Elderly enlist as coupon clippers to aid the war effort

[RTO]

GREENBELT, Md. - Some are frail, their bodies riddled with arthritis. Others are confined to walkers or wheelchairs.

Spread out across the country is a small army of old ladies determined to do their part in the war on terror. Their weapons of choice: scissors and coupons.

They cut out a couple hundred each day, a few thousand a week, and send them to military families in the Middle East and elsewhere overseas, who redeem them at commissaries. It may not seem like much, the ladies say, but every little bit counts.


In a new era of American warfare, when people are told to support the war effort by boosting the economy by shopping or simply by going on with their lives, these women think more should be done. They are from an older generation that remembers the days of war bonds and rations, and they are trying again to make a difference, one coupon at a time.

Lila Sclawy, 87, started clipping shortly after her husband, a veteran, died in 2001 of pancreatic cancer. Four weeks later, she turned on the news to see the World Trade Center crashing down.

As the country grieved, she was looking for a way to overcome her grief. That's when she heard about the coupon ladies in Greenbelt.


Story Continues Here....

[RTO]

I love this, the 'greatest' generation. I used to love hearing stories from my Grandparents about the many sacrafices they (and the whole country) made to support the war effort.
There was a great show about WWII on PBS a few months ago that spent an hour or two talking about the unity we as a nation all used to have and what we all did to support it.

[ANGRYCivilian]

I love this, the 'greatest' generation. I used to love hearing stories from my Grandparents about the many sacrafices they (and the whole country) made to support the war effort.
There was a great show about WWII on PBS a few months ago that spent an hour or two talking about the unity we as a nation all used to have and what we all did to support it.

What do you think happened to the unity? I feel like it's gone, but don't really understand what happened to it. Is everyone just spoiled from generations of living in a globally peaceful place? Is everyone so concerned with their own quality of life that they don't care about anything outside of their little bubble?

Were a lot of the Greatest Generation immigrants or children of immigrants who came to a much better place than they left, and were proud of their new life and home that created this unity?

Every time I hear older people talking about current affairs in the US, they typically agree that the country is going to shit, and I have to say, that I feel the same way most of the time. It makes me want to move so far away from civilization...

[Darksaga]

I am just happy we have found a hobby for the Pastor.

[RTO]

I love this, the 'greatest' generation. I used to love hearing stories from my Grandparents about the many sacrafices they (and the whole country) made to support the war effort.
There was a great show about WWII on PBS a few months ago that spent an hour or two talking about the unity we as a nation all used to have and what we all did to support it.

What do you think happened to the unity? I feel like it's gone, but don't really understand what happened to it. Is everyone just spoiled from generations of living in a globally peaceful place? Is everyone so concerned with their own quality of life that they don't care about anything outside of their little bubble?

Were a lot of the Greatest Generation immigrants or children of immigrants who came to a much better place than they left, and were proud of their new life and home that created this unity?

Every time I hear older people talking about current affairs in the US, they typically agree that the country is going to shit, and I have to say, that I feel the same way most of the time. It makes me want to move so far away from civilization...

ehhhh..... Who knows? I'm sure a person could write a whole book about all the different theories. I couldn't begin to list them all here.

One perhaps is the wave of liberalism that's been sweeping the country. It all seems to have started in the late 60's with the Vietnam protests and never really seems to have ever gone away. It doesn't seem to matter the war or conflict, it just seems there will always be people that will protest anything nowadays. And the plauge is spreading. We now have Greenpeace and PETA and the WTO riots and many many more groups of whack jobs out there....

[KW Driver]

I am just happy we have found a hobby for the Pastor.

oh sheeeeiiit!

:D

[Joeboo]

I'll tell ya precisely whats wrong, people these days are taking what they have for granted.

No one is happy to have what they've got, they've got to have what makes them happy. Right and wrong have been replaced by wrongful (and ignorant) pursuit of one's 'rights'.

For crying out loud, I'll bet there aren't many a 3th grade class in this country that can still recite the Pledge of Alligence in unison. If my Grandad were still alive, he'd smack the taste outta MY mouth for even tolerating such crap.