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America Supports You: Groups Make it Easy to Send Holiday Wishes to Troops
America Supports You ^ | Samantha L. Quigley

Posted on 11/29/2007 4:22:46 PM PST by SandRat

WASHINGTON, Nov. 29, 2007 – As the holidays draw near and shopping lists get shorter, some may find they’re still looking for the perfect way to thank “Any Servicemember” this year.

Click photo for screen-resolution image
In an example of holiday support for the troops, Kathy Cox, Wal-Mart Foundation manager, talks with Army Cpl. Adam Poppenhouse during the kick-off of “Operation: Deck the Walls,” on Nov. 13, 2007. It’s a new program from Wal-Mart dedicated to bringing holiday cheer to families of recovering military at Fisher Houses in the United States and Germany. Photo by Linda Hosek
  

(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.
The most popular ways to support the troops are through cards and letters, care packages and military family support. Hundreds of troop-support groups shared their holiday troop-support plans earlier this year.

Letters and cards are a simple, inexpensive way to show a servicemember they’ve got support back home, especially during such a family-oriented time of the year.

Marine Moms Online, www.marinemomsonline.net, based in Illinois, works to collect “letters, letters, letters,” said Julie Callahan, a group representative. “(Marine Moms Online) members work with churches and schools collecting letters that are given to the recruits on Christmas morning,” she said. “Encouraging letters from veterans, celebrities, sports teams, and politicians are collected and assembled into scrapbooks that are available to all recruits in the support battalions throughout the year.”

The Military Support Group of Connection Pointe Christian Church in Brownsburg, Ind., www.cpmsglife.org, has a goal of sending 4,000 cards to men and women serving overseas. Those will accompany 18-inch decorated Christmas trees. “(We) have sent approximately 10,000 Christmas Cards,” said Robert Leive, a representative of the group. Last year, the group sent 4,000 cards.

Many groups work hard to collect holiday greetings for the troops, and though it was common practice during past conflicts, sending a letter addressed to “Any Servicemember” is not a good idea. The Defense Department, citing security concerns, enforces a policy specifying mail not addressed to a specific individual will not be accepted. It’s better to look to a troop-support organization that has established contacts to receive letters to the troops.

A box of goodies at the holidays is a sure way to brighten a deployed servicemember’s day, and dozens of troop-support organizations are working to make sure no servicemember has a gloomy holiday.

“This will be our fifth year of sending holiday treats to our troops, as well as our weekly support care packages,” said Meredith Kelly, chair of Illinois-based Operation Stars and Stripes, www.operationstars.com. “In November, we start sending new pre-lit 3- and 4-foot Christmas trees with all the trimmings to our units that we are supporting.”

Those trees come complete with a DVD copy of the original “It’s a Wonderful Life,” she said. “We try to reach as many as we can to let them know they are not forgotten,” Kelly added.

California’s Operation Gratitude, www.opgratitude.com, has mastered the art of sending care packages, packing more than 34,000 boxes of goodies in the first four days of its 2007 Holiday Drive, which kicked off Veterans Day weekend. Group officials anticipate packing the 300,000th care package for a deployed servicemember on Dec. 15. That milestone package is expected to arrive on or around Christmas Eve and will contain a special gift for the recipient. “We will be sending 50,000 to 60,000 care packages to deployed troops,” said Carolyn Blashek, the group’s founder. “We welcome donations of items, letters, funds to pay for postage, and volunteers to help assemble the packages at our facility in Van Nuys, Calif.”

Sometimes the best way to support the troops at any time of the year is to support their families back home. During the holidays, this can be especially powerful.

CRVA Charities, Inc.’s annual Toys for the Troops’ Kids drive, www.toysforthetroopskids.org, began in 2003 with a goal of providing two toys for every child of a deployed military parent from the Sacramento, Calif. area. A booming success, the program has expanded, said William F. Stein, the group’s president. “We will collect 50,000 toys for the kids of deployed troops (to be) distributed in four western states and Hawaii in December,” he said.
Related Sites:
Military Support Group of Connection Pointe Christian Church
Touch of Home: Support 4R Deployed Military, Inc.
Operation Stars and Stripes
Operation Gratitude
Toys for the Troops’ Kids
The Homefront Cares, Inc.
America Supports You


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: carepackages; holiday; send; supportourtroops; troops; wishes

1 posted on 11/29/2007 4:22:48 PM PST by SandRat
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To: StarCMC; Kathy in Alaska; Bethbg79; EsmeraldaA; MoJo2001; Brad's Gramma; laurenmarlowe; ...

Christmas Cheer to Troops PING


2 posted on 11/29/2007 4:23:49 PM PST by SandRat (Duty, Honor, Country. What else needs to be said?)
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To: SandRat
I wrote a "Adopt a Platoon" article in my column 3 weeks ago and took information the the schools my grandson went to and the local VFW - we have had a wonderful response and the troops will get about 30 boxes - most already on the way. (The letters and drawings from the elementary kids are just darling - I know the troops will love them as much as the food, candy, socks, etc...)

They are Battle co. of the 173rd, fighting in "Taliban Central" in the north eastern Provence of Kunar, Afghanistan, up against the Paki border.

They were featured in a film recently where embeds, who had no idea how bad a situation they would find themselves in, just filmed as things went down - no spin = no time to spin...as you will see if you watch the film - about 15 minutes - link on the Home Base of the 173rd in Italy...

You owe it to yourself to watch = I can guarantee that 19 out of 20 of you have not a clue what is happening there.

http://www.setaf.army.mil/

scroll down to "Go behind the front lines in Afghanistan "

..

3 posted on 11/29/2007 4:37:25 PM PST by maine-iac7 (",,,but you can't fool all of the people all the time" LINCOLN)
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To: SandRat

BTTT

got a whole lot of Christmas Cheer in my garage right now — working on getting it into boxes! *G*


4 posted on 11/29/2007 8:05:14 PM PST by StarCMC (http://cannoneerno4.wordpress.com; http://starcmc.wordpress.com/ - The Enemedia is inside the gates.)
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To: SandRat

Thanks for the post. Always looking for ways to support our troops and their families.


5 posted on 11/29/2007 8:29:36 PM PST by GOP Poet
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