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A balm for the troops

A minister's soothing songs and words help calm the anxious.

By David O'Reilly, Inquirer Staff Writer: February 12, 2007

The CDs begin the same way, with Florence Duckett's soothing voice offering an introduction from thousands of miles away.

"You don't know me," she tells her listener, "but here is a song you might like... "

What follows is more than an hour of Christian prayer, words of encouragement, and eight or nine more songs about grace and love and peace and Jesus.

The music and prayers can't drown out gunfire, or shield a humvee from a roadside bomb. But in the war zones of Ramadi and Baghdad and Kabul, those gifts from the stranger in far-off Ambler are calming the jagged nerves and anxious souls of U.S. combat troops.

Day after day for more than two years, Duckett has been leaning into a microphone, recording songs and prayers and offering comfort to military personnel young enough to be her children - or grandchildren.

"Some of them are 19, 20, 21," she marveled recently, shaking her head. "Why, they're babies."

A widowed ticket agent at Amtrak's 30th Street Station, Duckett is also a licensed Baptist preacher whose chapel, so to speak, is her home recording studio.

By her own count, this 60-year-old grandmother has shipped 437 CDs to American troops in Iraq and 48 to Afghanistan since that day in November 2004 when she got "the call."

"It's not like I heard a voice or anything," she recalled with a laugh. "I was waking from a nap when something deep in my heart told me I'd be ministering to our soldiers."

Later that day, she paid a visit to the nearby Church of the Acts, in Ambler. There, an usher handed her a photocopy of a widely circulated public letter written by Spec. Joseph Roche, then serving in Iraq as a humvee driver with the Army's 18th Combat Engineers.

In his letter - which President Bush had praised in a State of the Union address - Roche hailed the "amazing" progress and "vital" mission of U.S. troops who, according to Roche, were "transforming a once very sick society into a hopeful place."

"We can do this," Roche concluded, "as long as Americans at home keep faith with the soldiers in this war."

Duckett was also touched by Roche's admissions that "I'm scared every day" and that he prayed before every mission. A few days later, she sat down and recorded her first CD.

"I just started talking to him, and told him he didn't have to be afraid," she recalled.

Hundreds more CDs have followed. She finds the soldiers' names and military addresses at anysoldier.com, a civilian Web site devoted to soldiers overseas; she looks for entries from personnel who speak of being lonely or frightened.

Dozens of grateful letters from soldiers have flowed back to the modest, clapboard house on Highland Avenue.

"Your book, letters and CD was read, played and enjoyed [by] troops around my area," wrote one.

"You remind me of my great aunt," wrote another.

"I started crying as I read each page," Staff Sgt. Edwina Evans wrote in a December 2005 e-mail from Tikrit in north-central Iraq. Her e-mail's subject line read, "God [k]new I needed you."

"I'm not religious," one soldier wrote back, "but pray for me."

She asks for nothing in return from the military, but said the price of postage can be a burden. "This will cost $3 or $4," she said, hoisting one large envelope containing a CD and spiritual and autobiographical literature.

Sgt Durwin Heater Duckett's ministry to combat soldiers is hardly her first. She has made 258 similar CDs for the elderly, and she has sometimes volunteered for janitorial jobs at 30th Street Station so that she can meet with, and pray for, the many homeless people who slip in late at night.

"There's nothing like giving of yourself. Nothing," she said. "I've seen [homeless] people just light up to see someone cared about them. I wouldn't give that up for all the money in the world."

Duckett said she had not dared to find out who among her recipients had made it home safely - and who had not. "Oh, it would hurt too much to know," she said, squeezing her eyes shut at the thought. "I just want them home."

The Inquirer tracked down Stephanie and Durwin Heater, a husband-and-wife team deployed to Iraq for 14 months in 2003-04, and for 12 months in 2005-06. Stephanie, then a 23-year-old Army mechanic, got a package from Duckett in December 2005.

"I do recall it," she said in a phone conversation from their home in St. Louis. "I was really impressed with her." Sgt Stephanie Heater

"We returned in May, and we're doing good," she said. Both served in combat but "neither of us was injured."

The Inquirer also located Joseph Roche, whose letters urging Americans to support the war started Duckett's special ministry. He returned home to Wilmore, Ky., two years ago, and is now a sergeant with the Military District in Washington, an elite rescue unit.

"There were many weeks when it seemed we wouldn't make it out alive. I know this sounds dramatic, but it happens when you're a soldier," he wrote in an e-mail. "Mrs. Duckett's CD was one of the few things that gave me resolve and purpose to continue each day."

Contact staff writer David O'Reilly at 215-854-5723 or doreilly@phillynews.com.

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Ambler Gazette

Florence Duckett makes personalized recordings for troops

By: Kellie Supplee, Staff Writer 02/16/2007

Every day brings another opportunity to send some gratitude, love and inspiration to the men and women who risk their lives to serve their country.

That's how Florence Duckett feels about our nation's troops. She has been creating personalized, inspirational compact discs and shipping them to soldiers abroad since November 2004.

After arriving at church one day, Duckett, an Amtrak employee for the past l8 years, was approached by a fellow parishioner who handed her a letter from a soldier who was stationed in the Middle East.

"That letter was titled 'Keep the Faith, Letter from Iraq,'" Duckett said. "I read that letter and I came home and I just cried so I called the National Center for Public Policy, based in Washington, D.C., and they said that if I sent him something that it would eventually get to him."
That letter inspired her to create Rose of Sharon Ministries. Since then, Duckett has sent more than 400 packages to men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. She has an immense filing system, complete with multiple scrapbooks filled with pictures and thank you e-mails from the soldiers, to help her keep track of all her correspondence. She regularly visits anysoldier.com, a Web site developed to encourage people to send care packages to soldiers who may not receive mail, to find information on different soldiers she can send her packages to.

Duckett encourages others, who ask what they can donate to her, to do the same. Typically, Duckett pays for all of the postage out of pocket, but she accepts whatever people offer to give.

"I may have people on my job, or wherever, who say, 'Here are some stamps,'" Duckett said. "Nothing's too small ... if you reach in your pocket and give me $2 and that is all you had, then you gave me the most - you gave a hundred percent," Duckett said.
"My thing is to push that site, anysoldier.com, where they can write and learn how to send the packages to the soldiers," Duckett said.

Along with the goods that the soldiers request, the packages also include her homemade CDs, which include a personal message to the soldier, passages from the Bible, and a folder with articles and letters about her efforts. She also performs contemporary gospel songs on each, some with music written by her daughter, Eboni. Each CD is individually tailored to the soldier that she chooses.

"Nothing is going to be mass-produced here, which is what makes it special," Duckett said.

She writes letters to large corporations, such as Target and Ash Music, asking for donations so that she can continue to create her CDs for the troops.

"I feel like a surrogate mother," Duckett said. "They just have to be loved and appreciated. That's all they need is 'Thank You.' You can't say that enough."

Last August, with the assistance of Command Chaplin John Franklin, she visited the USS Theodore Roosevelt with the purpose of personally thanking the soldiers for their hard work and sacrifices.

"When I went on the Roosevelt, I told the Command, I said there's a soldier on this ship that use to write to me from Iraq and I want to meet him," Duckett said. "I looked up and there he was."

She is set to visit the Pentagon in March, and as soon as she gets approval from the government she will be heading off to Iraq.

"The prospect of going to the Middle East doesn't scare me. I'm not going to stay - just to drop off some little love gifts and come back," Duckett said. "It's very important.
"My main objective is to keep the light on the soldiers," Duckett said.

ŠMontgomery Newspapers 2007

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Local Minister Makes CDs for Troops

By Amy Buckman

6abc.com Local Minister Makes CDs for Troops

AMBLER, PA. - February 20, 2007 - From a crowded little room in her Ambler home, Minister Florence Duckett has touched the lives of hundreds of American servicemen and women.

In 2004, Florence read a letter at church from a soldier named Joe Roche. In it, he talked about his fears. She responded with her first personalized CD. "I got on tape, and I started talking to him about his fears, and the fact that he didn't have to fear, and I just told him I'd be praying for him."

Since then, she has sent hundreds of letters and CDs to Afghanistan and Iraq, each filled with inspirational words and original Christian music.

She surfs the website anysoldier.com, looking for profiles of soldiers who seem to need a spiritual boost: "You can go on there and read. I zero in to put in key words to make sure I don't offend anybody. You can put in the word 'bible' or 'Christian music,' then it takes me right to soldiers who want that."

Florence keeps meticulous records on everyone with whom she's corresponded. She files their thank you notes. And she prays every day with a book in which she's recorded all of their names -- some 700 and counting.

If you'd like to help, Florence doesn't need money, but she does need stamps for postage and blank CDs.

You can get more information about donations by e-mailing: Minister Florence E. Duckett, the founder of Rose of Sharon Ministries.

You can also telephone (215) 628-3217.

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Ambler Gazette

12/24/2007

Ambler woman does her part to boost U.S. troops morale

Amanda Rittenhouse, Staff Writer

When Ambler resident, Florence Duckett began recording and sending inspirational messages to soldiers in 2004 she never dreamed it would land her in the White House with an opportunity to the president. This month at a holiday reception in the east wing of the White House she met President and Mrs. Bush.
Duckett, a licensed Baptist minister creates personalized compact discs with inspirational messages and sends them to soldiers serving in Iraq, Afghanistan and to United States troops all over the world. Duckett, who said she tries to be a weapon against low morale and depression also received a letter from President Bush in February thanking her for her efforts for the soldiers.

Duckett was amazed during the White House visit and said that there were decorated trees outside and inside every room. She said President and Mrs. Bush received all of the guests as they arrived and said she and other guests had free roam of the east wing of the White House.

"It would take all day just to look at what was in each room. I think the most unbelievable thing to me was the decorations, marble stairs and the beautiful string music. It was a feast for kings. I'm still on cloud nine. It was an honor and an opportunity to share this experience with the soldiers." she said.
Duckett started recording CDs for the project four years ago in her home studio and has been in ministry for about 30 years. Duckett finds soldiers names to send care packages to from www.anysoldier.com.
Through her ministry project entitled Rose of Sharon Ministries. she has worked with nursing home residents and done street and prison ministry. Duckett has also volunteered for the USO at the Philadelphia airport and visits veteran hospitals to minister to patients. Duckett said she wants to go wherever have troops and hopes to minister to soldiers in Iraq in the future.

"Its not just a hobby it is a labor of love. I want to ensure that we will never forget about our soldiers," Duckett said.

Duckett was inspired to do the project after reading a letter from a solider at the Church of Acts in Ambler.

Duckett's daughter Eboni Watkins, of Collingswood, New Jersey accompanied her to the White House reception. Together, Watkins and Duckett write inspirational gospel songs for and have recorded a few on the tracks for the soldiers. Watkins said that the decorations in the White House were beautifully ornate and enjoyed meeting President Bush.
"It was honor to meet him. He seemed very warm and a very humble down to earth man," she said.
George Vogel, of Philadelphia served in Iraq with the Army National Guard for one year and two months between 2005 and 2006. Vogel, supervisor of the Amtrak call center in Northeast Philadelphia said Duckett and a group of employees put together a care package for him while he served that included one of her inspirational recordings.
Vogel met Duckett for the first time upon his return to the United States. Duckett is a sales representative for Amtrak at a call center in Northeast Philadelphia. Vogel said he and other soldiers always appreciate letters and care packages.

"Letters are always a good avenue for support and a way to keep in touch with the way things are at home, he said.

Since November 2004, she sent over 500 packages to Iraq and Afghanistan. Duckett compiles the packages with her own funding and donations. Postage to send the packages is about $4 to $5 dollars, she said. In each package, Duckett sends out a letter, a Bible, CD player, inspirational CD, a scrapbook of her work and a copy of bush's letter to soldiers. The hour-long CDs include eight songs, scripture, inspirational messages and jokes.
This holiday season, Duckett asks others to remember the soldiers serving away from their homes and families.
"They have taken an oath to serve our nation and we are blessed because we are here with our families. There are some soldiers who have had their first child born while they are gone. I do this so that they know that they are not forgotten and that they are important," Duckett said.