Ideas for donated items requested by soldiers

Here's a couple of emails received in April from soldiers overseas with some specific requests for items.
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Hi!!! It was good to get an email from you. :) I would have replied sooner, but I was at another PB (patrol Base) with my Chaplain. We are able to get stuff out to the soldiers that are outside the wire at patrol bases and stuff like that. For them, they enjoy magazines, snacks, candy (some of them do not have a DFAC (cafeteria) so they fix their own food, so they enjoy getting something that can be fixed in a microwave or little oven.

For the people on the FOB, I have received numerous requests for underwear, bras, white socks, green uniform socks, tan uniform shirts, and twin size sheets for the beds. Snacks are also asked for. If you have any other questions, feel free to email me back. Thanks again for everything.

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Nancy,
Hi. Thanks so much for all of your support. We enjoy and use everything you send us. In particular the guys like getting shower gels and shaving products. A lot of people send female geared products and the guys like to know someone is looking out for them too :) I know everyone loves the Girl Scout cookies and everyone has their favorite. Thanks

Supplies donated thru troops to Afghan school kids

Here are recent photos of a November delivery of school supplies and other donations to about 400 school children in Afghanistan. The donations were shipped to our soldiers in Afghanistan who in turn sorted, repacked and delivered the goods to the kids.

Many of the donated items were supplied by Airborne Angel Cadets donors.

Letter from soldier in Afghanistan

Here is an email just received from one of our new contacts in Afghanistan, including photos of a supply drop:

"Wow, you guys go all out when you donate! The stack of boxes just came in today. The movies, soap and shampoo was a great item. They like the popcorn too. Now everyone has writing materials so they can send letters to their families. I haven't given everything away yet, and there should even be some left over for some guys outside my unit. The guys are were really happy that I signed us up with your organization. "

"I can't begin to tell you how happy your gifts make soldiers like us. It lets them know that there are people back home that care about them. Thank you."

Recent October photos

Here are some recent photos from our soldiers in the Mideast. One of the comments received was "The main thing they liked out of the packages were the snacks, movies, and writing materials. Everyone wanted a notebook. The shampoo was the second most popular item ... Thanks again for your support."

Lewisville boy scouts donating to soldiers overseas

Here is a photo of a local Boy Scout Troop from Lewisville, Texas. They recently donated 6 large boxes of canned and microwavable popcorn to be sent to the troops overseas.

Their generous donations will be greatly appreciated by the soldiers.

Dallas Morning News Article

GROUP SENDS CARE PACKAGES TO TROOPS IN IRAQ, AFGHANISTAN
November 11, 2006
By KATIE MENZER / The Dallas Morning News

Some high school band moms might hang up the fundraising baton when their kids graduate, but one group of Carrollton mothers is marching on.

JIM MAHONEY/DMN Airborne Angel Cadets of Texas members (from left) Tammy Duplechin, Nancy Carter and Paula Hollis met this week to try to meet the mailing deadline of Monday for parcel post packages to troops overseas.

And this time it's for another set of marchers. The Airborne Angel Cadets of Texas meets monthly to send care packages to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. And as the holidays approach and mailing deadlines loom, the group of former band boosters is working double time to serve those who serve their country.

"It's hard to imagine that someone who could easily be one of our children is over there," said Lewisville resident, mother and group member Paula Hollis. "For a lot of these kids, their families can't afford to send them goodie packages."

The Airborne Angel Cadets started out as Carrollton's Newman Smith High School band booster club, but the group's mothers needed another excuse to get together when their kids graduated.
They started gathering to send care packages to their children at college, but early last year the kids said they'd had enough of the brown boxes filled with socks and cookies.

The moms needed a new purpose, and that's how the nonprofit Airborne Angel Cadets was born.
"It started off as a band-mom thing, but we started collecting friends and family and now it's growing and growing," said Carrollton resident Nancy Carter, one of the group's founders. The group has adopted five military units since it started, and members communicate by e-mail with the overseas service members to find out what they need.

And the troops need it all, Ms. Carter said. The moms have sent hundreds of boxes filled with sunscreen, video games, chips and salsa, towel hooks, underwear, foot baths, jalapenos, silly hats, water guns and basketball shoes to the Middle East.

Capt. Maria Kimble, an Army social worker, said the signed cards and handwritten letters of support the moms include in the packages are as appreciated as the goodies. The moms adopted an armored cavalry regiment Capt. Kimble was working with in Tal Afar, Iraq, last year. "I would post them [the cards and letters] on my outside office wall so all soldiers could see that their sacrifices where being appreciated back home," Capt. Kimble wrote in an e-mail.

The moms buy the gifts or ask local businesses to donate them. They pay for most of the postage costs – that's $300 to $400 each month. "So if anyone wants to help us out, that's where we need it – in the postage," said Ms. Carter, who is a flight attendant.

They've also paired up with other local civic groups that want to send packages to the troops but don't know how, and that's where they see their potential. "Someone who can only do this once or twice and doesn't want to adopt a troop, they can go through us," said Ms. Hollis.

The e-mails they've received show they're making a big impact already. "I feel like Santa distributing the packages," 1st Lt. Mike Steele, now stationed in Iraq with his Army unit, wrote in an e-mail sent this week. "Thank you so much. The packages are really appreciated. There is nothing like spending a tough day outside the wire and coming back to packages from home. It's a real morale-booster."