If you want your writing to make a difference in people’s lives…

Most writers dream of touching hearts and making a difference in people’s lives with our words.

Often we think to accomplish this we have to write and publish a great book that’s read by millions.

But I’ve recently met a woman who touches nearly 90 hearts a week and makes a difference in the lives of people who are making great sacrifices for others.

Linda Cano is a Soldiers’ Angel. According to the Web site, “Soldiers’ Angels are dedicated to ensuring that our military know they are loved and supported during and after their deployment into harm’s way.” Angels write letters and send care packages to deployed soldiers, and they write, visit, and encouraged wounded soldiers.

When Linda heard about Soldiers’ Angels, she decided to adopt a soldier and committed to writing one letter a week and sending one care package a month to her adopted soldier. Soon her adopted soldier asked her to adopt his buddy, which she did. Though she didn’t think she could afford to adopt any more soldiers, she recognized the great need and volunteered to write more letters. Soon she reached the point that she couldn’t write individual letters to each soldier, so she started sending a newsletter. Currently she has nearly 90 soldiers who eagerly look forward to her weekly newsletters.

She shares stories of her family, daily events in her life, and lots of encouragement for the troops. Linda said, “These men and women are risking their lives for us every day; the least we can do is support and encourage them.”

If you are looking for an altruistic project, you couldn’t find a better cause than Soldiers’ Angels.

But Linda also says she gets more benefits from writing to soldiers than she gives. These brave young men and women are consistently motivated, upbeat, and positive. Her life has been enriched by the responses she gets to her letters.

If you’re a writer who wants to make a difference, weekly letters can make a difference to deployed soldiers. Linda’s letters have touched the soldiers who read them so much that they are encouraging her to compile her words into a book.

Linda and I met through my friend Fr. Jerry Sherbourne, who is the chaplain of ”Linda’s soldiers.” He shared with me how much Linda’s letters mean to the soldiers and suggested we talk about Linda’s potential book.

After talking to Linda, reading some of her newsletters, and hearing how passionate she is about supporting our soldiers, I hope she does write the book!

[tags]troop support, writing[/tags]