Saturday, November 29, 2008

A Holiday for Our Heroes

Z's Mom, my most Socially Conscious Bloggy Friend, posted about a cool program the other day that will help you Thank Our Heroes this Holiday Season. Remember, Z's Mom is the one who turned us all on to Ratchet's Predicament and helped to facilitate his Happy Homecoming.


So, Here's the Deal: For the second year in a row, the Red Cross and Pitney Bowes are sponsoring the Holiday Mail for Heroes campaign. They're collecting holiday cards to distribute to American service members, veterans and their families in the United States and around the world. Pitney Bowes is generously donating technology, resources and postage to make this holiday card program possible.

The campaign's goal is to collect and distribute one million holiday cards to spread holiday cheer and facilitate thanks to these brave individuals and families.

You, too, can get involved by sending holiday cards to the following address:

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

Please pay attention to the following guidelines when mailing a card to ensure that your card will quickly reach service members, veterans and their families.
  • Enclose no hazardous materials. Every card the group receives will first be screened by Pitney Bowes and then reviewed by Red Cross volunteers working in one of 16 sorting stations around the country.
  • All cards must be postmarked no later than Wednesday, December 10, 2008. Cards sent after this date will be returned to sender.
  • Participants are encouraged to limit the number of cards they submit to 25 from any one person or 50 from any one class or group. If you are mailing a larger quantity, please bundle the cards and place them in large mailing envelopes. Each card does not need its own envelope or postage.
  • Please ensure that all cards are signed.
  • Please use generic salutations such as “Dear Service Member.” Cards addressed to specific individuals can not be delivered through this program.
  • Please send cards as opposed to long letters, which delay a quick review process.
  • Please do not include e-mail 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.
  • All cards received may be used in program publicity efforts, including appearing in broadcast, print or online mediums.
  • For more information you can click here: Holiday Mail for Heroes

6 comments:

Unknown said...

that is such a great idea and what a wonderful way to use up all those spare cards i've got left over from years past still tucked neatly in their boxes!!! thanks for posting this! :)

Melissa B. said...

What a Great Idea! I'm in!! And DON'T FORGET SX3 TOMORROW!!!

Rhonda said...

What a fantastic idea!

Hey, any idea if the pop'rs I won were sent? I'm not sure if they tried to deliver while we were gone....

Anonymous said...

This is definitely something small to do that can make a big impact....thanks for posting about it!!!

And thanks for the shout out to me too.....I love that you pick up on all my causes...you rock!!!

P.S. Z and I got our Pop'rs tshirts today....we love them!!! Thanks!!! :)

Michelle said...

What a neat idea. We always write a thank you letter to servicemen on Memorial Day, but I love the holiday card idea. Thanks for passing this on!

Anonymous said...

On behalf of my colleagues at Pitney Bowes and the American Red Cross, thank you for all of your support in helping to spread the word about the “Holiday Mail for Heroes” program.

We would like you to know that we’ve not only reached the goal of delivering one million cards to US service members, veterans and military families, but we surpassed it! And it’s all because people like you and your blog readers who got involved. View the following video for more details and a personal message of thanks from all of us: http://blip.tv/file/1643672/.

We could not have done it without you.