Our troops in the middle east

Hi, I have a son in the middle east and he will be there at Christmas and he will get plenty of gifts from home but there are thousands of our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. My bank is collecting items that the soldiers have said they need most of. Please if someone in your comminity is collecting to send to the troops please contribute.

If no one is collecting and you would like to contribute please send to me and I will deliver to my bank for them to send to the troops. These are very minor things that they need and it would not cost much to buy or mail

Here is a list of what they would like to receive from us.

sunscreen
saline nasal spray
moisturizing eye drops
chapstick with sunscreen
anti-bacterial gel
anti-bacterial wipes
SOFT toilet tissue
toiletries and personal hygiene
pre-sweetened drink mix (kool-aid, gatorade, etc.)
hard candy
jerky
slim jims
summer sausage
squeeze cheese
chocolate melts, cookies, cakes and crackers
music
dvd's
newspapers
magazines
phone cards
letters, post cards and greeting cards written from us.

If anyone would like my address, please email me.

Thank you
Vi

Vi,
Hi, I live in Gulfport. What bank is doing it? Maybe there is a branch here that is also collecting.
Thanks
Jen

Hi Vi, My SIL is home for now, but came home in March from being in Iraq for a year. He received many "care" packages from home, church, friends, etc and it is what kept him going sometimes. I always packed much extra of many things for him to share with other soldiers that may not have a family. Of course, I knew what they needed but thanks for sharing this again. It looks my SIL will be going again. I wish them all Godspeed. In His Love, Kathy

What a great idea and thank you for the list. I think I'll organize the collection of items for a box (or two or three) of goodies to go to overseas from my 3rd grade Bible class. We have members of our congregation stationed in Iraq, and if we can fill up some boxes for them and their friends over there, plus some homemade cards from the class, I think that would be a great way to help "my girls" experience just how good it feels to know you've helped cheer someone else.

Hi Jen, it is the Keesler Credit Union that is doing it, they have a box at the door that you can put your items in.

Thanks,
Vi

What a wonderful project!! During the time our church had several members with relatives in Iraq, we sent boxes several different times to each of them. Additionally, my nephew had sent me the names & addresses of some of his buddies who were not getting ANY mail or packages from home and we also sent individual boxes to them since he had told me how much it meant to them to receive mail at "mailcall" and how depressing it was not to get anything addressed to you.

Great!! We have a branch not too far from home (i bank their, lol). I need to go in today and i'll see if they have a drop box or if they have plans on getting one.
Thanks for passing it on
Jen

How wonderful this is.. a few days ago, I sent out a box with some goodies to my son's buddies in Iraq, but your list has great stuff on it and I wish i had seen it before I sent it off.. Gosh, these guys really need this stuff too. I need to see if our banks have drop boxes too. I am so happy to hear that outside businesses are taking care of some of this, sometimes families do not have the funds to pay for the postage involved in sending a 15 pound box. Antoinette

Hi Antoinette, even a little something means a lot to our guys, I think we should do all we can to let them know we have not forgotton them.
Vi

stetchworth, I wanted to give you an update and thank you. Your post helped start a small chain reaction. We identified 8 servicemen and women who would not be home for the holidays, each of whom were somehow related (family or friend) to someone in our congregation.

My class brought in several of the items on this list, and the news got out to our congregation, which also pitched in. By Sunday night, we had enough items to fill a large box for each of these 8 people, and the packed boxes were sent out Monday, along with cards and well-wishes from members of our church.

We agreed the next challenge is to remember our troops need stuff year-round, not just at the holidays. We're looking at ways to make sure that we continue to send care packages throughout the year, with enough items in each box so they can share with others stationed with them.

Thanks again!
Terry

Our local library is also collecting items as well as our church.
It is such a small donation to those who are giving so much. Funny thing, the Louisiana boys and girls are all wanting some creole/cajun seasoning and hot sauce!

Please remember that unless the package is addressed to a specific individual, it will not be delivered. Because of security concerns and the large volume of mail, the military will not accept anything addressed to "Any Soldier." The military support group that I volunteer with collects names and addresses of local servicemen and -women so we can be sure the stuff gets overseas. Once there, the soldiers always share with their buddies. If you have someone in the military overseas, ask them to give you names and addresses of their fellow soldiers - many of them never receive any mail at all and would welcome a card or letter from a kind stranger.

Amaryllisgal, that's a good point - we did make sure we had specific names and addresses for our packages.

It's terribly sad to think there could actually be men and women serving our country who have no-one to write or keep in touch with them. Surely every man or woman over there has some connection - immediate or extended family, friends, church, work, school, club or organization....someone, somewhere who can and should write them a note occasionally, and get their name on a list for an organized effort to send packages if they can't do it alone.

Yes, Terry it's sad, but true. One of the parents in our group read us a letter from her son (stationed in Iraq) the other night and he mentioned this very subject. It's a shock to hear that so many soldiers don't get regular correspondence, but it's a good thing to know - now we can try to do something about it!

This message was edited Nov 24, 2004 4:06 PM

If you can I would encourage you to find out the names/addresses of specific units/people rather than contribute to these general collections.

If you can't do this then by all means do contribute to the general collections.

The reason I say this is that those donations given to general collections are usually sent to a centralized depot and dispursed from there. Many of the folks who get nothing are those folks who are engaged in forward operations and/or move around alot so they get bypassed. By addressing a package specifically to an individual it will get to them regardless of where they are. One thing you can do is send a bunch of stuff and include a note requesting that the contents be shared with the squad/platoon.

When I was in Saudi for Gulf War 1 as a Marine I never got any care package EXCEPT for those sent to members of my unit who then shared. This was because I was a grunt and was always on the move or stationed somewhere remote rather than a large base.

Just something to think about, but this should not be construed as an excuse to send nothing.

Thank you all for your advice, my son is over there and I send packages frequently with enough that he can share with the others he works with. Please also remember to send christmas cards to let them know we care, it still only cost 37 cents to mail there the same as if you were mailing it to your next door neighbour.

Thank you all
Vi

As some of you know, I volunteer at the Widowed Support Group here at our Army Base. We sent out packages back in September. I asked the gal at the Chapel today if she found out if they had received it or not....she said "I know it got on the pallet".

I talked to a young soldier recently who had been to Iraq many times. I asked him what they REALLY wanted and how to send it.

He told me that the boxes are all sent to Bagdad...then when they get a pallet full going to a unit...they are sent out.

We had filled 2 boxes (big), and Taco Bell had given us a FULL case of Taco Hot sauce. The boy told me that one box would go to one unit, the other box to another....so...we should have made up small boxes of identical goodies so each until would get a packaage of Kool-Tie, and goodies, and they love the hot sauce!!

Here are some of the things he mentioned they would like:

Magazines...Time, Newsweek, sports & Life ...and I'd say some mags for the ladies too.

Batteries...AA and AAA (they can get the larger ones from civilian run PX's)

Razors

Beef Jerky

Life Savers

Corn Chips (they get potato chips but not corn chips)

Hot Chocolate mix, and drink mixes

Kool-Ties

This is just some of the things that would be welcome.......don't forget the HOT SAUCE...ask Taco Bell for some.

Jo
Edited for a spate of bad spelling...LOL

This message was edited Nov 24, 2004 3:57 PM

Good thread....great thoughts and ideas.

I don't have any relatives over there so where would one get some names and addresses? Heck, I'd send a few things! Might even throw in something humorous along w/the eats!

Jo, that's good to know; I'll add batteries to the next list we prepare.

I think we sent quite a bit of jerky and "slim jims" along with current magazines and lifesavers candies. (Plus eyedrops, hand sanitizer, chapstick with SPF protection, toilet paper, non-chocolate cookies, etc.)

GREAT idea on the taco sauce packets - I never woulda thought of that, but of course, it's a perfectly portable size and probably helps jazz up those MRE's....

Shoe...or anyone else that wants to participate...we at the Widowed Support Center are going to send another package(s) out after the Christmas Holidays (too late to send for Christmas now)....any one that would like may send me money and I can buy stuff here to put in the box. That would save postage...since we send ours through the Chaplain's office we don't have to pay the postage.

When we sent the packages before most of the things were donated by the kind people here on DG...and it was noted in the boxes that they came from DG members.

P.S. Our Chaplains Office said not to send flea collars as they caused rash on some of the soldiers.

That sounds good. I was also hoping to get a "Pen pal" going though also...so someone over there would get mail that wasn't getting any.
.

HMMMM....I'll ask about that from our Chaplains next week...Thanks for the idea. Jo

--- I don't have any relatives over there so where would one get some names and addresses? ---

Generally you can simply call local churches and civic organizations and ask if any of their members are overseas in Iraq. There are so many over there that it is a pretty safe bet you won't have to make too many calls. From them you can get names and addresses. I don't know what kind of policy the armed forces have these days in regards to giving out names, but a call to a recruiter's office would be another place to look. Many hometown newspapers will also occasionally mention local folks who are in Iraq.

DaveA-I will give that one a try. The National Guard could not give info-contributed to one fo the drives, but would like to send to a local folk-if not from here-would check back to see if there is someone in Afganistan who would like to share a package with others in camp. Cold or hot this time of year-anyone know?
We are collecting $$ for the families of wounded soldiers-so they can visit their loved ones-helping at least one (we heard of ) get better.

Thanks, DaveA.

Our local paper just came out today (yes, it only come out once a week!)...I'll check it out! Good tip. Thanks.

I would like to get a couple names to write to that doesn't get much mail also.

Ruth

I will try and see if we can...next week....Chapel is closed today. Jo

DH and I began participating back in August to a group callled http://soldiertomovies.org. Our office got together and shipped out several boxes in late September and again in October. Our boxes included not only the movies, etc but all the other 'necessary's we could think of. We've gotten to know the founder, Bernie and his wife; the photos they send us from the various bases have really been great :)

I passed along the request to Bernie yesterday from Horseshoe and others about soldiers who aren't getting much mail and am pleased at his response today. He's a great guy and if you want to contact him directly, feel free. If he sends me some addresses of guys or gals, I'll pass them along here, if OK.

I'm so happy to see this thread! Our office just sent off boxes for the holidays - Christmas stockings, decorations, movies, music, and lots of goodies. If you have a name and address, it's still not too late to send a package or card in time for the holidays to some locations. Here are a few links with great information about mailing restrictions, tips, and deadlines.

http://www.usps.com/cpim/ftp/bulletin/2003/html/pb22098/apofpo.html
http://www.usps.com/communications/news/press/2003/pr03_018.htm
http://www.usps.com/communications/news/press/2004/pr04_060.htm

Here's a real nice thank you message our office just received :)

Wow! What a great gift to those folks over there, eh? They must've had the time of their life on Thanksgving Day. A success story in the true sense, eh?

Thanks for the update, Dea!

Dea...that is so heart warming...makes you tingle....ya'll did good! Jo

Jo please send me a pen pal name too. I would love to show a little kindness to someone who would appreciate it.

Tina

My son's been over there since Sep. This is the first holiday season away from home as well. Having done a career in the Navy, I can attest to the importance of receiving even a card, much less a package when forward deployed.

He too has listed batteries, 100w lightbulbs, dvds and 550 cord.

So please participate in any local mailings or letter drives. It means so much.

8ftbed...you stand a better chanch of getting us some Pen Pals through your son. He should know some guys in his outfit that would love to have a Pen-pal back home. How about asking him for volunteer Pen pals for us!! Jo

OK, I'll ask. Response is erratic although they do get access to internet some times. That's how he sent me his team shot.

That would be GREAT!! Thanks. Jo

I'm very very surprised I got a response back already.
Here are the names of his "flight", in the group picture above. (F) = Female
When he first went over, he told us not to include his rank on any mail. So I'd recommend just listing the last name and initial if given.
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moved to bottom of list
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This message was edited Dec 2, 2004 3:27 PM

A local radio station here is having a phone home for Christmas Drive. . They are sending Phone Cards to the troops. They do so much for us, it is a small token of appreciation. My new SIL to be will be in the Air Force in 2005.

OH MY! How wonderful...now I think each of us should post the name we are taking for our personal Pen-pal...so one doesn't get picked too many times, and another left out....maybe 8ftbed will keep a list of who picks whom. If we are not to use the rank...then some of them will need a first name or initial. Jo