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| What is Operation Open Arms? |
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 Operation Open Arms offers
local Southwest Florida businesses, associations, and
individuals an opportunity to support
our troops.
Operation Open Arms is open to
U.S. service men and women on leave specific to
the following criteria:
Active duty military on
temporary leave from a foreign duty station,
returning home to Southwest Florida with orders
to return to their foreign duty station after
their brief R&R.
Individuals or businesses may list
exactly what will be extended in return for (1) Military I.D. and (2) Official Orders directing the service member a
return to their foreign assigned post.
The leave form is an official DD form
Government document labeled DA-31. Upon presenting proof of service and
temporary leave documents, Operation Open Arms extends free or
discounted benefits through a network of supporting cast
members.
Our mission is to
provide every possible benefit through a variety
of sponsors before our service men and women
have to return to Iraq, Afghanistan, Cuba, or
other foreign duty stations.
Photo is Morgan
Wright in Afghanistan - 2006. |
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| Details |
| Operation Open Arms is a self
administering program. It is not an
entitlement program. The responsibility of
making all hotel, golf, fishing, restaurant,
and other reservations rests solely with the
individual military participant or their
immediate family. The founders of the
program work to find contributors and to
post the offers on the website - they are
not actively involved when it comes to
detailed arrangements. Contact information
is posted with each offer and military
personnel and/or their families are expected
to use that information to make their
arrangements. The only way to take advantage
of the offers is by contacting the
contributors directly. Offers by
contributors are always subject to
availability. For example, professional
fishing guides will work around their
scheduled charters as best as they can -
lodging accommodations are based on
availability at the time of the request.
Gift certificates are sometimes limited to a
fixed number each month. |
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| What area do we cover? |
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| Operation Open Arms was originally
intended for only tiny Pine Island dating back
to April/05. The program has grown to include
all of Lee County in 2005, Collier County in
2006, and hopefully Charlotte County in 2007.
OOA provides more benefits to Our Military than
any other volunteer program in the United
States. |
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| Are there limitations? |
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| Benefits are generally limited to
one of each type of contribution during your
visit. For example, a single fishing trip with
one of the captains/guides in the list. This
allows the contributors to continue providing
the service to many more visitors. |
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| What about gratuities? |
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| Tips or gratuities are encouraged
where they are customarily offered. They are not
usually included in the donation. |
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| Press Releases |
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| The continued success of this
program depends on the excellent coverage and
cooperation we have received from our local
media. In many cases there will be media
coverage of a visit and we ask that the
recipient be willing to cooperate for interviews
or appearances. |
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| Scheduling & Cancellations |
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| In many cases our contributors
have to shuffle their schedules to accommodate
trips and other benefits. Additionally, they may
have already made arrangements with the media
for interviews or stories about the visit. If
you have to change your plans, please let them
know as far ahead as possible. |
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| In some cases, a benefit, such as
a fishing trip or hotel/condo offer may not be
available due to previous bookings. Our
contributors do everything they can to
accommodate the visitors but sometimes just
can't make it happen. |
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