Posted on 01/21/2006 3:06:06 PM PST by patriciaruth
Welcome to the 2006 thread of the Merry Band of Patriots!
Our grassroots, volunteer group of troop supporters has been sending care packages to servicemen and women in war zones since the summer of 2001 when we began by sending VHS movies and Snickers candy bars to the 101st Airborne and then later the 10th Mountain at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo.
This last year we sent a couple hundred care packages to troops at Baghdad, Kirkuk, Mosul and Tal Afar in Iraq, at Bagram in Afghanistan, at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo and to our wounded at Landstuhl Regional Hospital in Germany.
Our specialty in the past has been movies, books, snacks, holiday decorations and some appliances like DVD players and Playstations, and we have sent hundreds of movies to various bases.
This last year we had 6 main projects in addition to the usual care packages:
1. We sent over 80 state-of-the-art Petzl headlamps to our adopted company of Stryker Brigade Combat Team at Mosul and 35 to an MI unit at Kirkuk. This was probably the most appreciated item we've ever sent, thanks to a project that got off the ground due to the work of Spanaway Lori, HannaUSA , and Oatka and 3/4th of which was funded by my optometrist.
2. There was the Personal Care items "Emergency" Airlift to Bagram air base in June and July. (mathluv, nina0113, Coop, JustAmy, airborne, iceskater, Tunehead54, jtill participated.)
3. The 4th of July Party Decorations and Snacks blowout for all our adopted units. (pictures at posts 357, 358, 368 of our 2005 thread)
4. Operation Popcorn in August and September for the Engineers at Baghdad (iceskater, mathluv, SENClander, Coop, Abigail Adams, Ros42, Ican'tbelieve it, jtill and ebay's mshoponline sent over 600 bags of microwave popcorn, while omegatoo's were lost in the shuffle of her evacuating New Orleans prior to the Katrina flooding)
5. The End of Summer Luau for psyops at Baghdad in September and October (MJY1288 mailed off the party things we bought at eBay and Amazon with contributions from fanfan, kattracks, jtill, Just mythoughts, Ros42, Pig Rigger, MJY1288 and Kitty Mittens. Pictures at post 809 of the 2005 thread)
6. Halloween candy and movies for the Troops (kattracks, SENClander, Ican'tbelieveit, Abigail Adams mailed boxes in addition to the ones I sent with donations)
7. The Amazing Christmas and New Years Deluge, when it rained packages at all our adopted bases, especially at Tal Afar.
Special mentions go to Teams captains: mathluv (Engineers Baghdad), Ros42 (psyops Baghdad), CAluvdubya (Tal Afar), Abigail Adams (Stryker at Mosul), VeniVidiVici (MI at Kirkuk), nina0113 (Bagram, Afghanistan). Fairy Godmother Dept. (kattracks), Christmas Trees and Christmas Cards R Us (daybreakcoming), Shipping Dept (MJY1288), DVD Recording Dept (MJY1288), Webhosting and Photoshopping Dept (New Perspective), Daddy Warbucks Dept (my optometrist).
Among the many care packages sent by our troop supporters are these projects.
Boxes of school supplies for Iraqi children were sent by mathluv, Ican'tbelieveit, and my mother to Operation Crayon in Kirkuk.
Some members (CAluvdubya, angelsonmyside, 4integrity, ebay's susiemck) helped fill requests for Western Movies from an MI unit at Kirkuk (now home, movies still there) and Clint Eastwood and Adam Sandler movies from Fox Battery at Kirkuk (now home, movies still there).
bjcintennesse made many dozens of cooling neck scarves and sent them to pysops and Engineers at Baghdad.
DAVEY CROCKETT mailed boxesful of car magazines to a couple units.
A copy of the hardback book about the first year of the Revolutionary War (1776 by David McCullough) was sent to most of our units by DrDeb, iceskater, SwatTeam, and Just a Cowgirl.
Ros42 and mscht adopted a unit at Camp Ramadi for Christmas. (picture at 1195 of the 2005 thread).
CheneyChick and daybreakcoming saw to it that some care packages went to a remnant of our troops still in Kosovo.
Daybreakcoming's sister helped the staffers of the Louisiana legislature send about 8 boxes with around 32 bags of Christmas candy to Tal Afar.
Our many generous donors of checks, cash, money orders, Paypal, shopping cards, phone cards, etc are listed in the Accounting posts in our 2005 thread which can be linked from the post below.
We were surprised and emotional when we received back from our adopted units some of the items pictured below, and a big thank you to jkphoto for taking the pictures and webhosting them.
Okay, we'll divvy up the goodies tomorrow so everyone knows who's mailing what where and what the shortfalls are for the 4th of July mailings to Tal Afar, Mosul and Stryker at the border.
I'm bleary eyed, so someone please notify anyone else who is interested in contributing to the 4th of July care packages.
This is my ongoing effort to help soldiers in the war zones that started in the summer of 2001.
We do a little work with the wounded on the side, but mainly we send things to our adopted units in the field.
Yep, the lemonade packs are the same as the Crystal Lite. Our local grocery store, Food Lion, had them.
Here's an article about the new Stryker unit that's going to be taking over for our current Stryker unit in Mosul:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1630194/posts
FOURTH OF JULY organizing attempt:
Looks like snacks and drinks are covered for Tal Afar if you add up these packages. They could use 40 more flag plates and napkins. They have enough cups.
TAL AFAR
Kattracks mailing May 15, 2006, to Tal Afar
2 boxes Pop Weaver Popcorn (4 packages per),
2 pkgs. French's Potato Sticks,
1 bag Chex Mix,
1 bag Chex Sweet & Salty Mix,
2 pkgs. Rolets Fried Rinds,
10 boxes Slim Jims (5 per),
1 tub of Tang (makes 6 qts.),
1 tub of Country Time Pink Lemonade (makes 8 qts.),
1 tablecloth (blue with stars border),
20 red plates, 20 blue plates, 20 Flag plates,
60 napkins (20 each R/W/B) ,
100 cups (50 red, 50 blue),
2 Flag balloons (w/string),
1 tabletop decoration (R/W/B streamers).
Fanfan mailing May 11, 2006 to Tal Afar
1 package of Dare 'Ultimate Maple Leaf' cookies. 350 grams.
1 package of Dare 'Ultimate Cinnamon Danish' cookies. 350g.
2 packages of Crystal Light Pink Lemonade, 2 pouches/box. Each box makes 3 litres.
2 packages of Crystal Light Cranberry Breeze, 2 pouches/box.
2 packages of Werther's Original hard candies, 198 g, ea. (maybe 20/bag).
1 large bag Strawberry Twizzlers, (red licorish) 454g.
1 package Excel sugarless spearmint gum, (4 packs)
1 box Higgins and Burke green tea. 20 bags.
1 personal size One Step hand sanitizer.
1 box of 50 Cottonelle unscented personal wipes.
Book: Net Force (Tom Clancy series)
a pack of cards,
some USA flag stickers and skin tattoos
a red Frisbee with Canada logo
DrDeb mailing around May 12, 2006, to Tal Afar
2 books:
Rebel in Chief (Fred Barnes)
Saddam's Secrets (Georges Sada)
2 Burt's Bees 'Lifeguard's Choice' lip balm
1 deck of playing cards
Beef Jerky
6 Candy/Gum:
bag of Jelly Belly 'Bunny Corn'
box of Dubble Bubble bubble gum
giant tootsie rolls
Necco wafers and Smarties
Jelly Belly bubble gum
Pop Rocks candy
SENCLander mailing around May 9, 2006, to Tal Afar, 6 boxes
2 boxes (100 ea) of Slim Jims,
36 pkgs Orbit gum,
35 Nature Valley granola bars, 35 Nature Valley trail mix bars,
36 pkgs Welch's dried fruit,
60 pkgs Oreos,
45 tube pkgs Planter's nuts,
4 boxes (10 ea) Country Time lemonade on-the-go,
6 boxes (40 ea) Bigelow tea-in-no-time,
an NFL draft magazine, 3 Cabela's catalogs, and 1 Ducks Unlimited catalog.
STRYKER on the Syrian border needs a lot more stuff, or we could just send these items of kattracks to Mosul instead, and Coop and I could send our lemonade mix and plates and cups to Stryker at the border. And then get a couple volunteers to send food items, like cookies or cans of stacked potato chips.
Kattracks mailing May 15, 2006, to Stryker near Syrian border (but may want to reroute to Mosul instead.
4 pkgs. French's Potato Sticks,
1 lg. box Crunch n' Munch,
10 boxes Slim Jims (5 per),
1 jar Roasted Peanuts (1 lb.),
2 pkgs. Rolets Fried rinds,
1 pkg. Chex Ceddar mix,
pkg. of Chex Cheddar mix
1 tub Kool Aid Cherry mix (makes 8qts.)
tub Kool Aid Tropical Punch mix (makes 8 qts.),
30 Flag plates, 36 cups (12 each R/W/B),
36 Flag napkins
1 tablecloth (blue w/ stars border),
2 Flag balloons,
1 tabletop decoration.
Patriciaruth has these items which could be sent to Stryker at the border
3 canisters (96 qts) Country Time lemonade
10 3x5” flags on wooden sticks
200 flag napkins
212 small flag plates
180 large flag plates
Coops has offered to get 200 16 oz red and maybe some blue plastic cups and maybe some filler food items to send. He could send these to Stryker at the border, too.
Stryker at Mosul
MOSUL
Kattrack could send her package here, and JoyjoyfromNJ could divide her decorations up, and send half to Stryker at the border and half to Mosul
SENClander could help send some food items, like cookies or canisters of stacked potato chips in a box or two.
JoyjoyfromNJ has posted her decoration items, and here they are. She can put these lists together and give us an update of what she’s got and how she’s going to divide them.
200/250 small flag "toothpicks" ; about 6 RWB "star" thin wire garlands (18 to 25 yards each); 4 RWB-flag banner/pennants (12 feet each)
Updated decoration list for Mosul from memory:
LOTS of flag picks (300+); 5 metallic flag banners, approx 11 ft each; 1 flag banner 12 feet; 1 plastic "bunting" banner, approx 12 ft;10 RWB wire garlands approx 18 to 25 ft each; 200 napkins;70 RWB "chinese" yo-yo's (they flick in and out from a stick);5 RWB tablecloths. Will be checking out another party supply store this afternoon and will post updates, probably tomorrow afternoon. I'm aiming to get this all in the mail Saturday May 13. Will post when mailed
a 500 ft roll of RWB crepe streamer and 7 bags of RWB balloons (15 total balloons per bag)
I'm going shopping tomorrow evening. Let me know if there's anything else specifically needed (besides the cups). Otherwise I'm just gonna use my judgment as to what they might enjoy for a party.
Your judgment sounds good to me.
Let us know what you get, and then we'll get a volunteer to fill in extras.
You are amazing Patty!
Thank you so much for all your hard work.
:-D
Thanks. Do you know if my destination has a microwave?
I got a request for home made cookies and brownies.
Ack! I can't cook!
Hi Coop!
Howdy! Break down and bribe a friend/family member to bake the brownies and cookies! :-)
They are living in tents there with limited electricity and very little internet access. I assume that means no microwave.
Good idea!
How do we keep them fresh without shrink wrapping, and preservatives?
Hey patti,
Believe it or not, I still have 2 big boxes of popcorn that don't expire til the end of June. If you freepmail me the addresses I'll send them out with this batch.
omegatoo
We can't send homebaked stuff to our APO's because of the time delay and for security reasons.
Most homebaked cookies sent to Iraq come moldy.
We can only send commercially wrapped cookies and brownies with an outdate of at least 1 month ahead.
Double Ziploc 'em, and have the boxes pre-addressed and ready to go prior to baking. As soon as they cool, load 'em and ship 'em! :-)
Thanks, that helps. Jiffy Pop instead of microwave popcorn! :-)
BUY some good quality commercial brownies and cookies in boxes with an outdate of at least one month ahead of your mailing date.
It is nuts to do otherwise.
Terrific!
Send them to Tal Afar! I just promised them some popcorn. I was going to get about 50 bags to use as filler for some TV series boxed sets I'm sending them. Your boxes will complete the amount needed perfectly!
FReepmail coming.
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