By Dan MacMedan for USA TODAY
Kathleen Vincent hauls a load of Beanie Babies to the assembly line. Troops like to give the stuffed animals to children they encounter in Iraq and Afghanistan.
TO DONATE
For information on how to give holiday donations to troops overseas and their families or to sign a servicemember up to receive a package, contact:
Operation Gratitude
http://www.opgratitude.com/
OpGrat@gmail.com
Give 2 the Troops
http://www.give2thetroops.org/
888-876-6775
Little Patriots Embraced
http://www.littlepatriotsembraced.org/Home.shtml
877-448-3573
Operation Shoe Box
http://www.operationshoebox.com/
352-307-6723
By Marisa Kendall, USA TODAY
Charity organizations across the country have been collecting everything from blowup reindeer and hand-knit scarves to mp3 players and guitars all year long, planning to brighten the holidays for troops deployed far from home.
The task at hand is finding enough money to ship the gifts overseas, organizers say. Postage to Iraq and Afghanistan is almost $100 per box, says Andi Grant, president and founder of Give 2 the Troops. Her Connecticut-based organization sends 70-pound boxes with gifts inside for an entire unit to share. "I need help sending that over," she says.
Grant started Give 2 the Troops eight years ago and says that although the group is "overflowing" with material donations, it is not receiving as much money for shipping costs as it has in previous years. Coming into Thanksgiving week, the organization needed an additional $30,000 to $40,000 to get this year's holiday gifts to the troops, Grant says. The cost can vary greatly depending on the size of boxes shipped.
Florida-based Operation Shoe Box also sees shrinking donations though it gets as many requests from troops as ever, says Mary Harper, president and founder of the organization. "It's harder every year to keep the motivation going," she says.
Since Grant's husband was deployed to Iraq in 2002, Give 2 the Troops has been sending packages to units who register on the organization's website. There are about 75,000 units signed up from all branches of the military, serving mostly in Iraq and Afghanistan, Grant says.
Give 2 the Troops fills boxes with the typical handwritten cards and stockings but includes things the units specifically requested, such as microwaves.
Gifts are especially important as the holidays approach, Grant says. "This is one of the weakest times for our troops because they really miss home," she says.
"Believe me, we really do enjoy getting some of the things from home, no matter how small or how big," Goza says.
Operation Gratitude focuses on sending smaller packages to individual servicemembers overseas. Based in California, the group sends 100,000 packages a year, each containing 150 small items that can be shared with the recipient's unit, says Carolyn Blashek, the organization's founder and president.
This year, each holiday package includes a hand-knit or crocheted scarf, blank holiday cards for the servicemember to send home, beef jerky, protein bars, energy shots, DVDs, socks and more.
Dec. 11 will be Operation Gratitude's last shipping day, on which it will ship its 600,000th box, Blashek says. Each milestone box goes to a randomly selected servicemember with a dramatic surprise such as keys to a new SUV or a vacation in the Caribbean.
"It's really a celebration of the support the country has for the troops," Blashek says.
"All of your gifts bring smiles and sometimes tears to everyone that receives them," Goza says
Read more:
http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/mind-soul/doing-good/2010-11-29-sharing-troop-gifts_N.htm?csp=24
