Operation Welcome Home 4-6pm Thursday

Submitted from Glenn :)

UPDATE – NEW TIME FOR TOMORROW…As sometimes happens, the time of tomorrow’s flight has been moved back by a couple hours. We are now looking at an arrival between 4:00-6:00 pm. Please arrive no later than 3:30 pm. The volunteer leaders for tomorrow’s flight are Bob and Arlise Cianelli, so please let them know if you will be attending just in case the flight time moves again. Let them know the best number to call you on. Also, if you have not already purchased a food/bottled water donation for tomorrow, don't worry about it. We have enough supplies for tomorrow, b ut will take items if you already purchas ed something that you planned on bringing. We don't want to turn away donations, but we also don't want you to make a trip to the store when we are already covered for tomorrow. Thanks again!

NEXT EVENT…Wednesday, December 5th with arrival by troops in the early afternoon – time to be disclosed closer to day of event

FREE TICKETS THIS WEEKEND...We have been given 20 free tickets to the Ft. Meade Officers' Wives Annual Tour of Homes this Sunday. Tours of about 12 officers homes decorated for Christmas occur between 3:00-7:00 pm. Normally, tickets are $10 each, but the Officers' Wives Club is so grateful for the work of Operation Welcome Home that they have given us these free tickets. They learned about us in the news. We still have some tickets left. If you can attend, please let John Flynn know by responding to this e-mail. Let him know how many tickets you need. Tickets are first-come, first-serve. For those interested, there is also a Craft Fair occurring from 10:00am-5:00pm at the same location. Thanks for all you do to support our troops!


OPERATION WELCOME HOME (MARYLAND)

Date: Thursday, November 29th

Time: Report by 3:30pm (troops are scheduled to arrive between 4:00-6:00pm – times are always subject to change) - Please let us know if you plan to attend so we can make you aware of any other updates on the time; please provide Bob and Arlise Cianelli with your cell phone number (or land line) as they will use the old-fashioned phone tree should there be any changes. Their contact information is below.

Parking: You have three options: (1) park in the hourly parking lot (cost is free for first ½ hour and $2 every ½ hour after that); (2) park in a private lot
($6.85 for daily parking with coupon at http://www.econoparkexpress.com/ or $6.90 for daily parking at http://www.airportfastpark.com/main/baltimore.aspx)
or (3) perhaps the easiest way is to drop off your guests at the airport (if you are carpooling) and park at the free parking lot for the light rail and ride it
to the airport - it drops you off right at the international terminal where our event is ($3.20 roundtrip or $1.10 roundtrip for seniors – more info and light
rail schedule at http://www.mtamaryland.com/services/lightrail/schedule/lightrail.pdf). If there are any developments on free parking, we wi ll let you know.

Gate: Come to BWI - International Flights/Lower Level at Customs

What to Bring: Wear something patriotic and feel free to bring handmade
signs welcoming our troops home and thanking them for their service. Please also keep bringing those thank you cards from children. Do not worry about bringing any food/bottled water donations for the goodie bags tomorrow.&a mp;n bsp; We have plenty of supplies for the bags. If you have already purchased items for the goodie bags, feel free to bring them. If you have not yet gotten anything, do not worry about it. We have a good supply on hand for the troops for tomorrow.

Call Bob and Arlise Cianelli: Feel free to e-mail Bob and Arlise at bobcianelli@comcast.net or if you are coming at the last minute, call them on their cell phone at (410) 299-0886. Again, please let them know if you intend to go and provide them with your cell phone number (or land line). They will be sure
to keep you looped in on any updates, but they cannot do that if they don't know you're coming.

Sincerely,

John Flynn and Kathy Thorp
Co-Chairs