TO MAIL STARS:
We are accepting names and addresses of our armed forces, so they can receive their Stars. 100 Stars are sent to all currently serving. Veterans will receive 50 Stars to share. Add a message to your soldier. Include your name and address and we will send you 2 Stars and a copy of the card sent.
TO GET INVOLVED
AS A GROUP:
We do not supply Stars for organization at this time. Organizations sending packages overseas, please consider adding Stars to the packages. We will send you the instructions for your own group to make them.
TO BECOME A:
Want to participate by creating Stars in your neighborhood so you will be able to share the love of our country with those serving and those that served? Have a Star Party!!
This is a project for all ages. Let us know and we will e-mail the instructions. A Star Maker STARter Kit is also available, consisting of a packet of 10 Stars, 2 cantons and the pouches that the Stars go into with the note, all for a donation of $11.
Stars For Our Troops
Welcomes you to find out more about how You
and We can show support to those
that have Served and those that Are Serving.
We are a group of volunteers that are continuing what was started by a group of ladies in Florida called the Star Project about 2005. See "Star Project Begins"
Old tattered and faded US Flags are retired from service and we pass the legacy of their embroidered Stars to those that defended them.
We are cutting the fields of blue, known as the canton, from these old flags, then scissor off the embroidered stars.
Into a plastic bag go a star and an explanation:
"I am part of our American flag that has flown over the U.S.A. I can no longer fly. The sun and winds have caused me to become tattered and torn.
Please carry me as
a reminder that
You are not forgotten."
Flags should be approximately 5 feet by 3 feet, so that the embroidered stars are about the size of half-dollars or smaller than a business card.
Collectors of flags in the Albany, NY area include: Gettysburg Flag Works, East Greenbush; Saratoga Flag, Gansevoort; your local Kiwanis Club or to Advanced Hearing Aid Centers, Colonie. Remnants of flags will be properly retired as noted in Flag Etiquette.
Susan E Wells
518-235-1558
518-235-1558PO Box 301
Troy, NY 12182-0301 Stars4ourTroops@aol.com
Stars4ourTroops@aol.com
"White Star"
Listen to what a Veteran felt when he entered into a discussion about Stars for our Troops.
Thank you Bill Notro.
He wrote this song BEFORE he received his Star.
This page was last updated: January 18, 2015
Stars for our Troops is only funded by YOUR donations.
There are no corporate sponsors. Volunteers cut the cantons from the useable flags, wash the cantons, cut and pouch the Stars, but supplies and postage are purchased.
100% of donations are used to continue this great project.
Thank you for your encouragement and donation.
Your USA made old, retired flags with EMBROIDERED Stars no larger than a business card are needed today to continue this project. Please do not send printed flags or large Flags or Flags not made in the USA.
Please mail flags to:
Susan/Stars for our Troops
G F W
715 Columbia Turnpike
East Greenbush, NY 12061
Receive 2 Stars for your flag(s) donation.
Casket Flags or any large flag should be donated to your local national cemetery. They will acknowledge receipt of the flag and it will be used to honor our fallen heroes.
THANK YOU,
THANK YOU!!
The response to the 2013 Memorial Day article by Reuters has been beyond expectation. Please read and share.
Susan
Thank You - count as of 5/24/13 was 2753 hits.
In 2013 Gettysburg Flag Works received 3807 flags for the program. Of those flags 2305 were of a usable size which works out to 61% of the flags.
With the usable flags we were then able to make 115,250 pouched stars to thank that many soldiers or veterans!
THANK YOU ALL THAT ARE SERVING
AND THOSE THAT SERVED!!
Why we are doing Stars for our Troops!!
Read the message from Veteran Diana on the left column.
Look at this News Video:
THANK YOU!!
Susan
Star Distribution 2014
The NYS Capital District Star Makers have made and distributed over 116,000 Stars
from 2320 flags as of
December 31, 2014.
Thank you for this wonderful Project
Hello, my name is Diana. I had served in The United States Army for a little over eight years. I am a very proud veteran and what my company did for its veterans this year was so heartwarming.
This Veterans Day, my employer in West Virginia, came to each veteran that works here and personally shook each veterans hand and thanked us for our service and sacrifices. They had also given us an envelope. Inside the envelope was a thank you note that was signed by the department heads. It simply states, hand written mind you also, "Thank you for your service, sacrifice and patriotism." Inside this thank you note also was a flag lapel pin and Your Star! Even though this was the smallest of gestures, it made me feel so much pride, patriotism and gratitude with the time that these department heads took out of their day to seek out and honor each veteran that works at the plant on all three shifts. Also this display for gratitude and thankfulness, made me cry.
After they walked away, I went back to the card and took a second look at the card, the pin and the wonderful star that was in the note. I then at that time flipped the star over to see what the message said. As I read each word, I could feel once again the tears filling up my eyes, I was fully crying when I reached the words, "You are not forgotten."
Holding that star in my hand knowing that this came from one of our flags that had flown in the USA, there are no words that can honestly described what was swelling in my heart.
I am honored to hold this star true to my heart because I also had known what Old Glory has sacrificed herself. She has flown over the USA but there were others that have flown over every military installation both on the home front and abroad. She has flown in every type of weather that Mother Nature has thrown at her. Her colors have stood fast, never bleeding or running. She is a true veteran as well. I am truly honored to have received this star and will forever be humbled and grateful to carry on a great part of one of our flags. Thank you doesn't seem to be enough, but I truly do not know what else to say. Thank You from the bottom of this veteran’s heart, and I thank God for all of these volunteers that have made this so special for this Veteran!
I thank you for my star and for the wonderful program that you all are doing. Thank You and God Speed!
November 2014
The other day, 32 packages of flags were sent to Stars for our Troops.
There were a total of 258 flags.
108 of them are usable for this project.
150 were not usable. They were printed, Star bigger than 2 inch, not USA made, flags too large or casket flag.
58% of the items received must be bagged up and disposed of before I can work on the flags that are usable.
It took 4 hours to log each package, count and separate the number of flags, usable and unusable.
Yes, we are all volunteers.
We appreciate your donation of flags.
This is why we do the STARS!!
