TIPS ON SENDING MAIL TO TROOPS

   HOLIDAY MAIL FOR HEROES!

When doing your Christmas cards this year, take one card and send it to this address.

Holiday Mail for Heroes
PO Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

Please note that the referenced guidelines are important — many contributors have been disappointed in the past to find that they missed the mailing deadline or sent gifts and other types of materials that could not be delivered:

• All cards must be postmarked no later than Wednesday, December 10, 2008. Cards sent after this date will be returned to sender.
• Please ensure that all cards are signed.
• Please send cards as opposed to long letters which delay a quick review process.
• Please do not include email or home addresses on the cards, as the program is not meant to foster pen pal relationships.
• Please do not include inserts of any kind, including photos, as these items will be removed during the reviewing process.
• Participants should limit the number of cards they submit to 25 from any one person or 50 from any one class or group.

Also please note that the "Holiday Mail for Heroes" program is for the delivery of holiday cards only. Donations of phone cards, gift certificates, and care packages to service members are handled by separate programs:

Phone cards or gift cards will not be accepted with the holiday cards. Those wishing to send calling cards or gift cards/certificates should go to www.aafes.com, scroll down to "AAFES Community Connection" and click on "Help Our Troops Call Home" or "Gift Cards/Certificates for Our Troops" in order to send such items.

No 'Care Packages' will be accepted at this address. Those wishing to send care packages should go to www.AmericaSupportsYou.com and click under "Homefront Groups" to find out how to send care packages.

E-mailed entreaties from previous years have urged Americans to send cards addressed to "A Recovering American Soldier" or "Any Wounded Soldier" care of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, but Walter Reed officials have said that any material so addressed will not be delivered:

Walter Reed Army Medical Center officials want to remind those individuals who want to show their appreciation through mail to include packages and letters, addressed to "Any Wounded Soldier" that Walter Reed 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.

In addition, the U.S. Postal Service is no longer accepting "Any Service Member" or "Any Wounded Service Member" letters or packages. Mail to "Any Service Member" that is deposited into a collection box will not be delivered.

Instead of sending an "Any Wounded Soldier" letter or package to Walter Reed, please consider making a donation to one of the more than 300 nonprofit organizations dedicated to helping our troops and their families listed on the "America Supports You" website, www.americasupportsyou.mil

  The US Postal Service has Flat Rate boxes for $8.95 - they are standard size and free for the asking. . . you fill the box with what ever you can fit in it (as long as it is not bulging) - a great way to share some Holiday joy with our troops.

   Organizations that can help you with sending a package:

• Adopt a Soldier - helping those who desire to support the wounded, injured, and ill troops at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and Bethesda Naval Hospital.
• US Troop Care Package - send a package to a deployed soldier
• Treat Any Soldier Care Packages
• Where to send packages.
• Tips on what to send and where to get certain items
• Donate a phone calling card to a service member through Operation Uplink, sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Details are available at http://www.operationuplink.org.
• Send an e-mail greeting through http://www.operationdearabby.net.
• The Pentagon is encouraging Americans to support military people in the Middle East through collective programs, not on their own.