Dog Tags for Kids

Military parents have always been able to write home, but what else could they send to show their kids how much they are loved and missed? A story appeared about one dad who wanted to send something home, and all that was available was some band aids and sun screen. Many might think that was silly, but to those kids, it meant the world. After all, it was from Dad!

In an effort to find something that the troops could easily use to send home, Rose Sliepka from First Place Awards in California realized that kids would love to recieve something from their parents, and what better than a Dog Tag of their own to proudly wear. Small and easy to mail, a grassroots effort began to ship them to those in harm's way as a means of support and thanks. It soon grew extremely popular with the moms and dads not to mention the kids at home becoming one of the greatest gifts one could give.

With the help of Kids Charities of the Antelope Valley, the non-profit status enabled the group to persue public donations and expand the program. With just a handful of volunteers, there have now been over 712,450 tags as of March 2012 shipped overseas to be returned home to the children. The impact has been phenomenal, and the troops have expressed their appreciation and gratitude for the people back home supporting them.

Dog Tags for Kids has no paid staff, so there are absolutely no administrative fees taken out of contributions and the entire group works tirelessly as volunteers. It has been a labor of love with satisfaction beaming every time another letter comes in from the troops.

Despite the public's generosity, economic times have taken it's toll on the incoming contributions. There are currently many requests from our troops pending for tags that need to be sent. In order to do that, our military needs your help and support.

If you are in a position to help, please visit our web site, .DogTagsForkids.com where you can learn more about this wonderful project. You can also make a donation directly from this site below, or you can download this Donation Form and mail it with your contribution.

Have an old car, truck or boat you've been wanting to get rid of? You can always donate your vehicle to help!

You will feel good knowing you have supported our military, and put some smiles on the faces of the kids left behind.

We're also pleased to have been selected by and available for support through the Squidoo list of charities. For the consideration and support, we thank the entire Squidoo staff!

I'm extremely pleased, and most honored to have this designated as "Lens Of The day" on September 15th, 2008. I'm grateful for the heartwarming response and support from the entire community. Thank you to one and all!

Fox News ran a story about the project that aired on Fox Stations all across the country. If you missed it, you can still view the video on this segment from the morning show Fox and Friends

I'm pleased to say that our program was officially recognized by George J. Lisicki, the Commander-in-Chief of the VFW. We're proud and thrilled to have their support as indicated in this letter that we received extolling our efforts. Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to all of our Vets and members of the VFW.

The Jefferson Awards is a prestigious organization designed to recognize and honor those individuals that provide excellence in community service through their contibutions and achievements. We're extremely proud to announce that the awards were recently presented in Washington D.C, and Rose Sliepka was indeed honored for her outstanding work with the Dog Tags for Kids program.

(Photo used with the permission of the Jefferson Awards organization).

All image and video copyrights as well as all intellectual property and trademarks are retained by their respective owners, and used with permission.