NASHVILLE, TN. (Top40 Charts/ Baccerstick Records) - Country recording star Jason Meadows is on a mission�a HUGSS (Helping Unite Gold Star Survivors) mission�to help support the families of fallen service men and women. He's teaming with the Oklahoma Chapter of the FFA (Future Farmers of America) to launch a fundraising campaign to benefit HUGSS. Meadows and Baccerstick Records have helped to create a fundraising competition among his local home state chapters of the FFA in hopes that the competition will raise funds and awareness for HUGSS and then spread to other state chapters across the country.
Members of the Oklahoma chapter that raises the most money for HUGSS will be featured singing with Meadows on 'FFA,' a song written and recorded by Meadows and an obvious candidate for becoming the FFA's national anthem. The song will then be made available through a variety of digital service providers including iTunes, with a portion of the proceeds going to HUGSS. To give the song a listen, visit www.jasonmeadows.com and look for the 'click' option to hear the song on his homepage.
'I was a very active member of the FFA growing up,' says Meadows. 'My ag [agriculture] teacher was one of my strongest mentors and greatest influences. He was responsible for my participation in the FFA. He and that organization helped shape my life and my values including a sense of community, consideration, and compassion. This fundraising contest is a way for kids to help kids.'
There are no limits to the type of fundraisers that chapters can host. 'That means, washing cars, mowing lawns, plowing fields, selling sausage, hauling hay, or whatever the creative minds of the FFA's members dream up,' adds Meadows. 'This is about making a difference in the lives of these military families and having some fun doing it.' According to statistics, there have been more than 4,000 fathers, mothers, sons and daughters that have lost their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq. As a result, more than 2,000 children have been left without a parent.
'The song is really cool! I'm sure our FFA members are going to love it,' says Kent Boggs, State FFA Executive Secretary. 'Jason was a model FFA member and we're very proud of him. Helping him raise funds for this important cause is something we're very pleased to be a part of. We'll expect to culminate the fund drive at our 82nd state FFA convention, April 29-30, 2008.'
HUGSS provides extended care for Gold Star families beyond what the care teams and casualty assistance officers can offer, including acting as the Gold Star family's voice when needed, and offering special resources, support groups, and programs for adults, teens and children, among other services.
The term 'Gold Star Family' originated with a woman, Grace Darling Seibold, who lost her son, a pilot, during World War I. While her son was away at war, and as a service to the community, she visited returning servicemen and veterans in local hospitals. When her son's personal effects were delivered to her doorstep marked 'Effects of Deceased Officer, First Lieutenant George Vaughn Seibold, Attached to the 148th Squadron, BRFC.", there was no information regarding the events and details that led to that dark moment. She clung to the hope that her son had simply been injured and possibly returned to the United States without any identification.
It tooks months of inquiring before the family received official notice of her son's death and the circumstances surrounding it, and his body was never recovered. Working through her sorrow, she not only enhanced the lives of many servicemen by continuing her work in the hospitals, but recognized that self-contained grief is self-destructive. She devoted her time and energy to extending the hand of friendship to other mothers whose sons had lost their lives in military service in addition to her other hospital work. She organized a group consisting solely of these special mothers, with the purpose comforting each other, but also giving loving care to hospitalized veterans confined in government hospitals far from home. The organization was named after the gold star that families hung in their windows in honor of the deceased veteran.
The Gold Star Support Center was established at the Ft. Hood, Texas military base to create programs to address the needs of all families who suffer the loss of a soldier. Email: [email protected]
HUGSS - Phone No 254-288-6728 or 254-288-1668. For additional information, visit the Goldstarfamilysupport.org website.
