Salute 12 is Coming October 16th
This year’s theme is
“Our Heroes Wear Dog Tags.”
Salute to American Heroes Gala is a night of Pageantry, Patriotism and Entertainment – with cocktail hour, live and silent auctions, dinner and dancing. And those who buy items in the auction or donate to the cause get an Official Adopt-a-Soldier Platoon Dog Tag.
📍Glenpointe Marriott in Teaneck, NJ.
The Gala and hotel are at the same location this year to improve accessibility and convenience.
Keynote Speaker
This year’s Keynote Speaker will be US Army COL David J. Haskell, Deputy Commander of the 3rd Special Forces Group (A), located at Fort Bragg. AaSP has supported many of the 3rd SFG (A) units over the years.
Honorees Attending
JMattingly 1845 Craft Distillery of Frankfort, KY
Jeff Mattingly (L), CEO JMattingly; and Todd Matonich, Director Military Outreach, at our 2025 Spring Pack.
JMattingly is creating a new Bourbon called the Adopt-a-Soldier Platoon Dog Tag Bourbon. It will drop the end of August! (See labels below). More details to come.
Best Way Trucking Service of Fairfield, NJ
Scot Maclay (L), Dispatcher; and Mark Trewhella (CEO), with a signed Field from the USS Harry S. Truman, presented on July 9, 2025.
Best Way trucks are a lifesaver! They’ve been our pro bono trucker for years and make possible pickups and deliveries we’d otherwise either not be able to do or would be prohibitively expensive, especially over the long haul.
Live and Silent Auctions
The Salute Gala is known for its Live and Silent Auctions, with fine Sports Memorabilia and Militaria you won’t find just anywhere …
Like NASCAR books signed by Hall of Famer, Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
Or a 5” Gun shell fired in the Red Sea off one of our Destroyers.
Marine Tribute Knife:
INVASION of the SOLOMONS
Marine Tribute Knife
VIETNAM knife
Secure your seat or table now!
Click here to buy a ticket
More Info
Contact: saluteinfo@aasp.vet or info@aasp.vet
Be a Sponsor; Help with Expenses; or Take an Ad in the Program.
Great effort by our volunteers! All boxes are in the mail!
Summer Pack 2025
Operation Cookie
Girl Scout cookies from OP COOKIE being delivered to the MCM-11 for distro to four MCMs.
MCM-3 showing the smiles the GS cookies delivered from OP COOKIE.
Soldiers at a USO in the Middle East enjoy Girl Scout cookies shipped in by DHL Express and the Girl Scouts of Nassau County (NY). There’s nothing like putting smiles on our Military faces.
DHL Express has been shipping Girl Scout cookies in its Operation Cookie for 20 years now! Partnering with the Girl Scouts of Nassau County (NY), DHL ships these cookies around the world, especially to the Middle East. In addition, DHL provides Adopt-a-Soldier Platoon with cookies it can send to its units overseas. This is a picture of two skids AaSP recently received and will start packing next week and they will also be part of its July 4th pack next month. Thank you DHL and NCGS!! WATCH the video (below) from the event!!!
Memorial Day Weekend NASCAR Event
Adopt-a-Soldier Platoon was honored to be on the trunk of Car 7 for the Xfinity race at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday afternoon of Memorial Day Weekend. AaSP’s group consisted of 12 people, three wounded/recovering Vets (Mark, Val and Norabeth) and their family care givers/mates; and a new volunteer officer (Amie) and a member of the Wounded committee (Lauren) and their mates; and president Alan K and Mary-Edna K, vice president of Wounded Care. It was an amazing weekend event and everyone had a great time. Our driver, Justin Allgaier, drove a great race but got shoved while in the lead in overtime after several cautions and finished fourth. A great time was had by all.
Share the Love is a Great Benefactor
For more than 10 years, Adopt-a-Soldier Platoon has been a Hometown Charity of Liberty Subaru in Emerson, NJ, as part of Subaru of America’s Share the Love campaign.
Where Does the Money Go?
Proceeds from Share the Love go to pay for postage and packing supplies; exercise gear for our Adoptees; and grants to make our Wounded/Recovering Veterans more comfortable and heal better.
Special Thanks go to:
The DeSilva family who own and run local Subaru, Hyundai and KIA stores; and Subaru of America, Inc. of Camden, NJ. These two entities are compassionate, generous and patriotic and we are honored to work with them and be part of their amazing program.
Spring Pack sends 180 cartons all over the world.
On our 22nd Anniversary, we held another Spring Pack. This year a team from Menasha Packaging came to help, along with our regular krew. In addition, new Benefactor JMattingly1845 Craft Distillery, came to help pack! Jeff Mattingly (L) and Todd Matonich had fun taping boxes. Thanks Guys! JMattingly will be creating a bourbon in AaSP’s name this year
Boxes going all over the world
Warships in the Red Sea, special operators in East Africa and Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airmen and Coasties all over the world!
More Info
If you know a deployed unit in harm’s way that could use a little American love, please contact: info@aasp.vet
2024 Events
Annual Christmas Tree Send Off
We partner with our friends at DHL to transport, pack, and ship live Christmas trees oversees. We enjoy giving soldiers a sense of normalcy for the holidays, and sometimes something as simple as a tree can make all the difference.
11th Annual Salute Gala
Every year since 2013 (except for 2020-COVID), AaSP has held its Salute to American Heroes Gala to raise money for our Wounded/Recovering Vets and to bring camaraderie to the AaSP Adoptee family.
Last year, we raised about $120,000.
Save the date
★
Save the date ★
Thursday night, October 16, 2025
We will be hosting our 12th Annual Salute to American Heroes!
More info: saluteinfo@aasp.vet