Support Our Soldiers

Welcome to this web page, which is devoted exclusively to supporting our men and women of the Armed Forces who are stationed overseas.

Our SOS — Support Our Soldiers program has three elements, each supported by your donations and fund raising events:

Second Annual “Salute To The Veterans” Concert, November 23, 2008

The PFC. FRED HECHT POST #425 of the JEWISH WAR VETERANS and the TOWN OF RAMAPO will be co-hosting the widely acclaimed U.S. Military Academy Band from West Point who will entertain at our free annual JWV “SALUTE TO THE VETERANS” Concert. The festivities will be held on Sunday, November 23, 2008 at 2:00 P.M. at the 1212 seat Suffern High School auditorium on Viola Road, Suffern, N.Y. Prior to the concert, Band members and hospitalized veterans will again be guests of the Outback Steakhouse for lunch.

Since we anticipate many requests to attend this fabulous performance, free admission will be by advance ticket only, with a limit of two tickets per request. Tickets will be available September 21st, and may be obtained from the Ramapo Town hall Supervisor’s office. Distribution preference will be to our hospitalized veterans from the Hudson Valley (FDR) Hospital in Montrose, N.Y., members of the Military, and veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces. Approximately 550 free tickets will also be available for the public.

Fifth Annual “SUPPORT THE TROOPS” Concert, May 25, 2008

The Fifth Annual JWV "SUPPORT THE TROOPS" Concert was held on Sunday afternoon, May 25th to raise additional funds to ship more GI Travel Kits to our soldiers. These Kits, which contain 17 personal toilet articles and a deck of playing cards, are given to the soldiers the day before they are deployed from their embarkation point. They have proven to be a very popular and most desirable gift.

Once again, the Town of Ramapo, with Supervisor Christopher P. St Lawrence and the Town Council, partnered with our Rockland-Orange District of the Jewish War Veterans to co-host this "SALUTE TO OUR ARMED FORCES". More details are listed on the flyers below.

[Salute to our Armed Forces Concert]

[Salute to our Armed Forces Concert]

This fifth concert was helped financially by the Rockland Community College Theater, the Key Bank, and our annual benevolent sponsors, namely: the TD Bank North, Orange and Rockland Utilities, The Provident Bank, and the Rockland County Legislature.

Summary Report, July 31, 2008

The Rockland-Orange District of the Jewish War Veterans, and the six Veteran Posts within the District, can be very proud of their accomplishments to carry out programs to “SUPPORT OUR TROOPS.” In February, 2002 we inaugurated our District program by making our first shipment of Gift-Pak Cartons to the 812th Military Police, whose home base is at the Military Reserve Center located in Orangeburg, NY.

Due to our very successful methods in implementing and shipping Gift-Pak Cartons to our troops overseas, in August, 2006 we added a  special program to provide IDF Convenience Kits to assist the Israel Defense Forces  who are our allies in fighting terrorists, with a separate fund raising drive that did not conflict with our “SUPPORT OUR TROOPS” Program. In addition, every year we raise separate funds for a Special KOSHER FOR PASSOVER PROGRAM to supply our chaplains, lay leaders, and individual troops with KP cartons for the holidays.

With our GI Travel Kit, we are able to supply many more men and women of our Armed Forces, regardless of their race, color, creed or religion, and let them know that The Jewish War Veterans and other supporters of the troops are thinking of them, and supplying them with some needed items that they can use.

Listed below is a summary of items shipped from February 2002 through July 31, 2008:

6327 GIFT-PAK CARTONS (VALUED AT $50 EACH) TO OUR TROOPS
4882 GI TRAVEL KITS
  330 GI HYGIENE KITS (NEW ITEM) FOR “WOUNDED WARRIORS”

Included in the above was a total of 1596 GI TRAVEL KITS that were shipped to Ft. Bragg, NC and Ft. Riley, KS for the Easter Holiday to New York’s Famous Fighting 69th Infantry. The troops, who are part of New York’s 27th Brigade, received the kits on the day before they were again deployed, this time to Afghanistan. In March of 2008, we received from the Starbucks Coffee Denver region a donation of over 2000 one-pound bags of coffee. JWV shipped it to Ft. Bragg, NC, which the 82nd Airborne Division gratefully took with them when they were redeployed overseas.

Also, on July 14, 2008, 660 more GI TRAVEL KITS were given by our District to Ft. Dix, NJ and at the same time 330 GI HYGIENE KITS were given to Ft. Dix by the Pfc. Frederick Hecht Post #425, the largest JWV Post in the R/O District and the largest Post in NY State.

The financial help that we received from the Town of Ramapo, The Rockland County Legislature, officials of various municipal and state entities, the business and financial communities, and most important from our residents in Rockland have made our programs very successful.

Concert and Memorial Service, 3 June 2007

[concert flyer] After a short Memorial Service on June 3rd at the Lafayette Theater, an enthusiastic audience of over 650 persons enjoyed listening to “Our Salute To The Armed Forces” concert featuring Joe Battaglia’s N.Y. Big Band. This was the fourth annual concert presented jointly by the R/O District of the Jewish War Veterans and the Town of Ramapo to “SUPPORT OUR TROOPS.”

This effort was helped financially by the Lafayette Theater, the Provident Bank, TD North Bank, Orange and Rockland Utilities, Union State Bank and the Rockland County Legislature and ticket sales. All funds raised by JWV were directed entirely to our outstanding Gift-Pak program. A free luncheon was hosted by Outback Steakhouse for our hopitalized veterans who also were our guests at the concert.

Certificates of Appreciation

Certificate of Appreciation

We are very proud of the Certificate of Appreciation presented to us by the Multi-National Corps Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Bill Farber
Rockland-Orange District Chairman
845-357-2990

Rockland-Orange District Council
JEWISH WAR VETERANS of the U.S.A.
PO Box 38
New City, NY 10956-2914