The holidays are often times spent with loved ones. However, for military members deployed the holidays are often a tough reminder of how much loved ones are missed at home. Experiencing deployment during the holidays can often be very lonely.
There is no better way to show your support and appreciation for military members deployed than to send a holiday card, gift package, or holiday treats. It means the world to deployed servicemembers and helps them get through a difficult time of deployment.
Looking for somewhere to donate a gift package or holiday card for a military member deployed?
Below are TEN ORGANIZATIONS that assist in holiday support whether it be through Holiday Care Packages or Holiday Cards or other means of support. Learn about the different opportunities below and please consider showing your support of deployed servicemembers this holiday season. If you are interested, you will want to act fast as deadlines are approaching and so are the holidays.
HOLIDAY CARDS FOR THE TROOPS DEPLOYED
Holidays for Heroes-American Red Cross
The Holiday Mail for Heroes program is now Holidays for Heroes. This change allows local Red Cross offices to identify and engage in a variety of activities that thank and recognize members of the military and veterans living in our communities. There is no longer a national Holiday Mail for Heroes P.O. Box to which cards are sent. Please contact your local Red Cross office for details.
USO HOLIDAY CARE PACKAGES
Spending time away from family and friends for weeks and months at a time is difficult. Missing out on the cheer and warmth that comes with holiday celebrations makes that separation even tougher. The USO understands this and has crafted care packages to keep them connected to family, home and country during specific holidays.
USO Holiday Care Packages, each intended to support about 50 service members, group together several holiday seasons in an effort to send as much enjoyment as possible in each shipment. The four package variations include: Super Bowl/Valentine’s Day/St. Patrick’s Day; Patriotic/Summer; Halloween/Thanksgiving and Winter/Christmas/Hanukkah, and include items like decorations, snacks, games, DVDs and more. Requests can be placed through USO.org.
Since the program was launched in 2011, we’ve distributed nearly 1,500 boxes that brought holiday cheer to more than 110,000 service members in more than 500 locations.
“Those [USO Holiday Care Packages] were our life line,” Navy Chaplain (Lieutenant) Paul Rogers, also at Camp Mujuk, wrote. “Without them, we would have had no physical reminders of what was happening back home.”
Want more information? Contact the USO today.
Need to request Holiday Care Packages? Visit USO Expeditionary Program Support Request Form
OPERATION GRATITUDE
Operation Gratitude, a 501(c)(3), non-profit, volunteer-based organization, annually sends 250,000+ care packages filled with snacks, entertainment items and personal letters of appreciation addressed to individually named U.S. Service Members deployed in harm's way, to their children left behind, to Veterans, to New Recruits, to Emergency First Responders and to Wounded Heroes recuperating in transition units.
Through Collection Drives, Letter Writing Campaigns, Craft Projects, and Care Package Assembly Events, Operation Gratitude provides civilians anywhere in America a way to say “Thank You” through active, hands-on volunteerism.
Each package contains donated products valued between $45 and $100 and costs the organization $15 to assemble and ship.
The organization's mission is to lift morale, bring a smile to a hero's face and express to the appreciation and support of the American people. For safety and security, assembling of packages occurs at our headquarters in Chatsworth, California. Since its inception in 2003, Operation Gratitude volunteers have shipped more than 2.4 Million packages.
FILL A CARE PACKAGE
Write a letter, knit a scarf, organize a collection drive, or engage in our many other ways to show your gratitude. There are several ways to HELP and DONATE learn more about these opportunities here!
Any American can request a Care Package for a deployed friend or relative.
LEARN MORE about Operation Gratitude
HERO BOX
HeroBox is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that supports deployed, injured, aging and homeless veterans. Their mission is to provide the physical items and moral support our heroes need while away from home. HERO BOX offers opportunity to SPONSOR a HERO and connect you to a deployed servicemember or you can SPONSOR a UNIT
LEARN MORE about HERO BOX and supporting deployed servicemembers.
ADOPT A PLATOON
Offers several ways to support deployed servicemembers year-round. AdoptaPlatoon strives to provide a better deployment quality of life, lifting morale for deployed Service Members and assisting military families. AdoptaPlatoon provides ongoing mail support, creates projects that meet the need of military requests, establishes special projects for holidays, and assigns morale-lifting mail support to deployed Service Members representing all branches of the U.S. military serving our Nation around the world.
To learn more about supporting our Troops or to give a kind donation (Pay Pal), visit AAP website at www.adoptaplatoon.org. All donations are a tax-deductible charitable gift and all donations are acknowledged.
Learn more about Adopt A Platoon
OPERATION SHOEBOX
Our troops take care of us back here in the USA by protecting us and our freedoms the least we can do is sent support their way when they are deployed away from their family and friends!
Here are some of the amazing things Operation Shoebox has accomplished: Over 1 Million Shoeboxes Delivered to Our Troops! Over 50,000 Christmas Stockings
Delivered to Our Troops! Over 200 Tons of Goods Delivered to Our Troops!
Request a Troop Package Today! There are several ways in which one can support our deployed military members via Operation Shoebox.
Learn more about Operation Shoebox
SOLDIERS' ANGELS
Soldiers' Angels provides aid and comfort to the men and women of the United States Rmy, Marines, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and their families. Their hundreds of thousands of volunteers on a variety of different teams and projects operate internationally to provide letters, care packages, and comfort items to the deployed, and support for their families here at home. They also provide assistance to the wounded, continuing support for veterans, remembrances and comfort for families of the fallen, and immediate response to unique difficulties.
Through special projects, dedicated teams and individuals supporting our troops, they make a visible difference in the lives of our service members and their families.
This holiday season, there is a ton of opportunity to be a part of holiday support for deployed troops. They have support through a one-time care package of baked goods, support with cards of celebration and encouragement, support of a servicemember throughout deployment, letter writing teams, holiday cards, letters, and stuffed stockings to troops during the holidays. Along with tons of other incredible opportunities to provide military support for both deployed and their families at home.
Learn more about Soldiers' Angels
MILITARY MISSIONS
Military Missions exists to support and honor deployed military personnel by sending care packages year round as an expression of appreciation and gratitude. Military Missions offers opportunities to ADOPT a HERO or ADD a HERO.
Thousands of cards are needed throughout the year to fill our care packages. We include cards from people living all over the USA from all 50 states! From ages 2 to 102, thankful Americans are making cards and writing notes of encouragement for our troops.
We want to put at least 10 personalized cards and letters in each box. Your messages are the most important part of the package! If we send out 5,000 care packages, this means we need a minimum of 50,000 cards. Recruit friends and family to make cards and write letters. Learn more about sending cards.
Military Missions also needs your support in Donating for Care Packages. Learn more about their Care Packages.
Learn more about Military Missions
OPERATION CARE PACKAGE
Operation Care Package is a volunteer not for profit organization, dedicated to our goal of making sure that no deployed Hero goes without mail. Learn more about Sponsoring a Care Package for deployed servicemembers. "Some of the soldiers don't receive anything in the mail, and they exist on little supplies," said Smothers. "I don't think any of them should go without something from mail call."
Learn more about Operation Care Package
TROOPSTER
Care packages for military. Send personalized or donate a care package for a troop or soldier overseas with Troopster.org. One of the great benefits of Troopster is they already have prepackaged Care Packages ready for purchase to donate to a military member deployed overseas. You can DONATE a care package and select the care package of preference here. If you are going to be deployed you can also request a care package.
Thank you for considering bringing some holiday cheer to the troops overseas. If we have missed any organizations or other holiday opportunities please feel free to provide them in the comments below.
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