As many of you know my son Sgt. Darryl Connor has served honorably in the US Army for the past seven years. During those seven years he has had three tours to Iraq (39 months) with the 101st Airborne. Now a member of the 2nd Stryker Calvary Regiment stationed in Vilseck, Germany, his number has been called again, this time to Afghanistan.

In an effort to support our troops, Corporate Travel Planners, Catholic Charities and local "Do Gooders" the Cinco de Guyos are trying to provide financial support to the members of Darryl's unit to help offset the costs of a trip home before their year long deployment in June. These young military families do not make enough money to just hop on a plane and come back to the states for a few weeks leave. Unlike my son’s last three deployments, this time the wives and children will be left alone in Germany for a year while their soldiers are taking care of business in Afghanistan.

Who can we help?

• The Soldier.
• Their wives or husbands and children.
• The parents and families of the soldiers and their spouses.

How can we help?

• Cash donations for travel (100% of which will go directly to the troops).
• Airline or Credit Card Points you can shift or donate.
• Logistical help or other.  We are open to suggestions, call and let us hear your ideas.

Seldom do you get to see your contribution touch so many people. For every soldier doing his or her duty, there are family members that live day to day while the deployment drags on. Parents, grandparents, brothers and sisters all experience the deployment in a different way, but a chance to see your soldier one more time before he or she deploys is priceless to these families.

Round trip airfare from Germany to the states averages about $850-$1,000 per coach ticket, depending on where you are going. So you can see if we provided even one ticket to a family of three, that might make the difference between them seeing their families before deployment or not. This is not a campaign to help every soldier in the Army. This is a focused effort to help out as many families as we can in this one unit. Sometimes the best way to support THE TROOPS is to support A TROOP.

Our friends at Corporate Travel Planners are working with us to get the best discounts and stretch the donated dollars as far as possible. Thanks Christy!

Thank you for your consideration and your support. The block Leave starts May 15th so we need to move quickly to collect funds and assist the soldiers with travel plans.

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HERE'S HOW YOU CAN HELP.

Donate by Credit Card

• Contact:
  Mary DeGroat—mdegroat@ctptravelservices.com—210-524-3321
  Kerry Phillips—Catholic Charities—210-242-3156  (tax deductible)

Donate by Check

• Checks made out to: Catholic Charities noted to Support the Troops
  Mail to:
  Catholic Charities/Support the Troops
  202 W. French Place
  San Antonio, TX 78212

If you have American Express Points you can donate or unused flight credits, 
contact Mike to coordinate with CTP.