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Issue #16, APRIL 2008 Issue Date: April 7th, 2008 Total Active Subscribers: 50 From: Tom Ruley, Founder and President, NROTC Dear Readers, This newsletter is viewed by the general public entering from our website and is emailed directly to our subscribers. If you haven't subscribed yet, please do so. As a subscriber, from time to time you will be informed on our charitable activity. Its easy, just look for the sign up area on the left margin of page one of our website. Since our last newsletter in November, 2007, NROTC has evolved considerably and we have some exciting news to report. Those of you who have been reading our newsletters for a while know that we have been struggling a little bit in regards to our fundraising efforts. In mid December '07 I met a local fellow, Don Winchester, who coincidentally has been working in fundraising for the last twelve years, exclusively on the telephone. I invited him to my house to make some outgoing calls for NROTC to see if he could teach me anything. Well he picked up the phone and started getting donations immediately. Some nice sized ones also. Now I realize that not everyone likes getting those phone calls but for nonprofits, telemarketing is perhaps a necessary evil and can be a useful fundraising tool. I must say that I was very impressed with his skills. The biggest thing I learned from him was that in the past, when we were attempting telemarketing, we were spending way too much time on the phone with each prospect trying to explain everything about NROTC and the Service Banner before asking for a donation. Now thanks to Don's expertise, we keep the phone call very short, with just two or three lines about what we do, and politely ask for a donation. When they say okay, we just mail out a simple Pledge Letter with a return envelope and most donors send us a check. Don Winchester has come aboard with us full time and I have given him authority to hire other "work at home" telemarketers, nationally. We already have a few other people calling for us and things are looking up. Welcome Aboard Don! But Wait... There's More... I also want to welcome Charles Tramazzo to our team! Charlie came aboard with NROTC late in February. With over 20 years of marketing, communications and fundraising experience - the last 16 years have been almost exclusively in fundraising and non-profit marketing communications - his areas of expertise include: the formation of marketing and fundraising strategy, case development, corporate partnership programs, direct marketing, specialized stakeholder programs, and a broad spectrum of special events. Patriots Rally'08, the very latest project of the NROTC, is the product of Charlie's vision for a special event that would be a dramatic statement honoring those who currently serve in the United States Armed Forces, answering the call of their nation. Charlie has assumed the role as Director of the Inaugural Patriots Rally taking place on the grounds of the Washington Monument in Washington DC on Armed Forces Day, May 17, 2008. You will find details of this event here: http://www.patriotsrally.org/ Charlie is a graduate of the University of Maryland and served in the US Air Force and Air Force National Guard. He resides in Clarksburg, Maryland with his wife, Sharon. They are the proud parents of two grown children -- a daughter who is a nurse and a son who is a 2nd Lt. in the US Army currently on educational delay attending law school. Charlie serves on the Boards of two Maryland non-profits as well as being involved in a number of other professional and community service organizations. Also... It is my extreme pleasure to announce and introduce NROTC's CEO and National Spokesperson, Michael J. Silva. Michael J. Silva has just joined our team and is a leader with extensive business executive experience. His background includes key positions in both corporate and government organizations. His previous positions include Comptroller, Vice President of Finance, President of an entrepreneurial venture, and Commanding General of a Brigade of Engineers in Iraq. His experience includes extensive background in Finance, Engineering, and Business Development. Brigadier General Silva began his military career in 1978 upon graduation from West Point. During his military career in the Army Reserve, he has held operations, training, senior staff, and command positions in various assignments to include deployments to Afghanistan and Qatar as the CJTF-180 LNO to CENTCOM. He also served a tour in the Pentagon in the Iraq Interagency Support group resolving issues between the Department of Defense and the Department of State as our nation stood down the Coalition Provisional Authority and established an embassy in Iraq. Brigadier General Silva was an inaugural recipient of the General Douglas MacArthur Leadership Award in 1988, presented by Mrs. Jean MacArthur and General Vuono. His engineer company won the coveted LTG Itschner award for 1988 with the award presented by LTG Itschner and MG Schroeder at Fort Leonard Wood in 1989. Mr. Silva has extensive Board experience on other nonprofit and civic organizations including three (3) years as National Treasurer for the Reserve Officers Association. Michael J. Silva has two Masters Degrees, one in Business Administration (MBA) and one in Strategic Studies. His military education includes the Army War College, Command and General Staff College; Engineer and Field Artillery Officer Advanced Courses; Field Artillery Officer Basic Course; and the Department of Defense Comptroller Course. His military awards include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leafs, Joint Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal with five oak leafs and the Army Achievement Medal. He was awarded the Combat Action Badge during his deployment last year in Iraq. Brigadier General Silva is a Senior Parachutist and Ranger qualified. Welcome Aboard General! NROTC's Vice President, Tom Conlan, who has been with me and NROTC from the beginning, before we even had our 501(c)(3) has recently retired from his construction business and has come aboard full time with NROTC. Tom is playing an integral role also in our newly formed team as we forge a new NROTC and revitalize our efforts to accomplish our mission. There can be no doubt that NROTC is accomplishing a very worthwhile goal if only in a small way, (so far to date), as compared to the tremendous overall need. If any of you reading have any doubt at all, please read: Comments We Receive NROTC has set a goal of seeing that ONE family member of every trooper serving or trooper who died or was KIA during this current conflagration, receives either a "Blue Star" or "Gold Star" Service Banner! The U.S. Department of Defense states that there are over 1,300,000 military service members on active duty today. DoD also states that, as is planned, 200,000 more military troops will rotate into the battle each year, to replace the military troops who rotate out. This means that over the next five years, the number of troops committed will easily exceed 2 million. Providing a Service Banner to every military family is a big job! We are now appealing to corporate America to contribute to this effort! With the addition of our super qualified corporate officers and staff I believe that NROTC is positioned for great things perhaps even beyond our Service Banner Program and Purple Heart Fund! As our regular subscribers are aware, this newsletter is also our medium for documenting the good work that we do. Since our last newsletter on November 6th, 2007... On December 10th, 2007 we mailed out: 22 Single Star Blue Star Service Banners
On January 15th, 2008 we mailed out: 9 Single Star Blue Star Service Banners
On February 22nd, 2008 we mailed out: 13 Single Star Blue Star Service Banners On April 7th, 2008 we mailed out: 31 Single Star Blue Star Service Banners
As of April 7th, 2008 it has been NROTC's honor to provide free of charge, 593 Blue Star Service Banners and 29 Gold Star Service Banners. A sincere thank you goes out to all NROTC donors. Please remember our troops and their families and try to do something,... anything... to honor their service and sacrifice. We pray that all of our active duty troops will return home safely to their families and friends at the end of their patriotic tours of duty and that their deployment is not too difficult on their loved ones. We remember our 29,314 who have been wounded so far. Of them, 12,942 could not return to duty. Many have sustained permanent debilitating injuries. We pray for them and we pray for their families and caregivers. One day soon we hope to do even more to help them through the NROTC Purple Heart Fund. Finally, let us pledge never to forget the 4,012 (at this writing), who have died in service to our country so far during this Global War on Terrorism. May these fallen heroes rest in heavenly eternal peace. We hope that the surviving loved ones may have some comfort in knowing that Americans everywhere grieve with them as they offer their honor, support and prayers. Thank you for reading. That is all. Yours in freedom,
Tom Ruley
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The National Remember Our Troops Campaign, Inc. 111 North Stuart Street Baltimore, Maryland 21221 http://www.nrotc.org
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