Soldiers' Angels

I'm a bit of a grumpalupagus right now, because this is the second time I'm writing this blog post. Somehow, my internet signal failing caused the original draft to disappear, even though it was saving as I went. So I'm annoyed. But it is what it is, so on we go.

Today's post is once again courtesy of a signal boost from Debbie Tenzer of Do One Nice Thing. Debbie has alerted her friends and followers to the existence of Soldiers' Angels, an organization providing support and comfort to American military personnel and veterans and their families. If you're looking for a good project either for yourself, your family, or a group (Scout troop, school club, et cetera), this site has plenty of options.

For example, there's their Six Months of Christmas. From June to December, they request contributions each month of a particular item to be included in holiday care packages. For the month of August, they need blankets. Or there's the Cards Plus Team, which sends greeting cards to soldiers, families, and even other Angels for special occasions or in times of need or grief. You can also adopt a soldier, in which you make the commitment to send weekly letters and monthly care packages to the military personnel assigned to you. Or you can just browse the store, where you can purchase items for yourself or deployed military. All purchases benefit the Soldiers' Angels and the store is managed through Amazon.com, so you can shop with confidence.

What Debbie wanted her readers to know about is the program called Operation Comfort Food, which is specifically designed to help the medical teams in Afghanistan. They have to fly injured and sick soldiers to Landstuhl Hospital in Germany, a seven-hour flight with no available food until they reach the hospital - and if the dining services are closed when they arrive, not even then. So the call is going out to request snacks for the patients in transit.

The medics are asking for dried fruit, energy bars, trail mix, beef jerky, nuts, and individual drink mixes - you know, the little pouches that you dump into a bottle of water to turn it into lemonade or iced tea or similar. Important: Please make sure all your contributions remain in their original factory packaging! Individual servings are best. They also request that you enclose a card or note offering your support and good wishes for the soldiers; even if you can't send the package, just the note itself will do some good.

Pack up your contribution and send it to:

Soldiers' Angels
112 Greenhill Road
Ramseur, NC 27316
Attn: Deployed Medical Support Project

Please note that this is not a military address, so please do not use an APO/FPO box for the package. Also, if you want a receipt for tax purposes, be sure to enclose your name and address, and an approximate value for your contribution, and Soldiers' Angels will send you the receipt.

As always, thanks to Debbie for passing the word. Please share this information with anyone you think might be interested!