Send our Troops some Freebies

[goodiegurl]

Thought this would be a nice thing to do..hey Troops need freebies too right? This is a new part of Operation Shoebox designed for the men and women overseas.I did this myself and urge whoever can to brighten their day with some goodies.If you can't afford postage they will cover it for you :)I figuire alot of us have these things at home or have gotten some as freebies.

http://www.abcactionnews.com/iraq/shoebox.shtml

Now is the time to take action for our troops. ABC Action News has teamed up with Operation Shoebox in an effort to get much-wanted supplies to U.S. soldiers in the Middle East.

What do I do?
Find an empty box or pick up a free box from the post office. Find items to place in your box, along with a letter of encouragement to the soldier who will receive it. Use the list below as a guideline.
Finally, send your box to Operation Shoebox at P.O. Box 311535, Tampa, FL, 33680 and they will get it to the troops. Donations of postage are also very welcomed.

What to send:
Advil
Baby Wipes
Batteries- AA and D cell
Beef Jerky
Candy- no chocolate please
Chapstick
Cookies
Dental Floss
Deodorant
Disposable Razors
Disposable Cameras
Electrical Tape
Envelopes
Eye Drops
Gum
Hot Chocolate Mix
Instant Coffee
Paper
Pencils
Pens
Playing Cards
Power Bars / Gatorade Bars
Pre-packaged Snacks
Pre-Paid Phone Cards
Pre-Sweetened Drink Mixes
Q-Tips
Sand Flea Repellent
Shaving Cream (non-aerosol)
Soap
Stamps
Sunflower Seeds
Sunscreen
Toilet Paper
Toothbrushes
Toothpaste
Wet Ones
Ziploc Bags (any size)



What NOT to send:
Please do not mail illegal substances, alcoholic beverages, explosives (including fireworks), or any offensive or obscene materials, including photos, drawings or material which may have the potential to offend members of the opposite sex, members of another race, background, nationality or ethnicity.

Packaging tips:
Keep the weight to less than one pound. Keep the packages small (no bigger than a shoebox). Larger packages take longer to be delivered and are cumbersome for soldiers to haul. The U.S. Postal Service offers free boxes for Priority Mail. You can also order free boxes from the USPS online store. The recommended size is the #4 or #7 box.

Use plastic bags with zip-style closures for everything. They keep out sand and rain and resourceful Marines are re-using them for all sorts of things. If you're shipping a liquid or items that are likely to melt or drip (Chapstick, deodorants, chocolate), be sure to put it into a tightly sealed plastic bag first.

Where do I send my package?
Operation Shoebox
P.O. Box 311535
Tampa, FL 33680

Contributions toward postage can help. As little as $3.85 pays for one box

[3_peas]

We do something like this at Christmas time with our church called Samaratains Purse. We put items in a shoe box for children 2 and up and it gets sent over seas to needy chilren. Itmes such as a hairbrush and comb, soap, toothbrushes, toothpaste, a washcloth. a coloring book and crayons hard candy pretty much just like whats on the list of items to send to our troops. What a wonderful thing to do for them. Thanks for the post and I hope that all of you reading this will do the same. They surely deserve our love and support. May God bless them and bring them ALL home safe.







God Bless our American Troops fighting the war. May God keep you safe and bring you home. Amen. God Bless America!!

[NatureGirl]

GoodieGurl ~ This is AWESOME ... thanks for sharing it here. The only tough part is going to be keeping the package under 1lb! :)

NatureGirl

[seawinds]

I just mailed one of these to my cousin and it cost almost 20.00 man I had it packed....It was about the size of a shoe box,but it was heavy..LOL I sent enought for him to share....

[redrig]

I'll put my box together tonight!

[kerri_nc]

cool I will get a box together this week and mail it out! thanks for letting us know :)

[wvinmt]

Just thought I would mention that this is a great idea but please remember not to send your packages to "ANY SERVICE MEMBER." Please send care packages to service members you know but include a little extra for those that you don't. Let them know what the extras are for.

I work in the official mail room on an military base and due to DOD policy we cannot accept these packages for mail out. If you live near a base, contact the Family Support Office or the Base Public Affairs office to have items donated and they will give them out to the service members who are deploying from there.

Here is a link to the official reason:http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Mar2003/b03222003_bt139-03.html


I hate to rain on everyones parade. Listed below are a number of links that you can use to get a message to deployed service members.

http://www.defendamerica.mil/support_troops.html

http://www.usocares.org/home.htm

http://www.army.mil/operations/iraq/faq.html

Please continue to support out service men and women.

[pumamomma]

Dido, I don't want to rain on anyones parade either but I heard on the news that you can not just send a box of stuff to the troops. It needs to be sent directly to an organization. They will package it properly & will make sure it gets to them. Another thing is that there are soooo many things out there (operation this or that) to send to troops who knows what is legit or not. Some of these might just be hoaxs. Just giving a heads up on the twisted world we live in. So the safe way would be to go through an organization that is well known or publicized. Thanks. Have a good day & God Bless all.

[bearangel]

As stupid as this sounds The beef jerky has to be pure beef. No pork products. Pork is not allowed over seas. From what my father in law who is a Colonel in the army says. Just a heads up.
Thanks

[buffyb]

I looked all over the usps site to order boxes and i cannot find it. If anyone has the exact site please email me druantia25@aol.com

[MRSPTA06]

About 3 or 4 months ago, I realized that I had waaaay too many sample sized products. I got many of them free on the freebie websites. So I got them all out of the big boxes that they were stored in and told my family that we had to use them, and we did. Now I wish we hadn't and I could have sent all of those things to the troops. Oh well, I am always a day late and a dollar short!

[fluffone]

Just to let you know that care packages can no longer be sent to the military in the area of Kuwait, Iraq and the war area at this time. I received notice that they will not be able to deliver the packages and any packages received will be placed on hold until further notice. Please check with the local Postal system for the restrictions that are imposed at this time with APO and other locations. However flat packages such as card and letters still can be sent at this time. Just to pass on the information for all the families that are effected by the news at hand. Just just keep in contact with your local post office for further updates when the restriction will be lifted. Our hopes and prayers go with all the military personnel at this time. The notice came from Adoptaplatoon so check your e-mail boxes for more information.

[ajames05]

Oh I hope the packages can get through! Thanks for the info, but I just mailed one out on Wednesday to a friend of mine in the 101st Airborne (yes, the one on the news!). He needs that stuff! I'll keep checking on it, and thanks for the list of what to send and what not to send...it will come in handy because I plan to send one pack per month. :) I just hope they make it to him!!! :(

[wvinmt]

Its the ANY SERVICE MEMBER and items sent to just a unit address that is being stopped. Any mail piece that is sent to an individual service member by name will continue to go thru.

Please keep the service men and women in your thoughts and prayers. I just found out my cousin is on the ground over there and he is in one of the can't tell you places so the whole family is nervous.

[aerogirl]

I am not sure where all this info is coming from but I mailed my package yesterday to a friend of mine who is in the 101st Airborne Division...The post master would have said something to me if they weren't taking any packages.

[ladybugbhb]

i also think that as long as it is to someone specific, it is going out.

[gaud]

I love this idea. I will do this also, this brought tears to my eyes. I would love to see their faces when they open these gifts and know we care . This will make such a differance.A SUPER GREAT POST

[JKATHERINE]

I sent out 2 packages to Kuwait today and the guy at the post office didn't say a thing about not mailing them so I think as long as they have a specific name, they'll get there. I HAVE heard though, that there are MANY MANY care packages coming from people like me and you and that the military mail is getting clogged up. A lot of the sites like operationshoebox.com as well as radiodelilah.com have taken the names and addresses off of their sites temporarily until the mail is no longer so congested.

[Johnsmom]

I got this from an official website. Evidently, there is the possibility of a safety concern when anonymous people send packages. I guess even someone with ill will could use these types of programs to their advantage. It's sad that the possibility of a few bad apples spoil something as great as this.



I see above how I can support the troops. Is there anything I should not do?
Answer: Yes there are things you should not do. There are many well meaning Web sites, TV stations, and charity groups that are promoting donations to overseas Service members. While well intentioned, you should not use them and you should discourage others from using them. These unsolicited letters of support or care packages to Service members raise a force protection issue, since anonymous donors are different from legitimate family members and friends. DoD has cancelled mail programs which encouraged the American public in general to mail to Any Service member (versus a specific deployed person). These new programs attempt to do the same thing by gathering names of Service members to send mail. While legitimate mail from family members and loved ones is always encouraged, these donor programs, which collect and pass out Servicemembers' names and addresses, is discouraged

[BonitaU]

Until recently you could send care packages to military personnel simply addressed to "Any Military Member" rather than a specific name and rank. Due to terrorist converns, this program was discontinued. Mail and packages addressed to a specific service member will still go through the USPS and military mail system (APO/FPO) although they may slow down a bit through the military.

While I understand that the volume of mail and packages causes more work, they are something that help keep the moral of the troops up during this time.

[Deb-a-Doo]

my sons boy scout pack is doing the shoe boxes and then bringing them to the red cross to deliver