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Good news! Because of the kindness and willingness to help our soldiers and veterans, the Dare County Veterans Advisory Council has collected at total of 87 used cell phones and three used tablets thus far to donate to the cellphonesforsoldiers.com campaign. Yippee!

If you read Gig Line often, you’ve probably read several times that our local Veterans Council has been setting boxes out and around our communities for a means of collection for everybody’s used, cracked or broken cell phones and tablets, whereby we send them to the cellphonesforsoldiers.com group in Alpharetta, Georgia. Once there, they are recycled or refurbished and provided to soldiers and veterans who need one. Thanks to the diligent efforts of Patty O’Sullivan in placing the boxes, checking their contents and retrieving the deposited devices, we are happy to report a healthy response. Not long ago, we were planning to take the boxes up through the summer and set them back out in the fall, but when we realized folks were still dropping them in, we decided to leave them in place after all.

Currently the locations in which to drop them off are at the Dare County Administrative Building – Manteo (where you go to vote, but at this particular location, collection boxes will resume again in September); Virginia S. Tillett Community Center – Manteo (formerly known as the Dare County Center in the same complex as the administrative building); the Thomas A. Baum Senior Center – Kill Devil Hills  (located behind the Kill Devil Hills Post Office); the Fessenden Center – Buxton (on the right as you come into the village heading south, 46830 NC 12 Hwy); Outer Banks Family YMCA – Nags Head (3000 S. Croatan Hwy.) and the Dare County Parks & Recreation North Beach Youth Center – Kill Devil Hills (602 Mustian St.).

I would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere gratitude on behalf of the Dare County Veterans Advisory Council members to everyone who has chosen to drop their phones and tablets off at these locations rather than toss them out assuming they are unusable to anyone. Just because the cell phones and tablets are broken, they CAN be of use to our heroes. If you would like to review the website of the celebrated non-profit group which recycles them and for recommendations to secure and protect your personal information before you donate the device, please search: cellphonesforsoldiers.com and look under “Keep Your Personal Information Safe” or have a phone tech you trust wipe all of your contacts and data off of it before depositing it in the designated box.

Attention: Dare County/Outer Banks business owners! If you are a veteran and you own a local business, we would like to hear from you as we’re compiling a list of veteran-owned businesses. If you have not signed up as yet to offer a discount on your goods and services to veterans who can produce their designated Dare County Veteran Discount Card or acceptable proof that they honorably served our nation, please think about it. You (not us) designate the discount you wish to offer our veterans to express your appreciation as a fellow veteran. Businesses typically discount from 10-15-20% but it is at your discretion and anything you might wish to do in this regard is a wonderful thing. If you would like to be recognized as a veteran owned business or sign up to offer a veteran discount, please call me at 252-202-2058 or Patty O’Sullivan (our Veteran Service Officer) at 252-475-5604. In the meantime, thank you for YOUR service and for your consideration in these matters.

There are so many good things that give us all a chance to acknowledge our veterans! Have you heard about Luke’s Wings? According to their website, it is a group that “…provides emergency travel planning services and airplane tickets for the families and loved ones of wounded, ill and injured service members, veterans and fallen officers during hospital recovery and rehabilitation.”  They go on to explain that in 2008, understanding limited flights are available to bring family members to the side of a service member, they found ways to bridge the gap.

Their story and the important things they have done for families to lift the spirits of a hero who is sick, hurt, etc. is interesting and inspirational. If you have the chance, please read their information, testimonies and numerous ways to help at www.lukeswings.org. You can donate monies toward flight expenses, donate SkyMiles or you can donate your valuable time with fundraising, communications, at events and public relations, just to name a few ideas. I cannot attest to personally having served or even donated to their goals at this point in time, however, I might in the future. I just wanted to make sure you all knew about the organization in the event you would like to check them out!

Remember in a previous issue of The Coastland Times – Gig Line when I wrote about how my one true love Billy, a U.S. Army Vietnam Veteran who passed due to Agent Orange in 2016, used to always pick for me a beautiful red rose from our yard, remove the thorns and bring it into me along with a sweet kiss? It’s strange, but since he passed, I don’t remember seeing another single red rose on that bush since . . . hmmmm.

Until next time, be healthy, be safe and be happy because you make me happy and no doubt everyone around you! You are probably either a veteran reading this or one of us who dearly love you – a veteran we treasure. I sure know that I do. Take care, hug the ones you love, forgive the ones who have hurt you and just appreciate yourself and the only one of YOU there is! God bless you and your family and until next time, stay tuned!

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