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Introduction Every year The Patriot Woodworker's adopt a Wounded Warrior or Gold Star family for Christmas. We do this through a great veterans support organization named Operation Ward 57. The Patriot Woodworker's submit an application to Ward 57 to be accepted to receive our family for Christmas, and each year we are chosen to participate. And each year, our sponsors donate wonderful items for us to raffle for this cause. We use 100 percent of the raffle proceeds to purchase gifts for the kids, and a Christmas dinner for the family and to fund related project expenses such as shipping fees for gifts. Our Mission We need your help to accumulate funds for our Wounded Warrior adopted family, who has given much to our nation in physical and emotional sacrifice and much more in family sacrifice. The Wounded Warrior Family This year we are proud to be supporting the Bassett Family from Las Vegas, Nevada. They include Wounded Warrior, Mr. James Bassett and his wife Mrs. Michelle Bassett, and their two boys Dalen (15 yrs) and Aiden (14 yrs). (Bassett family, image a couple years old) Mr. Basett and his boys Wounded Warrior James Bassett James went to Basic Training and AIT at Fort Jackson in South Carolina. He was stationed at Ft. Sill in Oklahoma and attached to multiple units under the 214th Fires Brigade. His combat deployments during Operation Enduring Freedom were to UAE & Kuwait while he was in Unit 114. His unit was the first live HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) ever fired in the UAE. James has many injuries, too many to list here by Mrs. Bassett's account. He has a Traumatic Brain Injury which has affected his impulse control and he has little to no short term memory capabilities. He is haunted by PTSD (mostly survivors guilt and hyper alert behaviors), and James suffers from Avascular Necrosis in his right leg (dead bones) and the family is currently putting off an ATK (above the knee) amputation for as long as possible. He wears braces from mid thigh to calf as well as ankle and foot braces on both legs. He has Plural Scarring on both lungs due to the fine metals he was breathing while "In Country" for 9 months. Army Service Basic Training and AIT - Fort Jackson, South Carolina Permanent Duty - Fort Sill, Oklahoma Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) Combat Deployments - United Arab Emirates, Kuwait Medals - Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, National Defense Service Medal The Wounded Warrior Mom and Wife Michelle Bassett, the hard working mother of two boys and the wife and best friend, and caregiver of her Wounded Warrior husband James is one busy lady! I have been in contact with Mrs. Bassett and I found out the sacrifices and volunteerism spirit is alive and well after her husband James' service and sacrafice to our nation. This family is still giving freely of their time to our country. Michelle is a highly active member and Fellow of the Elizabeth Dole Foundation. I'd like to submit some excerpts of my discussions I've had with Mrs. Bassett. The Elizabeth Dole Foundation brings awareness to the community on the everyday life and struggles of our Military and Veteran Caregivers. Every state has a "Fellow" our job is to advocate and fight for the rights our Veterans and Caregivers deserve. I am the State of Nevada Fellow. Every year all the Fellows head to Washington DC for a week. We then "Storm the Hill" and have private meetings with our House Representatives and Senators and talk to them about what we need done. I helped pass two bills that were signed into law by President Trump. The first bill was the Family Caregivers Act. and Last year I focused on something near and dear to me which was our Vietnam Era Veterans. I am proud to say because of our Fellows hard work we were able to get enough Co-Sponsors and the VA Mission Act was signed into law by President Trump this year. This bill is the one that expands the Caregiver Stipend currently available to "Post 9/11" caregivers to include "Pre 9/11". It is starting with the Vietnam era since these are the Veterans that are sadly needing full time caregivers. It allows a family member or appointed person to get paid to take care of the Veteran in their home. This way they can spend their last few years at home and not in a state run care facility where they aren't cared for well. also With the Elizabeth Dole Foundation we have a campaign called Hidden Heroes (Tom Hanks is our spokesman) and I was personally able to get a day named Hidden Heroes Day in the city of Henderson Nevada. I also volunteer with Operation Homefront and I am the Hearts of Valor leader for Southern Nevada. Family Snapshot by Michelle Bassett James and I met online through a Cancer support community. He is a Leukemia survivor and I am a 2 time breast cancer survivor. Right after we started communicating he joined the military. James is a 40 year old Army Veteran who served a combat deployment that forever changed our lives. He is an amazingly strong man who battles mental and physical disabilities daily but still gives 100% for his family. He loves his car and tinkering around with it is cathartic for him. He loves food and is a total meat and potato guy. Watching NASCAR and going to the gym are 2 of his favorite ways to relax. Dalen will be 15 years old and definitely marches to his own drum. He is a self proclaimed nerd and proud of it. He joined a Dungeons & Dragons club at school and has been enjoying that. He wants to design video games and loves computer graphics as he gets older. He has great taste in music (Johnny Cash, Jimmy Buffet, Billy Joel and lots of 80s) so I feel I'm doing something right! Aiden will be 14 years old in about a month and is the typical "cool kid". He loves all typical teen boys stuff. He has recently started showing an interest in photography and has been taking pics on an old cell phone of mine. He is a jokester but such a sweet kid and loves volunteering with James & I. Links of Interest Michelle and James Hidden Heros Page Injured Service Members and Their Families Participate In Family Fun for a Day (story with James and Michelle) Prior Years Projects Adopt a Wounded Warrior Family for the Holidays 2015 Adopt a Wounded Warrior Family for the Holidays 2016 Adopt a Gold Star Family for the Holidays 2017 Rules Sorry, only Residents of the US and Canada may participate All are welcome to participate, members, forum hosts, admins and non-members. (John Morris (Founder) and family may not participate) Please allow 1 to 3 weeks for delivery of prizes, most of the time prizes are sent out immediately You may purchase as many raffle tickets as you like Raffle ends 4pm Eastern time, January 1st. 4 names will be randomly drawn by Raffle River, and prizes will be awarded in the order of names drawn, starting with Laguna Certificate, then the Full Size Easy Wood Tools, then the Rikon Slow Speed Grinder, then the Woodriver Spindle Sander. You may also enter by mailing check or money order made out to The Patriot Woodworker and send too: The Patriot Woodworker - 977 Sussex Rd, San Jacinto, CA. 92583 You may also request one free entry by submitting your request through regular postal mail, please use address above. Click on the ticket to enter! This year, the items our sponsors have donated can be seen in the image below, these are some great prizes folks! The tickets are only 2 dollars with multiple ticket bargains, and your odds of winning are very high given our typical turnout. To view the ticket prices, and to purchase your tickets please click on the Raffle Ticket above! A full accountability of the proceeds will be reported on at the end of the raffle so you know your hard earned money was used for our Adopted Family. Please be advised, the Laguna Certificate is also good at their new store, Supermax Tools. In addition, there are many items you can purchase directly with the 500 dollar certificate such as Laguna Bandsaw Accessories for most bandsaws, please see Band Saw Accessories. Their Drift Master Fence System is pretty nice from what I hear. In Closing Ok Patriot Woodworker's, it's time to muster and it's time to show everyone what we are all about! The purpose our woodworking community was created is for this reason, to help those who have served us, and paid the price. Remember this is not charity, this is not a hand out, this is payback! Thank you sponsors! We also need to thank our sponsors Woodcraft Supply, Laguna Tools, and Easy Wood Tools for their generous support and for donating those wonderful items for the raffle! For without them, we would not have a community, nor would we be able to perform the work we do. Thank you guys!

Introduction Every year The Patriot Woodworker's adopt a wounded warriors family for Christmas. We do this through a great veterans support organization named Operation Ward 57. The Patriot Woodworker's apply to Ward 57 to be accepted to receive our family for Christmas, and each year we are chosen to participate. And each year, our sponsors donate wonderful items for us to raffle for this cause. We use 100 percent of the raffle proceeds to purchase gifts for the kids, and a Christmas dinner for the family. Our Mission We need your help to accumulate funds for our Gold Star adopted family, who has given much to our nation in physical and emotional sacrifice and much more in family sacrifice. All proceeds from this raffle will be used to purchase gifts for Camilla, Charlie, and mom Nicole and to provide a Christmas dinner for the family. The Gold Star Family This year we are proud to be supporting the Merlo Family from San Marcos, California. They include Mrs. Merlo (widow of Spc 4 Ivan Merlo), and her son Charlie at 4 years old, and Camilla at 7 years of age. The Merlo's in Service Young Mr. and Mrs. Merlo. History Spc 4. Ivan E. Merlo of San Marcos, California graduated from San Marcos High School in 2006. He joined the Army that October and arrived at Fort Campbell four months later. He was due to return home within two weeks after finishing a yearlong deployment in Iraq. He was supposed to serve as the best man at the wedding of his best friend and brother in combat, Pfc. Phillip J. Pannier. But Merlo and Pannier both died while waging an Army offensive targeting insurgents north of Baghdad. Just before being deployed, Ivan married his long time girlfriend, Nicole. His awards and decorations include the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and Army Service Ribbon, Weapons Qualification, M4, Expert. Ivan died in Samarra, Iraq of wounds sustained during combat operations at age 19. Army Service 2nd Battalion 327th Infantry Regiment 1st Brigade Combat Team 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Fort Campbell, Kentucky Gold Star Family History The term Gold Star family is a modern reference that comes from the Service Flag. These flags/banners were first flown by families during World War I. The flag included a blue star for every immediate family member serving in the armed forces of the United States, during any period of war or hostilities in which the armed forces of the United States were engaged. If that loved one died, the blue star was replaced by a gold star. This allowed members of the community to know the price that the family had paid in the cause of freedom. Read more... Our prior years projects Operation Ward 57Adopt a Wounded WarriorFamily for the Holidays - 2015 Operation Ward 57Adopt a Wounded WarriorFamily for the Holidays - 2016 Click on the Raffle Ticket and support our adopted family! Tickets only $2 each with multi ticket discounts! Rules Sorry, only Residents of the US and Canada may participate All are welcome to participate, members, forum hosts, admins and non-members. (John Morris (Founder) and family may not participate) Please allow 1 to 3 weeks for delivery of prizes, most of the time prizes are sent out immediately You may purchase as many raffle tickets as you like Raffle ends midnight December 16th 2017, names will be drawn one second after midnight 4 names will be randomly drawn by Raffle River, and prizes will be awarded in the order of names drawn, starting with Laguna Certificate, then the Rikon Slow Speed Grinder, then the Woodriver Spindle Sander, then the Full Size Easy Wood Tools. You may also enter by mailing check or money order made out to The Patriot Woodworker and send too: The Patriot Woodworker - 977 Sussex Rd, San Jacinto, CA. 92583 You may also request one free entry by submitting your request through regular postal mail, please use address above. This year, the items our sponsors have donated can be seen in the image below, these are some great prizes folks! The tickets are only 2 dollars with multiple ticket bargains, and your odds of winning are very high given our typical turnout. To view the ticket prices, and to purchase your tickets please click on the Raffle Ticket above! A full accountability of the proceeds will be reported on at the end of the raffle so you know your hard earned money was used for our Adopted Family. You may win one of the following prizes! 4 Winners will be randomly drawn by Raffle River In Closing Ok Patriot Woodworker's, it's time to muster and it's time to show everyone what we are all about! The purpose our woodworking community was created is for this reason, to help those who have served us, and paid the price. Remember this is not charity, this is not a hand out, this is payback! Thank you sponsors! We also need to thank our sponsors Woodcraft Supply, Laguna Tools, and Easy Wood Tools for their generous support and for donating those wonderful items for the raffle! For without them, we would not have a community, nor would we be able to perform the work we do. Thank you guys!

With the holiday season coming up.... thought it would be a good time to start making some gifts.... This was a plan in that magazine that use to have a forum... I do a little bit each day and hopefully they'll be ready to go on time. Lets see your gift work....!!!

Please congratulate the following winners for our Adopt a Family for Christmas Project Raffle! We are proud to announce the following! Carl D Zimmerman II Laguna Store Credit $500.00 value Donna Jackson Easy Wood Tools Mid-Size Trio of Tools $360.00 value Brian McCorry Rikon 9" Slow Speed Grinder $140.00 value Kelly Churchill Rikon 6" Buffer $100.00 value Thank you all for your participation, we'll follow up with the Family Christmas details in another topic, including how your raffle funds were used for this family, and we will notify our supporters who donated these awesome prizes, and the awards should be shipped out very soon! Thank you all for a very successful raffle project, for a very deserving family! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction Every year The Patriot Woodworker's adopt a wounded warriors family for Christmas. We do this through a great veterans support organization named Operation Ward 57. The Patriot Woodworker's apply to Ward 57 to be accepted to receive our family for Christmas, and each year we are chosen to participate. And each year, our sponsors donate wonderful items for us to raffle for this cause. We use 100 percent of the raffle proceeds to purchase gifts for the kids, and a Christmas dinner for the family. CLICK HERE to view last years project. Click on the Raffle Ticket and support our adopted family! This year, the items our sponsors have donated can be seen in the image below, these are some great prizes folks! The tickets are only 2 dollars with multiple ticket bargains, and your odds of winning are very high given our typical turnout. To view the ticket prices, and to purchase your tickets please click on the Raffle Ticket above! A full accountability of the proceeds will be reported on at the end of the raffle so you know your hard earned money was used to help make our family's Christmas a wonderful time for a very deserving family. Rules Sorry, only Residents of the US and Canada may participate All are welcome to participate, members, forum hosts, admins (accept for yours truly nor my family members) and non-members Please allow 1 to 3 weeks for delivery of prizes, most of the time prizes are sent out immediately You may purchase as many raffle tickets as you like Raffle ends midnight December 19th 2016, names will be drawn one second after midnight 4 names will be randomly drawn by Raffle River, and prizes will be awarded in the order of names drawn, starting with Laguna, then the Rikon Buffer, then the Rikon Grinder, then the EWT Turning set of tools. You may also enter by mailing check or money order made out to The Patriot Woodworker and send too: The Patriot Woodworker - 977 Sussex Rd, San Jacinto, CA. 92583 You may win one of the following prizes! 4 Winners will be randomly drawn by Raffle River Mission We need your help to accumulate funds for this family who has given much to our nation in physical and emotional sacrifice and much more in family sacrifice. All proceeds from this raffle will be used to purchase gifts for Xavier, Alexander and little Amelia and to provide a Christmas dinner for the family. The Family This year we are proud to be supporting the Akin Family from Grass Valley, California. They include Mr. Akin our wounded warrior, Mrs. Akin, his spouse, and Xavier, their 5 year old son, Alexander, their younger 2 year old son, and little Amelia, their new 2 month old baby girl. The Akin Family Below History Mr. Akin was deployed to Afghanistan in 2012, he was riding in the gunner seat of a JERRV (Joint Engineering Rapid Response Vehicle) in a convoy, and the vehicle was hit by an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) almost directly under where he was sitting. His team leader was wounded in his head resulting in a Terminal Brain Injury, but Mr. Akin sustained the brunt of the explosion force and shrapnel. Joint Engineering Rapid Response Vehicle Mr. Akin spent his time recovering at a hospital in Fort Lewis, Washington, from a broken left femur, resulting in rod and screws being placed down his entire femur. His right foot and ankle were shattered, followed by a year and a half that included 5 surgeries, plates and screws, then eventually resulting in a below the knee amputation. He also fractured his tail bone, and received a head wound resulting an a Terminal Brain Injury. In Closing Ok Patriot Woodworker's, it's time to muster and it's time to show everyone what we are all about! The purpose our woodworking community was created is for this reason, to help those who have served us, and paid the price. We also need to thank our sponsors Woodcraft Supply, Laguna Tools, and Easy Wood Tools for their generous support! For without them, we would not have a community, nor would we be able to perform the work we do. Thank you guys!

Homes For Our Troops have some wonderful Home For the Holidays events coming up. They have made sure that some of our veterans are in their new homes before Christmas, and there are still several key ceremonies coming up and possibly at a location near you. Here are the troops who are having key ceremonies before Christmas: Cpl Michael Fox McLendon-Chisholm, TX SSG Jason Gibson Marysville, OH Sgt Bradley Walker Dandridge, TN If your in the area please drop on by and show your support, all are welcome! To see a typical Key Ceremony click on Thank you Homes For Our Troops for all you do for our disabled veterans!