My son and I spent 4 years living and working in group homes, working with at-risk teens.

Many of them like to tattoo themselves/one another.

We try to educate them to the dangers therein.

Also, many of them deal with issues ranging from PTSD (many of these kids have horror stories) to grief/loss issues. Some are in care because mom is deceased and dad is in jail, etc.

Something that our experience taught us is that when we get the kids to engage in certain activities, they usually respond well and begin moving in new positive areas.

How does tattoo art fit into this? How does this help Wounded Warriors?

We began providing kids in group homes incentives to write letters of encouragement and thanks to Wounded Warriors.

This can be very therapeutic and help the kids get out of their way of controlling environments, and help them to explore new ideas – not to mention how writing thanks and encouragement can help the kids to feel better about themselves.

We have had a number of kids in more than one group home mention how they feel good when writing to others, and have even begun writing to the family member they swore they would never forgive, etc. Sometimes we just have to get the ball rolling…..

We came up with incentives to get them to just engage and try. We use business cards from tattoo artists, motorcycle dealers, custom shops, sports teams – whatever we can get our hands on.

The kids like them because of the art/logo, and face it – they do not have as normal a life as others, and having a collectible or two helps them to have a little more “normal” environment.

The kids get to pick some when they write a letter to a warrior, or go a week without cursing the teacher, or whatever other goal is on their individual service plan.

So, we ask tattoo artists to send us some business cards to use. We can use as many as any would care to send. Some even grab some when they are at a show – this is a great way to get many at once.

Our program is beginning to expand. We have programs in the works that will involve retail stores and some tattoo shops holding “Wounded Warrior Wednesdays”. This type of promotion will entail people coming to the event, writing a letter to a warrior, and entering a drawing for prizes. These prizes range from free pizza (from restaurants I network with), some of the collectibles we have received from various teams, t-shirts – whatever.

So you see, we need artists who wish to participate to send us business cards.

You may read more (not that this didn’t take a half hour to read) at my son’s website – http://www.kidshelpnetwork.webs.com – please take 4 1/2 minutes to view each page – especially the “How You Can Help” page.

Thank you for your consideration.