There’s one thing we know for sure here at Soldiers’ Angels: Letter writing is not a lost art. We have thousands of angels who send letters to deployed Service Members. Throughout the year, we field a lot of questions about this volunteer opportunity from people looking for a Pen Pal. In fact, we get several emails a week from people who want to be a “pen pal” to a Service Member. 

While we do have volunteers who write and send letters, it is not a traditional pen pal program. The letter writing opportunity we offer is typically a one-time commitment. While Service Members do sign up to receive letters, they are not required to write back. 

“Letter Writing is a one-time letter to a deployed Service Member and not a traditional pen-pal opportunity. We do not require Service Members to respond to support received, as their mission is always first. However, very often our Service Members do write back, and when they do, they can absolutely continue to communicate with the Service Member. We just ask that they write their initial one-time letter and only write again if they receive a response back from the Service Member,” explains Tracy Curran, Deployed Support Teams Program Manager.

How Letter Writing works

One of the small joys while deployed is to hear your name called at mail call. Sadly, some Service Members don’t get mail from back home. That’s why we write letters! The Letter Writing opportunity is for Service Member who are waiting for adoption through Deployed Adoptions, and to those who might need additional support. Angels who choose this opportunity are required to write a minimum of one letter per month, but can write many more during the month to additional Service Members, if they choose! 

“You can write up to three Service Members a day. While this is considered a one-time opportunity, meaning that you are only asked to write one letter to each Service Member, should you hear back from a Service Member, you can certainly write them back as long as you are writing to a new Service Member at least once a month. The extra letters you write are considered additional support.” – Susie Turner, Team Support Volunteer Manager

Deployed Adoptions

What a lot of people don’t realize, is that our Deployed Adoptions opportunity is actually more suited for building a supportive relationship with a Service Member. Through this opportunity, Angels are assigned a Service Member to support throughout their entire deployment. The requirement is to send one care package and one letter to the assigned Service Member once per month. Again, they are not required to write back, but are more likely to write back eventually as more care packages come. We’ve seen so many beautiful friendships blossom. Angels learn more about their Service Members’ likes and needs and get very good at sending amazing care packages that brighten their days.

“Soldiers’ Angels has been wonderful to my husband while he has been deployed. This is his first deployment and it is such a morale boost to get mail while he’s away from family. Our ‘volunteer angel’ has been wonderful and made sure to send things that my husband has requested or needed. We both appreciate all that they do!” – Suzanne

As you can see, our programs may not be traditional pen pal programs, but they are very rewarding and do a lot of good for those who sacrifice for us daily. Want to sign-up to become an angel? Click here to start the Angel Verification process and then choose the team you’d like to join.

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