A low-tech, high-touch resource that's available to combat veterans and their families today is CaringBridge, which calls itself "a place ot heal, celebrate and share" (on the Web, parentheses mine).
As their PR announces, CaringBridge™ is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization offering free personalized Web sites to those wishing to stay in touch with family and friends during significant life events. Our mission is to bring together a global community of care powered by the love of family and friends in an easy, accessible and private way.
CaringBridge authors quickly and easily create personalized Web sites that display journal entries and photographs. Well-wishers visit the site to read updates and leave messages in the Guestbook.
The CaringBridge experience is unique for both authors and visitors in its immediacy, intimacy and wide-reaching impact. We make profound human connections, using technology to serve a higher purpose in a powerful way.
As of January 24, 2006, we have hosted more than 35,000 CaringBridge sites. Those sites have received more than 210 million visits and over 5 million guestbook messages.
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Several 3/7 Marines wounded in Iraq in early December, 2005 have great websites via CaringBridge, that allow their family and friends to stay in touch and offer updates to wellwishers round the world. The power of these updates is pretty impressive. One young Marine's website has logged over 25,000 visits since mid-December, and respondents mention checking in daily to see and encourage his progress. Visitors to the guu's various websites on CaringBridge can also follow their joint progress, as they encourage each other in the journey from trauma to healing. (E.g., Marines Travis Greene and Neil Frustaglio and Naval Corpsman Tony Bullene, among others.)
