OT/ A GREAT CAUSE

[Just Saying]

A lady in my home area had a son serving in Iraq who ask her to send some toys to hand out to the local children when he was out on patrol, because the kids seemed to have nothing, and he felt it would help relations between the GI's and the locals. In the 'care pkg' she also added some CDs,DVDs,toiletries,wet-wipes,homade goodies,etc., and packed the box with beanie babies. It was such a hit that his fellow soldiers asked if she could do the same for them.

She contacted local media outlets and asked for their help. When they reported what Lori Stewart was undertaking, she was showered with toys and such to send to our heroes. She called her operation "Toys For Troops". It has grown to a point that it is now a tax deductable charitible corporation. It is 100% volunteer, and they work all of their own fundraisers. The only money they spend is buy or transport donated goods to the troops in Iraq & Afghanistan.

It costs $13.95 minimum(or much more) to ship the cartons, as military transports are not allowed to take them.(I don't know why, either...) Our VFW Men's Aux donated $500 and they were screaming and crying in joy... that's how "in" to this Labor of Love they are.

Check them out at: http://toys-for-troops.com/ and consider helping them out. We need to take care of the heroes who protect our freedom. Feel free to PM me with any questions; I'm not involved in their operation, but I can get any necessary info.

Thanks, Y'all. And to Gary for permission to post this.

[Hugh Jass]

Nice thing, one of my daughters in involved with the same thing in her area.

God Bless the troops and their families. 

[sea biscuit]

God bless the American armed forces.

[Just Saying]

The turnout for this shindig was HUGE. People brought tons of stuff to ship to our troops deployed to protect our freedom. My Bride and her friend baked 23 doz cookies, and I scared-up $500 in cash donations to help with shipping costs. Many, many people did way more.

I'm so proud of Americans that step up to take care of our troops. They deserve it.
(insert American flag & troops in tank)

[careless hal]

  JS and Mrs.

[beans and weenies]

   heartluvbowdown

[Just Saying]

They shipped 100 cartons of stuff. The postage was around $1400. The founder, Lori Stewart, informed the local post office in advance hoping they would make accomodations for the the big ship-out, but they didn't. So the lines at the PO jammed until they got everything processed. The cartons were being shipped into a war zone, so they couldn't be taped up and tagged until inspected.

Typical of Lori, she wished that she had taken some of the donated money to buy a big roll of stamps to give away to the folks stuck in line behind the shipment. That's the kind of person she is. Thank heaven we have people like her in this great country.

[beans and weenies]

 

[old and slow]

Kudos to you and the Mrs, JS, and all involved.  Thanks for letting us know about this effort.

[Just Saying]

This cracked me up:
They solicited 600 letters & cards from school kids to put in the cartons. They have to read all them before shipping, 'cause some assholes will send some nasty stuff to the evil troops.

Lori was reading one, and busted out laughing hysterically. It read:
"Hi, I'm Amy. My brother is named John, my sister is named Amber, and my dog is named Fugly."
 

[AmyHollar]

 

[MichiganDale]

Very nice, Just Saying, very nice.