That is so sweet of you and your friend and her VFW group!

I am going to see my nephew tomorrow at Fort Knox, he is being deployed to Afghanistan on Thursday!

I don't have an address for him yet, but will get one tomorrow. I do plan on sending him packages too, so I will get some names of other troops he's being deployed with too to take into consideration.

I agree they are heroes, and deserve our support. Thanks for your concern.

Di

send you an email Pam, pls lemme know if you got it or not

My brother just got back from Iraq 2 weeks ago. I'll ask him :-)

Thanks, Elizabeth. That would be great!

Pam, Ashley has a couple of friends her age, her best friend Nikki is in the Marines in Afghanistan, another friend is in the Army paratroopers in Iraq. I'll ask her for addresses.

Annie

We have a friend stationed in Afghanistan - I thought you weren't allowed homemade food though? Is that no longer correct? If you email me through gardenweb I can give you their info.

Pam, a cousins son is currently in Irag. They happen to be from Bethlehem. I'll send his address tomorrow. Thanks for doing this. I'm sure Chris would appreciate it and his father, Mike, will be very happy and appreciative too. Again, thanks.

I have one for you! But he will not be deployed to Iraq until next week. This young man is very special to me:-). As soon as I have an address I'll send it on.

Thanks, everyone. Karen, I'll ask for a very special box for your very young man.

I don't know the details about what is or isn't allowed, but I'm sure the ladies packing the boxes do. I'm just the go-between!

I'd like to make a suggestion to all those who are interested in supporting our troops overseas. There are many service people stationed overseas; many of them have no close relatives who would support them by sending packages. If you can, ask the Ladies Auxiliary to help in identifying those people and direct mail/boxes to them.

I spent time overseas (a long, long time ago!) and was fortunate to have friends and family that stayed in touch and sent me goodies.

My son's unit will be deploying early next year. He knows he will receive stuff from me but I'll also be sending stuff for other people.

I have a list from someone who's sent stuff overseas and could publish here if needed. There are little things needed that we may not think of in our day to day life.

Dees -- please email the names and addreses to me, along with your suggested items. I think it is safest not to post that info online. I will put a list together to send to my friend for her VFW Post Auxiliary group. Thanks.

Pam

PS I presume you know how to send an email through GW, but of not let us know. Basically, go to My Page (next to my name - Dedtired) and click on send an email.

Pam, a friend, Carolyn Blashek, is the founder of Operation Gratitude, a wonderful and strictly volunteer nonprofit that assembles, collects and distributes thousands of care packages to our troops since 2002. I spoke to her yesterday and she asked me to tell you that while she cannot not share her confidential list of names with your friend, she would be more than happy to distribute all of the packages that your friend would assemble. Call or email me for more info.

Here is a link that might be useful: Operation Gratitude

Oh my gosh, Ellen. That is fabulous. Thank you. I'll be emailing soon.

Pam, right now I don't have lists of names. I can e-mail them to you when they get closer to deployment though. I'll thank you in advance for anything you send over.

This list was provided to me by a co-worker who has been sending packages to troops in Irag/Afghanistan since the beginning....I'll warn you; the list is honest and frank! My intent not to offend but inform. Proceed at your own risk. Annie, please send a huge OOOH-RAH to Ashley's friend Nikki from another Marine (although I've been out longer than she's been alive!).....Semper Fi! I hope everyone returns home safely.

Here is the list.....

Baby wipes, toss in a tooth brush each package, gummy bears did not melt other candy did, Gatorade or other drink mix is a huge hit, salty nuts, sanitizer, hard candy like "Gobstoppers" stuff that does not melt  no chocolate. Ramen, cup-o-noodles, liptons, that stupid taste of home. BEEF JERKEY!

Smaller boxes more often as they have to move at a moments notice and if they can not hump (that would be carry to civilians) it, it is trash. Magazines, mom may not want to here this but VictoriaÂs Secret catalogs got past the censor.

Sports Illustrated swim suite issue, use your current newspaper as the stuffing in the box, they will read it as well.

Brewers yeast  used to make pop skull. They never requested this but I hid it in stuff I sent. I would bet Andy said "wtf am I going to do with this?" and some salty 5 striper said "I know what to do with that!"

Plastic jug, fruit juice, sugar, 48 hours in the shade and viola, instant hang over. I read enough first person Viet Nam and ww 2 books to know how much they prized brewers yeastÂ.

As stupid as it sounds, kids paint brushes, used to clean your weapons and gear, I bought a big pack and tossed 2 or 3 into each box. Got that one from a Desert Storm vet.

I would like to do fundraiser to send care packages to troops. I have done fund raisers for children with Cerebral Palsy for quite a while and now I would like to do it for our troops overseas.

Can I get a list of addresses from their units in the states?

Actually, you can't obtain lists of deployed soldiers. National security and all. Mail directed to "Any Soldier" will not be delivered.

I recommend contacting any of the established organizations to see if your fund raiser can assist them.