I've Tried That - We lose money so you don't have to!

We’ve been following the story of Noah Biorkman, the 5 year old who was diagnosed with cancer. His family decided to celebrate Christmas early and his mother asked around to have Christmas cards sent to her son. The response was overwhelming and 80,000 pieces of mail later, they’ve since asked for the mail to be stopped. A few readers were still interested in improving the holiday season of others (you guys are the best!) and one reader suggested we send holiday cards to soldiers. Good news, there’s an app for that!

Holiday Mail for Heroes

Red Cross started a program two years ago that delivered your letters to service members throughout the holiday season. Cards are delivered to both veterans and those on active duty. The Holiday Mail for Heroes program allows you to “send a touch of home” to those in the armed forces.

We have established an extensive process to ensure all cards sent to our service members are safe and arrive in time for the holidays. Holiday cards will be collected through a unique P.O. Box address from Monday, November 2 through Monday, December 7*.

First, cards from across the nation must be sent to this address:

Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

Every card received will be screened for hazardous materials by Pitney Bowes and distributed to participating Red Cross chapters nationwide. Once the cards arrive at the Red Cross chapters, they are sorted and reviewed by volunteers who then distribute them to service members, their families and veterans in communities across the country.

Your card must be received by December 7th for it to be delivered. Otherwise the card will be returned to you. Other than that, the Red Cross has just a few more guidelines for you to follow.

Do…

• Sign all cards
• Entitle cards “Dear Service Member, Family or Veteran”
• Limit cards to 15 per person or 50 for school class or business group
• Bundle groups of cards in single, large envelopes

Don’t…

• Send letters
• Include personal information such as home or email addresses
• Use glitter – excessive amounts can aggravate health issues of wounded recipients
• Include inserts of any kind as they must be removed in the screening process

That’s all! I’ll be mailing out a batch of cards later this week. Let us know if you send out any as well!

Read more at http://www.redcrosschat.org/