Free Republic

SIERRA VISTA — The Huachuca Area Republican Women’s Club will be having a collection for troops in Afghanistan on Monday. The collection will take place at their luncheon at the Windemere Hotel and Conference Center. The event begins at 10:30 a.m. “After our successful donation of money for phone cards to our military in Iraq, we decided we wanted to do more,” said Vera Hylsky, the club’s president. They were told donations would soon be needed for troops and Afghanistan. Toiletries, snacks and games are a few of the requested items. Anyone interested in donating or attending the luncheon should...

WASHINGTON, March 31, 2009 – Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus recently presented a $12,636 check to American Recreational Military Services to help the troop-support group ship care packages overseas to deployed servicemembers. The check included a $10,000 donation and a portion of the circus’s four opening-night proceeds from performances in New Jersey and New York earlier this month. “We had been scrambling for months to cover costs as donor fatigue and the economic decline had cut into our donations,” Ronnie Micciulla, executive director at American Recreational Military Services, said. “The average cost for shipping an individual box...

This is a program that sends monthly "care packages" to our soldiers in Forward Operating Bases (F.O.B.s) in Iraq and Afghanistan. They typically do not have local base exchanges or any other access to menial personal items (such as snacks, minimal hygiene items, personal health items). We work directly with Platoon Leaders, Chaplains, Sergeants, and squad commanders to coordinate our efforts and provide the support to those who do not receive packages and mail from home. The average age of the soldiers we support is less than 22 years old. Unclassified pictures have been sent to us and are attached...

The underwear drive didn't surprise members of the congregation at Desert Skies United Methodist Church. They are used to helping out, and underwear was just the latest request from the overseas soldiers. It's all part of Desert Skies' involvement with the national Adopt-a-Chaplain program. The congregation has been involved since 2006, when a group of its women decided to come up with a mission. "We thought about what's significant about our community, and the first thing we thought about was the military," said Jennifer Stivers, 32. Stivers said churchgoers researched Adopt-a-Chaplain and are now helping their third chaplain, Capt. Vincent...

WASHINGTON, Jan. 22, 2009 – A long holiday weekend usually means a new flood of care packages to troops serving overseas, and traditionally those boxes include snack foods such as peanut butter crackers or candy. In light of the growing salmonella outbreak linked to products containing peanut butter, servicemembers are being urged to use caution should they receive these types of snacks. “The ongoing commitment and efforts of citizens to remind the troops that America supports them is phenomenal,” a Defense Department community relations spokeswoman said. “Based on my knowledge of the nonprofit groups that send care packages, I'm...

Michelle Obama is pitching in to help create thousands of care packages for U.S. troops. In keeping with President-elect Barack Obama's call for a national day of community service on Monday, the eve of his inauguration, Michelle Obama and Jill Biden, the wife of Vice President-elect Joe Biden, traveled to RFK Stadium in Washington to help assemble the care packages. Obama daughters Malia and Sasha also helped out.

On the road with the Honoring Heroes at the Holidays Tour going through Texas today.Time is short, so I'm going to post some pictures and info from internal correspondence HELP KEEP OUR PRO-TROOP BUS TOUR ON THE ROADOnly a few days left to collect care packages for our troops We left early this morning from our Super 8 Motel in Fort Stockton, Texas, heading to San Antonio and Austin for rallies today.   The MAF team working around the clock on the bus The Wal Mart stores in Texas have been great to us in allowing us to conduct our rallies right...

MAF Announcing Honoring Heroes at the Holidays IIMove America Forward is thrilled to announce that we are bringing back Honoring Heroes at the Holidays to honor our troops again this Christmas and holiday season! Last year, MAF introduced Honoring Heroes at the Holidays and traveled to cities all over the country. We were so excited by the results that we had to do it again for 2008! Our troops deserve to know that we love and appreciate them! Starting December 13th, we’ll once again be hitting the road to take our message to the people of America who want to...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 5, 2008 – A little piece of Christmas has started to arrive in Iraq and Afghanistan for troops away from home during the holidays. Deployed troops share their Christmas stockings with children. Operation Give, a troop-support group, sent more than 20,000 stockings to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of its annual Operation Christmas Stocking collection. Courtesy photo  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Operation Give’s annual Operation Christmas Stocking collection has sent more than 20,000 Christmas stockings to troops -- with more on the way. “Even in hard times, if we can find a way...

WASHINGTON, Nov. 24, 2008 – Mannheim Steamroller, the recording group famous for putting a new twist on traditional Christmas music, is hoping to spread holiday cheer to the military this season by giving away 1 million CDs to troops and their families. The group and its creator, Chip Davis, have started giving away copies of its multiple Christmas CDs to troops at home and abroad. The group also is giving away copies of its children’s pop-up book, “My Little Christmas Tree.” “Throughout the years, I have had the opportunity to work with many in the armed services,” Davis said. “This...

A U.S. Soldier hands a backpack to a student of the Al Kifah School in the Rusafa district of Baghdad, Nov. 18, 2008. Photo by 1st Lt. Angel Richardson, 926th Engineer Brigade. BAGHDAD — Students of the Al Kifah Girls School in the Rusafa District of Baghdad received much needed school supplies, toys and clothing, Nov. 18, from Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldiers. Lt. Col. Carlton Fisher, chaplain, 926th Engineer Brigade, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, Awatef Fadel, the school principal, and Mohamed Abd Al Rahman, mayor of Rusafa, coordinated the school supply donation. The entire 926th Engineer Brigade Family Readiness...

Greetings Freepers! I'm in Baghdad, Iraq serving with the 403rd Civil Affairs Battalion under the 1st ID at FOB Justice. Ours is a remote post in N Baghdad. It's been quite the experience so far, coming into the military as a strong supporter of the war on terror and seeing things for myself...firsthand! I continue to be very proud of the young men and women serving our great country and you'd be amazed, especially for those of you here in Iraq before me, of the tremendous progress made here and the current state of conditions here. I've been blogging on...

Holiday Mail for Heroes From the front lines to the home front, the American Red Cross provides service members, their families and veterans with the care and assistance they need. The Red Cross is partnering with Pitney Bowes this holiday season for the Holiday Mail for Heroes campaign. For the second year in a row, we’re collecting holiday cards to distribute to American service members, veterans and their families in the United States and around the world. Pitney Bowes is generously donating technology, resources and postage to make this holiday card program possible. Our goal is to collect and distribute...

Letters for the troops Through Dec. 10, the public can send their greeting cards, with adequate postage and a return address, to Holiday Mail for Heroes, P.O. Box 5456, Capitol Heights, Md. 20791-5456. To speed delivery, mailers should not send care packages, money or any inserts, including glitter.

Trail's End has been able to ship 300 tons of popcorn on behalf of the Boy Scouts of America to Iraq and Afghanistan, to Overseas Military Bases, to Domestic Military Bases and to Military Families. Tomorrow is the last day to order so it gets there in time before the holidays. You can order through the Boy Scouts and send some popcorn to the troops and help the boy scouts at the same time. They have an online order system that tracks the orders to the scouts. They don't get any money for the sales they get scout bucs to...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27, 2008 – Whether you are a young soldier leaving boot camp for a tour in Germany or a seasoned military police officer working in Iraq, receiving a care package from home can be a huge pick-me-up. A Web site launched in September provides many ideas to families and friends wanting to send care packages to love ones stationed abroad. Abby Tymchak of Wayne, N.J., was inspired to create the site, called “The Soldiers Family,” when she found out her husband, Army Sgt. Scott Kowalski, was being deployed overseas for at least a year. Initially, she said,...

It's that time of year to send the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan a gift from home and now you can support the troops and the Boy Scouts at the same time. They have an online order system that tracks the orders to the scouts and they don't get any money for the sales they get scout bucs. The scout troop gets 25% of the sale amount in scout bucs to use towards camp or to buy sleeping bags etc.. If you could just order $10 dollars worth they'd appreciate it and if you don't want any pop corn you...

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10, 2008 – Microwavable popcorn, theater-style candy, sweetened powdered drink mix, a letter of support and a DVD are what deployed troops find when they open a “movie box” from Operation: Take a Soldier to the Movies. Troops show off movie boxes from Operation: Take a Soldier to the Movies. Each box contains microwavable popcorn, theater-style candy, sweetened powdered drink mix, a letter of support and a DVD. Photo courtesy of Operation: Take a Soldier to the Movies  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. Bernie and Kathy Hintzke of Milwaukee started the project when their son, Adam,...

Samantha Schroth, a local 4-H member and Hortonville High School student, helps unload donated school supplies, June 12, 2008, in Hortonville, Wisc. Photo by Capt. Casey Plamann, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (AA) Public Affairs. BAGHDAD — A Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier has reached back to his native homeland to gather English school books for use in Baghdad classrooms. Capt. Casey Plamann, a school teacher from Hortonville, Wis., presently serving as a civil affairs information manager and planner with the 2nd Brigade Combat Team “Strike,” 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), in northwest Baghdad, took a great concept...

Savannah area Starbucks employees and customers have donated over a ton of coffee to the troops over the past two years, and the troops really appreciate it.