Benefiting Our Community

...Twenty Years and Growing

Last year marked the twentieth anniversary of the Sarasota Military Officers Foundation, Inc., honored to be serving our community of over 88,000 Veterans and 40,000 Sarasota County school students. Our Foundation is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, established by the Military Officers Association of Sarasota to support community outreach programs throughout the greater Sarasota & Manatee region. We are an all-volunteer Veteran’s organization and, as such, are very frugal with our donors’ contributions. Other than regulatory fees, postage and printing costs, your donations are used to support our programs. We focus our efforts in six areas:

Awarding educational and vocational merit-based scholarships to qualified, high-achieving high school seniors;
Providing Veteran educational financial aid to returning Veterans to attend local educational institutions;
Sponsoring the American Flag Initiative, a 10-lesson curriculum to educate our elementary school children on the origin, history and meaning of the American Flag.
Supporting the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) programs and the maintenance of their training facilities;
Sending care packages to deployed troops under the Support Our Troops Program (SOT)
Sponsoring patriotic, educational and inspirational public events for our community and Veterans.

We do a variety of efforts to help our troops overseas, help Veterans, and provide scholarships. I have posted a few of our efforts:

Scholarships

17 Years of Its “Support Our Troups”

Military Officers Association of Sarasota Has Completed 17 Years of Its “Support Our Troups” Program

January 13, 2020 by Press Release

Southwest FL – At the end of 2019, the Sarasota Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America has distributed approximately 34,000 postal boxes with instructions to the public. The distribution of these boxes is done during events such the Veterans Day parade when 1,200 boxes were handed out.

These boxes are expected to be mailed to Service members serving under harsh conditions and in harms-way and to units in austere environments. This effort was initiated by the Military Officers Association of Sarasota and began in 2003. “MOAS” relies on community support to provide the depth necessary to make the program successful. MOAS has a website that provides all the information an individual, clubs, schools, etc. to send support to this program. The site is www.sarasotamoaa.com/support-us

Complete instructions are included with each box and a list of suggested care package Items to place in the box can be found on the website. Emphasis is on personal items and Servicemember support items. Keep a list and cost of items purchased for the Customs Form.

MOAS will frequently receive thank you notes from the Troops receiving the packages.

The Trooper’s Task Force of Six Shooters recently sent a thank you note. The text of this note follows:

“On behalf of Trooper’s of Task Force Six Shooters, we would like to extend our sincere appreciation for the care packages that you have provided. It was exceptionally thoughtful and very welcomed. Our entire team were very grateful for the opportunity to enjoy the comfort items that you provided. The Commander, LTC Matthew Wolfe, and Command Sergeant Major, CSM William Wisecup, took great pleasure in handing out the packages and enjoying the smiles that it brought to our Soldiers faces. Your gesture in supporting our deployed troops is truly appreciated. Wish you all the best during the holiday season, please know that you are making a difference.

Sincerely,

The Troopers of Task Force Six Shooters

Guns up, Scouts Out!”

Attached is the photograph they sent with their thank you.

Providing boxes for our Citizens to send care packages to our Troops in Afghanistan

Riverview Cadets Assisting MOAS Veterans Day 2019

SGM Mitchell,

Thank you for allowing Riverview JROTC Cadets Brad Deczynski, Maria Ledesma, Noah Johnson and Mia Rodriguez to assist MOAS Members in distributing 875 Support Our Troops (SOT) boxes to the American public lining the Sarasota Veterans Day Parade route.

The boxes are for people to send care packages to our troops in Afghanistan

They handled themselves in an exceptional manner and their help was greatly appreciated by all of us walking the parade route.

We could not have accomplished this without their assistance.

Sincerely,

Ronald S. Wozniak

LtCol USMCR, Retired
President, MOAS

YAHOO Co-coordinator

Thanks for joining us for the Veterans Day parade Nov 11, 2019. We met at the MOAA pick up truck on Main St near Links, 2 blocks west of Rt 301 at 930. We walked the parade route handing out boxes for people to send care packages to the troops in Afghanistan. And we set up and handed out boxes at the end of the parade route.

We distributed over 900 boxes to our neighbors for them to send care packages to the Troops in Afghanistan. A Good Time Had by All. Thanks to everyone for participating.

Support Our Troops

The Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall provided the Military Officers Association of Sarasota (MOAS) the opportunity on February 16, 2014 to hand Support Our Troops (SOT) kits to patrons. MOAS volunteers handed out 83 of the “Kits”. These Kits provide a shipping box, directions, a Custom Form and an address label for people to send a Care Package to soldiers in Afghanistan.

MOAS is presently supporting the 1st Air Combat Brigade in Kandahar, Afghanistan. These Care Packages have a tremendous positive impact on the Soldiers as articulated by Command Sergeant Major (CSM) Lunsford. He states that the Care Packages forwarded from an earlier SOT drive at the Sarasota Veteran’s Day parade were a great morale boost for the troops.

CSM Lunsford is the senior enlisted man responsible for the care and morale of a Battalion of approximately 350 soldiers. CSM Lunsford states that when Soldiers receive packages from unknown American citizens, the Soldiers realizes they are not forgotten, and that Americans honor their service and their sacrifice to keep our country safe. These efforts in partnership with the Van Wezel definitely remind our deployed forces we support them.

The efforts of MOAS and Support Our Troops is part of the Legacy of Valor Campaign currently underway and led by the Patterson Foundation. The Legacy of Valor campaign community partners honors veterans, inspires patriotism and passes freedom on to others.

supportourtroopsmoas.com

sarasotamoaa.com

vanwezel.org

thepattersonfoundation.org/blog/tag/legacy-of-valor/