Found via Cool Mom Picks (via Fairly Odd Mother), these military support groups will accept your candy for care packages for our troops:

• Any Soldier
• Operation Shoebox
• Operation Gratitude (you have to ship to California, first)

They also have some great children’s charities listed if you’d prefer to drop off your remaining candy locally.

Some local dentists are also hosting candy “buy back” programs, giving out stickers, toothbrushes, and even sometimes cash for the candy and then taking the boxes of sweets and donating them for you.

To send Valentines to Veterans, you can locate a facility through the VA Home Page. This is a great project to do with kids! If you have a facility nearby, you can call and ask if you can deliver them in person.

Stars and Stripes Valentines

The deadline (late January) for printed Valentines in Stars and Stripes has passed, but you can still get in the online Valentine’s section. I sent one two years ago for the print version for DH and he loved it.

Care Packages

Here’s the care package I sent my soldier while he was deployed during Valentine’s Day. What have you sent/are sending? Share your tips!!!

Nestle has some Tips for Sending Baked Goods. Others suggest adding a slice of bread to absorb excess moisture and wrapping in tin foil. I’ve also heard that Pringles containers make for good packaging. I found a food sealer was awesome for cookies, but squished the brownies too much.

Agencies and Organizations

Soldier’s Angels and Any Soldier can match you with a soldier. Businesses, groups, and schools may want to consider Adopting a Platoon.

USO Operation Care Package enables you to make a donation–they pack and ship for you and you can still send a personal message with your package.

Please add some other ways to show our troops some Valentine’s love that we can either do this year or put on our calendar for next year!

There is not much around here. I guess the Irish did not make it this far inland.

I baked some cookies. I tried to make shamrocks, but I put them too close together and did not make them thick enough. Since I figured they still tasted fine, I included them. I added some chocolate chips and some M&M cookies. I vacuum sealed individual packs of these three types for each of the soldiers and then vacuum sealed some extras to pass around.

At Hobby Lobby I picked up shamrock gift bags and stuffed these with the cookies, a shamrock pencil, and a sample sized Irish Spring. Predictably, DH said the guys asked if I thought they smelled. The St. Paddy’s connection was too cute to pass up, though, and…well…they probably could use the soap. I mean, I know I would stink in their circumstances and we all know women always smell like rose gardens, baby powder, and banana bread.

I would have loved to have found some individual servings of Lucky Charms and maybe a four leaf clover key chain or some such, but no such luck. That was an unintentional pun, but I think I will leave it in and end on that note.

UPDATE: I’m putting this post on top because I’d really like some votes, people! Thanks!

There are some great sites out there with Care Package Themes. Here are some more CARE Package ideas that I’ve come up with.

As an FRG, we’ve already sent out the cookies and we are getting a combo Movie/Game Night package ready. “Work it Out” was DH’s idea.

Let me know which ones you like the best and if you have other items you’d add to these packages or additional themes your soldier has enjoyed!

1. Work It Out!: sneaker balls; deodorant; gatorade powder; hydroxycut; power bars; cheap headphones; cheap tape players; workout CDs/Tapes; white gym socks (no logo)

2. Cookie Mania: everyone bakes a batch and we vacuum seal them

3. Night at the Movies: Inexpensive or pre-viewed DVD movies; stovetop popcorn; individual size movie-candy packs; entertainment magazines (like Rolling Stone); add favorite movie quotes to a poster; take pics of kids/do DVD recording with star shape in background and with sunglasses

4. Game Night: Poker Chips; Board Games; Packs of Cards; handheld games and puzzles; nut mix; snack packs

5. Texas Misses Y’all (adjust for your own state): Buy a stack of Texas postcards for people to fillout at the meeting (for their own and other soldiers); include pictures of favorite area spots; pralines or pecan cookies or muffins; Texas pens; Texas stationery; Longhorn stuff; anything useful with a Texas theme; hot sauce; BBQ sauce

6. Breakfast in Bed: Breakfast Bars, Individual Cereal Snack Packs, Powdered Juice Mix, Coffee, hot/cold mugs (saw them for $1 at Walmart), muffins; powdered creamer; instant oatmeal; poptarts

Upcoming Seasonal:

7. Winter Wonderland (may not translate around here ): hot cocoa mix; cider mix; winter cookies; have older kids/parents make and sign paper snowflakes and paste to construction paper; chapstick; hot/cold mugs (saw them for $1 at Walmart); marshmallows

8. Luck O’ the Irish: make a “kiss me I’m Irish” poster with shamrocks and kisses; send hershey kisses if still cool enough out; goodluck charms; St. Patrick’s themed cookies

9. Take Me Out to the Ball Game: Cracker Jacks; Peanuts; Sports Illustrated Magazine and other sports magazines; sports highlights DVDs; gum with basball cards; Nerf Balls; beef jerky; favorite team pennants

10. Are You Ready for Some Football?: Highlights DVDs, Sports Magazines, Team Pennants; Regulation and Nerf Footballs; pretzels and chips and salsa; posters of cheerleaders

While there are always things that might make DH’s deployment easier and more comfortable, both of us want for very little.

So, these offers of help always makes me think of the soldiers who do not have such a large, loving group of family and friends.

Remember that our troops are adults who volunteered (or at least re-enlisted or continued their commitment) during wartime. Even so, these warriors who fight for our nation deserve our support (regardless of our political beliefs).

The Soldier You Know

If you know a soldier, many soldiers are comforted by news from home, well wishes from friends and family, and images of their home town.

Take some pictures and get everyone to write a message on the back of the photograph. Gather up some local products that will ship well and send a care package.

If you do not know a soldier, there are programs that will match you with soldiers (such as Any Soldier or Soldier’s Angels).

Send Letters and Packages

Regardless of whether you are offering your support to an old friend or a new friend you found on a website, do not underestimate the value of a simple letter. Soldiers like to know that we are behind them and appreciate their loyalty and their sacrifices.

Postage is the same as sending anything to a domestic destination. Letters and packages tend to arrive more reliably (anecdotally) through priority mail. Priority mail is not much more costly than regular 1st class and can make the difference in your package arriving and arriving in a timely manner. Packages may take up to 20 days, but I spoke with a postal worker whose son is deployed and he said most packages arrive in 10-12 days.

Since some will want to send more, there are a number of websites that provide suggestions and possible theme ideas for CARE packages.

Iraq now has a number of P/X (Post Exchanges) that sell most of the items soldiers need. So, as per this article posted at The Patriette, sending specialty or local products is more in need now than razors and baby wipes. At the same time, some soldiers are not near a P/X and would still appreciate those essentials. Soldiers also share and any care package will be put to good use. When in doubt, just ask!

Pressurized items should not be sent through the mail and some items are prohibited to our troops in theater, such as alcohol or pornography.

Baking

For the bakers out there, Nestle has some Tips for Sending Baked Goods. Others suggest adding a slice of bread to absorb excess moisture and wrapping in tin foil. I’ve also heard that Pringles containers make for good packaging. I have bought a food sealer to use for our Family Readiness Group (FRG)–I am the co-leader.

Remember that chocolate does not survive well in the Middle East.

Agencies and Organizations That Help

If you are still unsure of what to purchase, USO Operation Care Package takes the guess work out of sending a care package. You donate money and they pack and ship and you can still send a personal message with your package.

If you have a company or an entire school or town who would like to maximize your donations, consider Adopting a Platoon.

Beyond the Mail

If Care Packages are not quite your cup of tea, there are a ton of other ways to help. Remember when donating to a charity to do your research:

Operation Hero Miles allows you to donate your unused airline miles so troops can fly home free and family members can visit wounded soldiers for free.

Valour-it provides wounded soldiers with voice-activated laptops while they are hospitalized.

The Fisher House is a home-away-from home for the families of seriously ill or injured soldiers receiving treatment.

Beyond Active Duty Troops

Please also do not forget the children of our fallen warriors and our veterans.

Donate to the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) or send a Valentine to Any Veteran.

Here are some more ways to help.

As you can see, whether you have prayers, time, or money to spare, there are a variety of meaningful ways to support our troops.

Updates:

Cell Phones For Soldiers: They hope to provide as many soldiers as possible with prepaid calling cards for now, with an ultimate goal of providing banks of satellite phones, video phones and VOIP communications. Through generous donations and the recycling of used cell phones from drop-off sites across the country, they have already distributed thousands of calling cards to soldiers in Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, and elsewhere.

No answer.

Called again later. Someone picked up after two rings (WOW!) and put me through to a nurse. The nurse said this is normal… if the pain is severe and sustained and/or is accompanied by bleeding, that is a problem.

So, I went about my errands. I finally got all of DH’s equipment off and sent my first CARE package. (DH, if you are looking, stop reading)

This is a food one–powdered gatoraid, pretzels, summer sausage and cheese pack, Starbucks coffee, spices, etc.

The next one will be a sports package. A 1st Cav guy told me that one of the best packages they received contained footballs, soccer balls, and frisbees.

I also baked cookies (not for DH, I’m waiting until he gets to his final destination for that to ensure maximum freshness) for my Daddy. A couple of years ago, Daddy complained that since I moved out, we haven’t made Christmas chocolate chip cookies together. Now, I do not remember this tradition, but I went along with it last year and baked him some yummy cookies. This year, I am sending them with the 4th ID gifts.

I’m such a Daddy’s girl.

DH was able to IM and webcam tonight so I got a real treat. I have not been getting much work one with all these errands and the pregnancy exhaustion so I should get some work done.