Florida Hospital Flagler Collects Donations for Soldiers Ministry Drive

PALM COAST, Fla., August 16, 2016 Throughout July, Florida Hospital Flagler staff and volunteers collected donated supplies for support boxes for soldiers across the globe. The hospital gave the boxes of supplies to the Soldiers Ministry at Palm Coast United Methodist Church, which has been shipping support boxes to soldiers overseas for more than seven years.

During July, the hospital collected enough donations to send 43 boxes, including toiletries, snacks and meals, abroad to military personnel serving in Afghanistan and Kuwait.

The outpouring of love and kindness from our hospital team demonstrates the deep commitment we feel for our brave military men and women so far from home, said Eddie Goncalves, Florida Hospital Flagler chaplain.

We recently received a touching note from a colonel on his third deployment. He said, During my first deployment, I remembered the outpouring of support from people back home, but worried that it had dwindled over these long war years. Then I saw your boxes and read the thank you letters that lay among the shampoo and playing cards, and was relieved to know there are still pockets of caring folks that continue to remember our soldiers. It is hard to put into words what those support boxes and letters from people back home mean to our troops, said Barbara Clutter, Florida Hospital Flagler pastoral care volunteer. The outpouring of love and kindness from our team demonstrates the deep commitment we feel for our brave military men and women so far from home.

This effort is also supported by the Delrossa/Mystic clothing company, which ships all the boxes as a donation, allowing the ministry to avoid expensive shipping costs and focus on supporting the troops.

About Florida Hospital Flagler

Florida Hospital Flagler is a member of Adventist Health System, a faith-based health care organization with 46 hospital campuses and nearly 8,200 licensed beds in 10 states. With 99-beds, Florida Hospital Flagler is one of the six Florida Hospitals in Volusia and Flagler counties that composes the Florida Hospital East Florida Region. As the largest hospital system in the area, the Florida Hospital East Florida Region has 923 beds and more than 6,000 employees. With a mission to extend the healing ministry of Christ, the Florida Hospital East Florida Region collectively contributed nearly $120 million in benefits in 2015 to the underprivileged, the community's overall health and wellness and spiritual needs, and capital improvements.