(1888PressRelease)
August 16, 2007 - Two enlisted service members have created a website dedicated to supporting those who are serving our country and their families here at home.
“We started www.military-space.org because we saw a need for a website that would bring together many resources for taking care of our deployed service members and their families,” said Navy Information Systems Technician Chief(SW) Jeff Matheny, one of the website’s founders. “We lived through several deployments and saw how some people didn't get very much support from back home for whatever reason.” There are so many people here in the United States who are willing to offer support to our troops, but just don’t know where to begin.
The website features a chat room and message board forums for families to chat, trade deployment stories, and obtain advice and support from other military families around the world who feel the sting of deployment. The website also has side features like image galleries and joke forums, among other things to help family members take their minds off worrying about their service members.
“In the first sixty days since www.military-space.org came online, we have had over 300 people sign on to help support our troops and their families“, said Public Relations Director Carolyn Barnett. We have gotten several teams up an running, including a Letters of Hope Team, where members sign up to send cards and letters to our deployed members as well as their families and a Playing Cards of Hope Team, where our members write words of encouragement and thanks on playing cards, which will then be Distributed to our troops and their families. There are many other projects in the planning stages, including ways to send some encouragement to the children of our deployed. For example, sending school supplies to the children of our troops who are deployed overseas, helping to take some of the financial burden off of the families dealing with the stresses of deployment.
“We also believe that family members of deployed service members need assistance during the difficult deployments of today. We want them to feel comfortable coming here and chatting with other family members and also service members who are back from their deployments who can shed some light on what the loved ones are facing, and also have first hand knowledge of the best ways we can offer support and assistance.
“One of the things we noticed, by searching the Internet, was that there really is no central hub, so to speak, for all the different support organizations and groups of individuals to locate the needed resources for our troops and their families,” said Brian Eilers, website founder and prior service member. “It was time someone stepped up to the plate and filled that void.”
“There are literally hundreds, if not thousands of groups out there supporting our troops, and there is a 'grey area' when it comes to supporting the children, parents and other family members who are also just as important,” said Eilers. “It just felt natural to create this site that encompasses every aspect of those effected by deployments. Both Jeff and I have been close colleagues and friends since 2000, and we put our skills together and started this project as our own way of giving back to the communities that have given so much.”
Navy Information Systems Technician Chief(SW) Jeff Matheny, is himself currently in the early stages of a deployment to Qatar. To learn more about our Organization, please visit our website at http://www.military-space.org.
