Reminders and Popcorn

First, just want to point out that you only have a few more days to enter my giveaway!  Come on, it's really easy and the competition is light.  You can totally take them.

Second, I also want to mention that the deadline is approaching to submit your holiday cards to Holiday Mail for Heroes.  Remember, send holiday cards to them, not to "Any Recovering Soldier c/o Walter Reed Hospital."  For the details, click here.  And when you see someone on your Facebook friends list, Twitter feed, and other places telling others to send the cards to Walter Reed Hospital, please give them the corrected information.  The cards they send to WRH will only be destroyed unopened.

Moving on, the remainder of this post is chiefly directed at my local readers.  So the rest of you can go get some coffee or something.

Some months ago, I posted about my love for a local movie theater, the Roxy, which is also a historical landmark.  As I mentioned in that other post, I've been going to the Roxy for as long as I can remember.  The movies are just three bucks a pop and the refreshments are priced similarly.  It's a beloved part of our regional landscape.

I belong to their mailing list, so every week I get an update about their upcoming shows.  The current email reminded me about one of the neat things they do every year, and I'm passing it on for those who don't know.

Every year, the Roxy shows a family-friendly Christmas movie at no charge.  One night, one showing.  No admission fee.  The catch?  Every person who shows up to see the film must bring a non-perishable food item, which is then used to stock the shelves at the Northampton Area Food Bank.  This year, they will be showing The Polar Express, starring Tom Hanks, on Thursday, December 8th at 7:30 p.m.  The doors will open at 7:00 p.m. 

So, to recap:  good movie, free admission, just bring a can of soup or vegetables so that someone less fortunate than yourself gets to enjoy a hot meal this winter.  Could this be any more of a win-win situation?  I think not!  Spread the word!

Just Some Reminders

The survey is still open.

Please remember to tell other people about NOT sending holiday cards to Walter Reed Hospital.

Those are the two most pertinent matters. Happy Halloween!

Walter Reed: The Return of the Holiday Mail

This is one blog post that I can honestly say I have been planning to make all year.

Last November, as long-time readers of the blog may recall, I jumped at the chance to spread the word about Holiday Mail for Heroes, which allows us all to send holiday greeting cards to soldiers recovering in military hospitals.  It remains the single most widely-read post I've ever written on the blog, and I'm hoping that means that a lot of people actually sent cards.  I even got a thank-you comment from the staff at Walter Reed Hospital.

Here's the thing.  Very soon, well-meaning but ill-informed people will begin suggesting to their Twitter followers, Facebook friends, and other social media connections that "when writing out your Christmas cards this year, address one to Any Recovering Soldier at the Walter Reed Hospital!"

NO.  DO NOT DO THAT.

Sorry for the caps, but I can't stress this enough.  Mail addressed to "Any Recovering Soldier" at any military hospital will be destroyed unopened.  Like most prevalent urban myths, there's truth to this one; years ago, you could legitimately do this and the mail would reach a soldier in need of some holiday cheer.  In recent years, however, that practice has been discarded because there's too much of a chance to send something unpleasant through the mail.

Instead, send your cards to the Holiday Mail for Heroes program, which is run by the American Red Cross.  They will see to it that a hospitalized soldier or sailor will receive your good wishes.  Just make sure everything you send adheres to their guidelines:

• Sign all of your cards.
• Do not enclose anything - no photos, money, business cards, religious tracts, anything.  All inserts will be removed and thrown away.
• Do not include any contact information. 
• Use a generic greeting, like "Dear Service Member." 
• No letters - cards only.
• Participants should limit the number of cards they submit to 25 from any one person or 50 from any one class or group. If you are mailing a large quantity, please bundle the cards and place them in large mailing envelopes. Each card does not need its own envelope, as envelopes will be removed from all cards before distribution.  (This one I copied verbatim from the site.)
• NO GLITTER.  It poses too much of a threat to patients with respiratory ailments.

Once you've got all your cards together, pack them up as described above and send them to:

Holiday Mail For Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

Make sure your cards are postmarked no later than Friday, December 9, 2011 in order to ensure timely delivery to the recipients.

Please spread the word!  Let's get the correct information out there ahead of the prevalent mistake, and maybe Walter Reed Hospital won't have so many cards to throw away this year.

Walter Reed and the Holiday Mail Snafu

You're probably wondering why on earth I'm doing a second blog post for today, and it's not an unreasonable question. I'm doing this tonight instead of saving it for Monday because it's a bit time-sensitive, and if it had reached my notice this morning, I would have written this post earlier and saved the holiday music for Monday. But while perusing my Facebook friends list after work tonight, I caught sight of something that needed addressing, so here we go. Call this a special edition of It Seemed Like a Good Idea at the Time. Once again, a certain rumor is making rounds on the internet, one which appeals to the best intentions of American citizens but unfortunately doesn't work.

I am, of course, speaking of the pervading myth concerning sending holiday cards to the soldiers recovering at Walter Reed Hospital.

It's been said that if you send a holiday card to the hospital addressed to "Any Recovering Soldier, "An American Soldier," or something along those lines, the cards will be distributed to the patients. Once upon a time, this was probably true. However, for some years now, this has not been the case. Because of increased security concerns, the hospital will not distribute mail which is not addressed to a specific individual.

If you don't believe me, I refer you to our good friends at Snopes.com, who make it their lives' mission to sniff out and prove or disprove the most persistent of internet rumors. Here's the official word they have received from Walter Reed officials:

Walter Reed Army Medical Center... will not be accepting these packages in support of the decision by then Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Transportation Policy in 2001. This decision was made to ensure the safety and well being of patients and staff at medical centers throughout the Department of Defense.

Uh, in non-legalese, don't do it.

That's not to say that sending these cards is a bad idea. In fact, it's a great idea -- it's an ideal project for classrooms, Scout troops, church youth groups, and anybody else with time and postage on their hands. You just have to do it through the proper channels.

One such approved channel is the American Red Cross. Their program, Holiday Mail for Heroes, is designed to make this whole thing easier on the well-meaning citizen. All cards must be postmarked no later than Friday, December 10th of this year (cards postmarked later than that will be returned), so that they have enough time to sort and distribute the cards before the holidays. They provide a few other details too:

• Include heartfelt sentiments and sign all the cards
• Address the cards with generic terms such as "Dear Service Member, Family or Veteran"
• Limit yourself to 15 cards sent by one person, or 50 sent by a group
• Bundle groups of cards in single large envelopes
• Do NOT use glitter!
• Do not provide personal information like home or email addresses
• Do not enclose letters, care packages, monetary gifts, or any sort of insert, all of which will be removed during the screening process

Once you've double-checked that your cards fulfill all these requirements, bundle them up and mail them off to:

Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

Debbie Tenzer of Do One Nice Thing also recommends sending cards to Warrior and Family, an organization dedicated to helping military families. Abide by the same guidelines as the Red Cross, and send the cards to:

Warrior and Family Support Center
3138 Rawley Chamber
San Antonio, TX 78219

Please, please -- if anyone you know has been encouraging people to send cards to Walter Reed addressed to recovering soldiers, let them know not to do this. The cards get destroyed unopened. Link them to this post, or to the Holiday Mail for Heroes website.

And to those of you who take the trouble to send these cards to our recovering soldiers, thank you.