charities of Central Texas: http://www.cctx.org

Fort Hood, the largest American military base in the world, is situated outside of Killeen, Texas, off Interstate 35, halfway between Austin and Waco, Texas.  Killeen’s entire reason for being is the housing and support of the US Army.  Killeen and its neighboring communities of Harker Heights, Copperas Cove, and Gatesville, which are surrounded by sparsely populated ranch land, grew exponentially after World War II’s Camp Hood morphed into approximately its present-day size as Fort Hood during the Vietnam War era.  The Killeen-Temple-Fort Hood metropolitan area in 2008 had the estimated population of 378,935 while approximately 100,000 people lived in Killeen.  Most of the families living in Killeen and the surrounding Central Texas area are either families of active or retired military personnel. 

Image via Wikipedia

Blue Star Families’ “Operation Appreciation” is also beginning a campaign whereby individuals may offer their sympathies by enclosing post-cards in a larger envelope, which, incidentally, makes a great activity for school children.  Those wishing to offer personal condolences should write a post card specifying whether its recipient should be a 1) parent of a soldier, 2) husband or wife of a soldier, 3) a child of a soldier, or 4) a veteran.  Mail these cards in an unsealed envelope to the following address: Blue Star Families, P. O. Box 1906, Chesapeake, VA 23327.  Make sure to specify “Fort Hood” on the envelope. For more detail contact http://www.bluestarfamilies.org     

If you hear of other charities that are helping console the troops at Fort Hood and their families, please add their names to this (at present) very short list. Other equally fine groups are probably collecting for these families, but a quick web search couldn’t verify their validity over the Internet. 

By the way, my alter-ego is a former Killeen Daily Herald reporter as well as a former instructor of freshman composition at Killeen’s Central Texas College.

P. S. (November 15, 2009)  Today, one of the letters to the editor in The Waco Tribune Herald mentioned one more charity that is helping the victims of the Fort Hood tragedy–Celebration  of Love, which is planning an event at Fort Hood on December 5, 2009, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. Celebration of Love’s headquarters are located at 15630 Vision Drive, Pflugerville, Texas, 78660.  For more information, go to http://www.celebrationoflove.org