Dian Chapman is a Technical Consultant & Microsoft MVP who joined the Patriot Guard Riders in early 2007. In May, 2008, she became a member of Soldiers' Angels (http://www.soldiersangels.org), first serving on their sewing and crochet teams...making blankets for deployed soldiers and wounded vets.
She also soon became an Approved Angel who currently has three adopted, deployed soldiers (see the My Soldiers link for updates on who's now home and who is newly added to her active adoptions). Dian hopes to adopt a deployed K-9 Team, once her Soldiers' Angels duties qualify her for this larger task. Dian & Greg Chapman were previously involved with Military Mascots. Read a story Dian wrote about Greg's adventure getting a soldiers dog home: Honey, I'm Home!
Dian is also a supporter of the campaign to build the Military Working Dog Teams National Monument. With Congressional legislation approving authority to build the monument to the brave K9 teams who protect us and save so many lives, now all they need is our help and donations! Please see this page for more info: Military Dog Monument
In 2009, Dian was honored with this Soldiers' Angel award (pictured at the left) by Patti Patton Bader, founder of Soldiers' Angels and grand niece of General George S. Patton! It is engraved: 'Dian Chapman. For Going Above and Beyond The Call of Angels In supporting Our Military Personnel. 2009.'
Writing letters to her adopted soldiers was so rewarding that in 2010, Dian joined the Soldiers' Angels' Letter Writing Team. She now regularly writes to at least nine soldiers a week...more when those to whom she writes write back. Learn more about how to get involved writing soldiers at this Letter Writing link. Soon after, she discovered another great way to show affection for what our military does for us...by sending them a cup of coffee through the Green Bean Cup of Joe program. Quick and easy to pay for a soldier's coffee while he's in a war zone! See the Cup of Joe link for details, links and a fun soldier video.
Please DO visit the Soldiers' Angels main web site and GET INVOLVED! Forwarding patriotic and prayer emails is nice, but really show them you support them by actually DOING SOMETHING tangible! It can take very little effort and/or money on your part, but the heartfelt rewards you'll get from our soldiers are more than you can imagine!
Feel free to email Dian directly...she'll be happy to tell you about more ways you can get involved with helping our brave men, woman AND canine soldiers and vets!
Contact dian@mousetrax.com
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As a Patriot Guard Rider, Dian makes time when she's able (she's also primary caretaker for her mom who's 90 and suffered a stroke in 2006, so opportunities to be away are limited) to join in honoring returning and fallen soldiers and vets as a way to thank them for our Freedom. Below are links to photo stories to some of the PGR missions in which she's been involved.
Escorting and Honoring PFC Francheska Velez, Chicago, November, 2009 (Ft. Hood Shooting)
Gold Star Mother's Day Memorial Ceremony, 9/27/09
Honoring PFC Matthew Michael Martinek, 9/25/09
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March, 2010
Wow...suddenly many of my adopted soldiers are coming home! A few weeks ago I had four adopted soldiers...now just one. Sgt Chester is on US soil...at a base waiting to finalize his time and head home to his family. Just got the word that Captain Mike is now heading home and released from my care. And with the return of the blanket I sent to Spc Christopher, Soldiers' Angels have verified that his unit is also returning. That leaves Sgt John for now.
I'm currently debating on whether I should fully adopt more soldiers or use my efforts to help support the many soldiers requesting care packages through the Letter Writing Team? I write them letters, but feel bad that I can't afford to send them things they request, because I had so many other soldiers. So maybe I'll send a lot of smaller care packages versus adopting one? Tough decision!
I wanted to adopt a K9 team by now, but it appears Soldiers' Angels no longer runs a K9 support department!?!?! I'd love to find a team to support. I'll have to check with some of my K9 Vet friends to see if they know how I can do this?
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January, 2010
Still making blankets for soldiers as time permits. Also heard from Sgt Chester that he'll be heading home, soon, so I adopted a new soldier. Just wrote my first letter of intro to Sgt John, so I haven't heard anything from him yet. I may not ever, but I hope so.
I also applied to the Soldiers' Angels' Letter Writing Team (LWT) in December and, after a month on probabtion, writing several soldiers, I was approved and moved to the official team. Each week I go to the Approved Angel site and pick up three new names of soldiers who could use a letter from home...and I write them. See my LWT page for more info and a link to join the team.
Anther great way to say thanks to a soldier is to send him/her a cup of coffee...a Cup of Joe for a Joe. See my link HERE for more info and to learn how quickly you can end a $2 cup of coffee to a deployed soldier!
I got a bunch of this great canvas fabric donated to me by a woman who purchased these used, patriotic canvas table cloths. I wasn't sure what to do with it all because it is a bit too heavy for blankets. Then I got an email from a soldier at a base who received one of my fleece/cotton blankets that I'd sent to a soldier who had already gone home. He asked my permission to keep it so he could hang it in their dining hall for all the soldiers to enjoy. I said SURE! I was thrilled with that outcome!
That gave me the idea of using this fabric as banners. Over the last couple weeks, I've been asking friends on Facebook and through email to send me photos of themselves enjoying their freedoms and saying THANK YOU to our troops. I plan to transfer the photos to fabric and sew them on this fabric to make Thank You banners. I'll then send them to our bases in Iraq and Afghanistan so the troops can see the faces of some Americans who want to thank them for what they do for us.
To see the photos I received (deadline for photos Dec 7, 2009), you can check them out on my assembly page here and soon I hope to have photos of a finished banner.
http://www.mousetrax.com/angels/thankyou.html
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Now, a week later, I've just finished a mini afghan for my adopted soldier's son, who is the twin of the daughter of Capt Mike who will be receiving the pink/purple blanket shown further below. This one may not look as fancy, but the guys love the camo yarn and this little boy wants to be like daddy, so I'm sure he'll enjoy the camo blanket.
Both will be shipped to his wife this week so she can surprise the kids with it and enjoy snuggling on the couch for their weekly Friday movie night.
Just before Thanksgiving, I finished a mini afghan for one of my adopted soldier's little daughter. Capt Mike has adorable twins...a boy and a girl. So with his wife's permission, I'm making them each a blanket From Daddy's Angel to help keep them warm as they sit on the sofa with mommy and watch movies this winter.
Their little girl loves pinks and purples (could only find violet yarn). I added ruffles on three sides since mommy told me their little girl is quite the girly girl. Their son will be getting a camo afghan so he can be like daddy! Ahhh! I'll be starting that one as soon as the camo yarn arrives.
This month I shipped off a bunch of scarves to Hines VA hospital as a little something that the staff can give to soldiers who are in need of a little extra warmth this winter. Scarves are quick to make and make good use of left over yarn. If you're interested in helping, email me at dian@mousetrax.com
Scarves should be about 5 inches wide and 4 feet long.
November started out sadly when we heard of the horrific shooting at Ft. Hood. Thirteen of our soldiers were killed when a fellow soldier when on a shooting rampage! Two of those soldiers where from Illinois and one was from my neighborhood...PFC Francheska Velez. As a member of the Patriot Guard, I helped bring her home to her family. See the sad story here: PGR_ChekaVelez
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October, 2009
The Lost Art of Letter Writing
Today I located one of the few, remaining Hallmark stores in the city, on the hunt for some new stationery to write my soldiers. I had been using some pretty dolphin note cards, but ran out. I had visions of finding a nice box of stationery to help me get in the writing mood each week as I update my soldiers on events in the homeland.
Sadly, I discovered that my fond memories of aisles of wonderful stationery from which to choose...are no longer valid. I purchased a small amount of fairly plain letter notes w/envelopes to hold me over until I can find something suitable online...or I may just have to wing it and design/print my own.
As I told the helpful Hallmark woman who gave me the bad news...I feel partly responsible for this paperless/electronic world due to being involved in programming computers for the last 18+ years. So I guess this is pay back!<smile> However, this last year I've relearned the art and value of a written letter as I wrote several letters a week, one to each of my adopted soldiers. And as one of my soldiers recently wrote in a quick email from the war zone...you can clearly see that handwritten letters to a lonely soldier is a gift they really appreciate!
"Everyone has a purpose to do on this earth. I think one of your purpose on this earth is to touch people's heart in a very special way. I would never thought I would received a handwritten letter and this lengthy, esp. when everyone had already put their pencil down and turn to e-mailing. Not to mention time. So, special that you took time to write. I will try to treasure this letter to be part of my special collections and I will pass on to my next generations. Thank you for writing!"
Get involved! Adopt a soldier of your own and reloate the lost art of letter writing! Or join the Letter Writing Team of Soldiers Angels and write notes to lonely soldiers without an adoption. You can do as much or as little as you want...JUST DO IT!
******
In preparation for the cold Chicago winter, Dian has been making use of extra yarn bits by making quick winter scarves, which she will soon deliver to Hines Veterans' Hospital in the Chicagoland area as giveaways to vets who need a little extra warmth this winter.
Dian prepares to pack up her October care pack shipment to her three adopted soldiers. Sometimes she sends packs directly from the Soldiers' Angels site...like the birthday pack she sent to Captain Mike recently. But sometimes she purchases items herself and ships them off in US Mail Priority boxes. Once price for each (plus a discount for APO [Army Post Office] addresses)...so LOAD them up!
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2009 Update!
From Feb, 2009 until Oct, 2009...much of my work was done with the local group I started. See PPSA for more info/pictures of those efforts. We disbanded the group in October, 2009, due to limited resources and participation. But Dian will continue her Soldiers' Angels work on her own, as before, if not more!
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September, 2009
Six crocheted lapghans (smaller afghans to accommodate wounded vets who may be in wheel chairs) ready so far, with a few more in the works. Dian will be taking these lapghans to Hines VA Hospital in Chicagoland in November (for Veteran's Day). Big thanks to friends who helped produce these lapghans. (See PPSA)
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August, 2009
Care packages sent to three adopted soldiers, Capt Mike, Staff Sgt Eddie and Specialist John. Sgt Kelly (my first adopted soldier) and his unit returned from the Sandbox and are heading home...mission accomplished. Thanks to the new post office's Priority flat rate boxes and the $2 Military mailing discount on priority mail, I'm able to JAM these boxes with about $100 worth of items I know the guys want/need...and ship each nearly 15 lb box off for just $11.95 each.
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July, 2009
During July, Dian managed to knock out one more full lapghan. Thanks to invisible thread, I was able to quickly sew all 50 stars on my lapghan in a couple of hours by machine using free-style darning. I'd done this before, but the white theads on the reverse blue was unsightly. So I'd been taking time sewing the stars on by hand. Thanks to invisible thread, I can use machines again. Although using invisible thread can be a challenge in itself, since it's like fishing line and tends to unwind from the spool on its own. My stand-up thread holder helped solve that problem.
If you'd like to learn how to make the stars, click HERE to jump to where you'll find a link to view an online video where I demonstrate the process.
One more to add to the pile that I'll soon bring to Hines VA Hospital.
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June, 2009
I discover that I've received a very cool honor...the main Soldiers' Angels web site kicks off its 2009 Holiday Blankets of Belief campaign and in each of their many different brochures, fliers and web pages announcing the campaign, they are using images of MY blankets! Yup, each photo they are using (after they asked my permission to use them, which I happily granted them full rights to use) are pictures from my site of the blankets I made during the 2008 campaign! How cool!
To learn more and help make these blankets, see Soldiers' Angels Blanket of Belief page.
PLEASE get involved! Click HERE for live links to the blanket info above.
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February, 2009
I read in the Soldier's Angel newsletter that veterans making their way to VA hospitals could use winter scarves to keep them warm. That's easy...so I've been working on making some in the evenings when it's time to relax. Scarves are fast and easy to make and help you make good use of all those extra bits of yarn you have left over. Get busy! Vets, as well as lots of folks in shelters, could use your gifts to keep them warm this winter!
A nice thank you letter from the VA at Hines VA hospital...in appreciation for the scarves.
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January, 2009
I learned about the Soldiers' Angel crochet team late in the year, but did manage to complete two crocheted blankets for vets in the VA hospitals. US Flags are the most requested type of crocheted lap blankets, so I figured out how to make what the vets wanted most.
I printed out a clear US Flag image from the web to use as a reference. A little math helped me figure out the width for each row (approx 3" each) and length (125 cast ons using all half-doubles) so I could meet the required dimensions. Then it was off to the races. Once I hit the blue, it was a little tricky keeping both the row color and blue yarns from getting tangled as I moved from color to color in each row, but it worked out nicely...as long as our cat wasn't around!<smile>
The stars were the hardest and most time consuming part. I tried many ideas, but finally settled on individually crocheting 50 small stars per flag, then using my sewing machine with the embroidery foot to zig-zag the stars onto the blue field with free-hand sewing. They turned out okay, but I may just purchase pre-cut white stars in the future and sew them...or I may work to master crocheting them directly onto the blue?
But as you can see, the finished lap blanket turned out pretty nice. I decided to add a 3-sided, gold crochet border of triple stitch to represent the gold fringe on military flags. I finished the left edge with my signature white satin binding. At first I'd planned to also stitch my Thank You lettering onto the white satin, but then realized...Hey! You don't put writing on a US Flag! So I passed on that idea.
And since they were flags...my 10 years as a Girl Scout kicked in and I wrestled the yarn blankets into properly folded flag formats, tied them with ribbon, added the required crochet team tag and shipped them off.
And as you can see...they seemed to have passed their initial inspection...
From: VA Crochet and Craft Team [mailto:va.crochet.craftteam@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, November 17, 2008 6:16 PM
To: dian@mousetrax.com
Subject: Re: Soldiers Angels VA Team Holiday Lap Blanket DriveHi Dian,
Thank you for completing your US Flag afghans. They are gorgeous!! I really liked the idea of the satin binding on the side. I have not seen that one, and it really ties it all together. We can feel for you trying to fold up the yarn blankets, rolling them nicely is a chore itself. Fleece blankets roll nicely, but not afghans. :)
Yes, you may crochet these at your leisure and donate to the VAs. Just let us know if you can when you have some completed so we can let you know if some different VAs are needing blankets etc. We greatly appreciate your help this year. Thank you for your generous gifts. May your family have a blessed Thanksgiving.
Shelley Folkerts
Deb Delcorio
Soldiers Angels
VA Crochet Craft Team Coordinators
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December, 2008
Well, I managed to get two sewn blankets more out before the updated December deadline. I didn't make my self-imposed 20 blankets that I was hoping to make when I first joined the sewing team in May, 2008...but I did manage to make and send out a total of 12 blankets for our soldiers for this holiday. And, of course, I'll continue, as time permits, to make more for our wounded soldiers.
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November, 2008
I'm EXTREMELY proud and humbled to tell you that Soldiers' Angels contacted me and asked permission to feature my blankets on their web site!
Subject: Blankets of Belief
Comments: Your designs are gorgeous! Would it be possible to have your permission to post some of the pictures of your blankets BOB's on our main www.soldiersangels.org site? Let me know.
Caren Vink
Soldiers' Angels
Vice President
Hi Dian,
Thank you for allowing Soldiers' Angels to post and share your wonderful blanket creations. I sew too..and I am mesmerized by all the colors and the way you put your blankets together. Many soldier's will be so delighted to receive one of your warm and cozy blankets.Warmly,
Caren Vink
Soldiers' Angels
Vice PresidentHere's a couple screen shots from Soldiers' Angels web site showing several of my blankets (top couple rows), as well as a close up showing one of the explanations.
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October, 2008
I recently checked out the Soldier's Angels blanket page and found a photo update of just some of the blankets they've received at the NC holding site. And check it out...I can see two of my blankets in the pile!
Look closely in the red circle and you'll see my blankets (as shown further below on this page) # 2 and # 3 in the stack! How Cool!
Need inspiration to get rolling making your own blankets for the soldiers?
Check out this BEAUTIFUL cartoon from LawnDartComics.com dedicated to Soldiers' Angels and their blanket campaign!
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May - October 2008
As time permitted during 2008, I've been making Blankets of Hope to send to wounded soldiers and Blankets of Belief to send to deployed soldiers who will be away from home for the 2008 holidays. More recently, I started making Blankets of Gratitude, in my case, I make crochet US Flag lap blankets, which are much requested by wounded vets in VA hospitals.
Below are just SOME of the blankets I've made for our soldiers. Further below you can find some details about how I make these simple, but pretty and much appreciated blankets.
Blanket # 8
Blanket # 7
Blanket # 6
Blanket # 5
Blanket # 4
Blanket # 3
Blanket # 2
Blanket # 1
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Help Dian Help More Soldiers and Veterans
If you would like to make a donation to support my efforts to help me purchase more fabric and yarn to allow me to make more blankets for our soldiers, you can do so, securely, online through PayPal by clicking the Donation button below:
THANK YOU very much for your Support!
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To Dian's main tech web site.