Mother′s Day is a real challenge for families who have loved ones serving abroad in the military. Whether you are a mom serving in the military, stationed abroad, or you’re deployed and your mom is back home missing you, it can be a really tough day.

As the President of eMail Our Military (eMOM) and a military spouse, I’ve been working with different organizations who want to help make the pain of separation just a little bit easier on our military service members and their families.

I met Conrad through mutual friends on Twitter and now we’re working together to get the word out to everyone interested in making this Mother’s Day, May 11th, a little easier for all of us who have loved ones in the military.

Prior to September 11, 2001 it was possible for civilians to send letters, notes, and homemade cards to military service members through a program called Any Service Member mail. With the threat of terrorism following 9/11, the Department of Defense cancelled the Any Service Member mail program for the safety of our military. As a result, eMail Our Military was created to help fill the void.

My friends at Qipit joined us in our efforts this year and have been very helpful in working with us to personalize email to and from our troops. Qipit is now making it really easy for personal communications, like cards, letters and even legal documents, to be converted into an email format.

Just as Conrad has written here many times, Qipit is a free online copy, scanning and fax service that doesn’t require a scanner, just a digital camera or camera phone. I’m finding that it is the next best thing to the original document, much easier than going to a copy store and it saves you the expense.

Here at eMail Our Military, we were already getting our messages of love and support to the frontlines electronically, now we can again send the actual images, from their creators to our troops.

As you can imagine, it is so much more meaningful to see the words of from a child or spouse in their own handwriting, and with illustrations.

If you’re reading this and you don’t know anyone in the military, you can still get involved. Our service members need you. Please contact us and we’ll show you how. Everyone is invited to join eMOM. Our military needs all of our support.

Mother′s Day is the perfect opportunity to tell them and their families how much we appreciate them and support them and their Moms.

~ Trish Forant, President, eMail Our Military

P.S. If you need some tips on how to best use Qipit to send a special and quick Mother′s Day Card, check out Conrad′s Mother′s Day blog post.

For many of us, Mother′s Day means buying our mothers a traditional paper card, some flowers and hopefully spending some special time with our mothers.

This is not possible if your mother is fighting a war thousands of miles from home, just as the approximate 10,000 mothers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are doing. As Lt. Colonel Dan Mosqueda prepares for his next deployment, he knows first hand the toll this takes on mothers serving abroad and on their loved ones here at home.

“I will be deploying to United States Central Command Headquarters and I know how tough it is to be separated from friends and family for long stretches of time. People usually think about the tough times our Soldiers, Airmen, Sailors and Marines face around holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, but as more and more brave women participate in our nation’s defense, and in particular those who are mothers, this time of year is really tough on them.”

– Lt. Colonel Dan Mosqueda, United States Air Force Reserve.

Recently Qipit partnered with eMOM, an organization started by Trish Forant, a patriot, military wife, good person and fellow twitterer, to help bridge the communications gap between home, Iraq and Afghanistan.

As Mother′s day approaches here is how you can use Qipit to create a handwritten greeting with nothing more than a whiteboard or paper, some markers and your camera phone.

4 steps to send a personal handwritten Mother′s Day message

1. Register for a free Qipit account, if you don’t already have one.

2. Create your card or special message on paper or a whiteboard. You can also use an already made Mother′s Day card and add your special message.

3. Take a picture of your Mother′s Day creation with your digital camera or a megapixel plus camera phone (equipped with auto-focus or macro mode if you are using paper instead of a whiteboard).

Here’s something I put together for my mom. You can use the first title image for your message. Just right click and save the image, then send it to Qipit with your personal message. Yes, I know I am no Leonardo (so save the comments).

Here is my personal message, this is a separate picture of another part of the white board. If you must know I am a lefty, that is my excuse for my “doctor like” penmanship.

4. Turn the pictures into a qipit Mother’s Day card by sending the pictures to color@qipit.com via email, as an attachment; using your camera phone, as a picture message (aka MMS); or upload the images via the web interface, just like your favorite photo sharing site.

Here’s is what you get back as a PDF, you can also just share it with a link by publishing it.

Here is the thumbnail, just click on it to see the published version.

or you can download the PDF: Mother′s Day Handwritten Message (pdf)

Tip: Enter your Mom′s email address in the body of the picture message, and the title in the subject line, if you want to send it directly from your camera phone, otherwise you can send it as an email or link from the web interface. If you need additional help on making a Qipit, checkout this post, and don’t foget to share your Mother’s Day qipits with us by posting them in the comments.

All of us at Qipit wish each and every member of our military a safe return home. You and your families are in our thoughts and prayers daily. Happy Mother′s Day!

~ Conrad

P.S. Click this link for the press release: Qipit eMOM Mother’s Day Press Release if your interested.

After much anticipation, Gina Trapani, editor of one of our favorite blogs, Lifehacker, recently published her latest book Upgrade Your Life: The lifehacker Guide to Working Smarter, Faster, Better.

We are honored for qipit to be included as hack #57 (pg 201).  So honored in fact, we went straight out and made a qipit of the four pages devoted to Qipit in the book, and yes I got Gina’s permission. Click the thumbnail below to read what she wrote.

Gina also got in on using the qipit publish feature by publishing the introduction page.  She even included the public URL in her book. If you want to see more content in the Lifehacker book, check out this post, Gina made on the lifehacker blog.

As a stickler for efficiency, organization and a connoisseur of all things tech, I have enjoyed going through the 116 lifehacks included in this book. If you are anything like me you I am sure you will love this book. Regular readers of the qipit blog know I am always talking about how to use qipit to make your life a little easier.  Now you don’t have to just take my word for it, take Gina’s and use qipit and Upgrade Your Life to Get Things Done.

Gina, congratulations on a job well done! We can’t wait for the next edition.

~ Conrad

One of the greatest things about my job is getting the chance to work with a variety of organizations and causes. Recently qipit has partnered with a great effort called eMail our Military.

eMail Our Military’s founder, Trish Forant, is a military wife, the daughter of a veteran and an avid troop supporter. eMoM, as it also known, is made up of volunteers from all walks of life who understand that, regardless of their political views, our military service members deserve our respect, support and encouragement. We at qipit totally agree.

eMail Our Military, an independent civilian organization, was created in 2001 as a response to the U.S. Department of Defense cancellation of the “Any Service Member” and “Operation Dear Abby” mail programs. Using electronic mail in place of snail mail, eMOM picked up where those programs left off and continues to work in conjunction with the various branches of the military and their own programs.

eMoM provides a safe way for volunteers to continue the tradition of “Any Service Member” mail with a more personal touch. Service Members register with eMOM for support and are matched with volunteers, who have registered. Once matched the volunteers and service members correspond. Volunteers show their support and share news from home, this connection provides a morale boost for many troops who are so far away.

Now qipit has partnered with eMail our Military to provide for even more personalized communications. By creating better quality copies of documents to be included as a part of their email communications, we hope to make it possible for military families to literally share everything from legal documents to Little Johnny’s artwork.

While being home with their families is undoubtedly what every member of the military would most want, we are proud to be a part of helping them stay in close touch, in a very personal way, while they are separated from their loved ones in service to their country and in pursuit of world peace.

If you are reading this and you’re not a member of a military family, please contact Trish at eMail our Military and ask how you can help. I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if your kids sent a nice note to a soldier who is single or who doesn’t have kids. Anything we can do to make a member of our military have a nicer day is a great thing to do. Give it a try. And please give us any suggestions you might have for improving our services in general and specifically our efforts to support the troops.

~ Conrad

We always like to share great posts and videos about qipit from fellow bloggers. PsudeoFinn made a great post yesterday on NokiaUsers.net showing how easy it is to make a qipit. He also did a superb job on the video, I especially thought the whimsy in the middle with what I assume is Stephen Colbert humming a silly tune was a great touch. Enjoy the video and a special thanksto PsudeoFinn and all the other bloggers who keep spreading the word about qipit!

~ Conrad