A Rose of Thanks is:

Art,
Fun, and
A Simple, Yet powerful way to thank our troops for Defending the US and us!

After being robbed twice within 90 days at the end of 2006, I realized I was blessed to be alive and needed to do something to give back and pay it forward. While sitting in church on New Years Eve wondering how I was going to make a difference, right before communion it came to me to send a Valentines Day card and a rose to the troops in the Gulf.

As I was writing a letter to American Greeting Card Company to see if I could get them to help print the cards or at least give me some direction. I wrote the inside of the greeting card:

The message, without the words “on Valentines Day” and switching speedy with safe, the card lent itself to be sent at anytime of the year. So instead of sending it for Valentines as originally planned, I decided to send them year round to troops around the world.

 

I have created other verses for the cards including ones for:

• Joyous Holiday Season
• Wounded Veterans
• One where the signer can sign for their pets
• One that can be given to any veteran of any era and
• One that is blank on the inside that the troops can write home to friends and family
• For a Fallen hero that was brought home from Vietnam
• For First Responders that includes a design that includes all 3 locations of 9/11

We also created a business card with a peach rose on the front and a simple message,

 

“Thank you for defending the US and us!”, on the back, so that it can be given to all who have served. This is something the troops can carry with them in their wallets.

 

I am rolling this out as a fund raiser to other non profits for example: schools, band, dance and football teams. We are partnering with other non profits to create a card for them as well.

I have utilized the services of other non profits to get our cards to the troops and those include:

• A Million Thanks
• The USO
• Packages from Home
• Anysoldier.com
• …and others

Who would have thought that A Rose of Thanks which started with just one idea and one card would have touched the lives of over 50,000 people in the short time we have been doing this. It has grown to where it is today by the generosity of others who have come in contact with it. I invite each of you to take the time and thank a Soldier, Sailor, Marine or Coast guardsmen for their service to our great country! Without them we would not enjoy the freedoms we do.