Naval Station Norfolk hosts "Toast to the Troops"

By Seaman Wesley Dannelley, Navy Public Affairs Support Element, East

NORFOLK, Va. (NNS) -- More than 150 service members and military spouses volunteered for the care package stuffing event, "Toast to the Troops" aboard Naval Station Norfolk, Dec. 16.

The 15th "Toast to the Troops" helped pack more than 10,000 care packages, containing toiletries, snack foods, phone cards, and other items.

"It's fantastic. We have been doing these programs since 2005, and we never get tired of it," said Jill Meyer, a spokesperson for one of the sponsors. "We are always impressed by the energy from the volunteers, and also the commitment from the Soldiers, Sailors, and their families."

Aviation Boatswain's Mate (Fuel) 1st Class Malisha Fields volunteered with the United Service Organizations (USO), stating she could give something back to the men and women that were out in the field supporting us here on the home front.

"It's not just the Sailors, Soldiers, Airmen, and Marines we're doing it for, it's also for the families," said Fields. "To bring them together when their husbands, wives, or kids go underway or overseas, they need someone to fall back on."

Army veteran and country music artist Craig Morgan has participated in all 15 stuffing parties, and finishes each one with a free concert for service members and their families.

For the past six years, the sponsors have collected hand-written messages, referred to as "toasts", and have included them in over 150,000 care packages sent to troops in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other areas of operation.

USO Sponsors Fleet Week "Reverse Care Package" Event Aboard Iwo Jima

By Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Travis J. Kuykendall, USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) Public Affairs

NEW YORK (NNS) -- Sailors and Marines onboard the multi-purpose amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7) participated in a care package event during fleet week on the flight deck May 26.

Service members worked together with United Service Organizations (USO) volunteers to make care packages and distribute them to other ships participating in fleet week. The event is referred to as "Fleet Week Reverse Care Package Party."

The special care package event was sponsored by USO, Pepsi Corporation, Gatorade and the NFL, who work hand-in-hand to provide care packages to service members all over the world.

"It was a chance to give back to fellow shipmates and other service members," said Yeoman Seaman Derrick Miles. "I wanted them to be rewarded because I know what they go through and they deserve it."

"Pepsi Co. has a long standing relationship with USO," said Greg Ordway, Pepsi Co. director of brand development, "and this year in particular we felt the need to support our sea services and show our appreciation."

"This event brought me up close and personal with USO and I saw the degree to which they help us out," said Miles. "We really do need them. Sometimes we're overseas and they can make the difference."

More than 3,000 care packages were filled with drink mix packets, chips, gum, towels, water bottles and other snacks to be handed out to service members. "We got a lot of work done and helped make a lot of packages" said Miles. "It was a great opportunity to network and help our shipmates."

While some service members worked to make the care packages, others enjoyed a barbeque with music & entertainment, interactive games, raffle giveaways, and the chance to make their own care packages.

Parents Send Care Packages To Sailors Around The World

By Senior Chief Mass Communication Specialist Susan Hammond, Navy Office of Community Outreach

ARVADA, Colo. (NNS) -- As part of Denver Navy Week, Navy parents from six states gathered at American Legion Post 161 in Arvada May 7 to greet the director of Chief of Naval Operations Environmental Readiness Division and hold a "packing party" for care packages.

Nearly three years ago, Molly Gisi of Portland, Ore., founded Molly's Adopt a Sailor (MAS), an organization that supports deployed U.S. military personnel, sending them letters and care packages.

"With all its giant ships and technology, the Navy's most important asset is its people," said Rear Adm. Herman Shelanski, Director, Chief of Naval Operations Environmental Readiness Division.

He told the group the average age of a typical Sailor is 19 ½, and in the case of a Sailor on the deck of an aircraft carrier, he has the most dangerous job in the world.

He congratulated the mothers and the recruiters for their work in supporting those Sailors.

"Those Sailors have the training and experience to get the job done successfully," said Shelanski.

Gisi said she started Molly's Adopt a Sailor because she learned, when her own son went into the Navy, that one-third of the Sailors on his ship didn't get any mail while on deployment. MAS has grown to more than 5,000 volunteers in 47 states who have packed 12,000 boxes full of socks, snacks and comfort items that are donated.

"We received an email from one of our adopted Sailors who was halfway through his seven-month ship deployment," said Gisi. "He said the letter he got from one of our moms was the first thing he had received from home since he left."

The boxes packed at the packing party in Arvada are destined to go to Navy destroyer USS Higgins (DDG 76). Each local MAS group may adopt a specific ship or unit to send their items to, sometimes on a monthly basis.

The Special Hugs Project, also part of Molly's Adopt a Sailor, supports wounded military personnel in combat hospitals with the same kind of care packages sent from home, said Kim Parks of Monteno, Ill. Parks works specifically to send out stuffed animals and other items, each with a special note from someone back home, to those being cared for in deployed medical facilities.

"An Army Chaplain at a Combat Hospital in Afghanistan asked us if we could send some cards and snacks to the wounded in January 2011," said Parks. "Of course, we responded, and the project keeps growing."

All MAS organizers and participants volunteer their time. The organization is an official not-for-profit charity and accepts donations as well as sponsorships to get the packages to the military members.

Family Matters Blog: Blogger Shares Secrets for Creating Exceptional Care Packages

By Elaine Wilson

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Dec. 27, 2010 – I’m pleased to introduce a new Family Matters guest blogger, Megan Just, a Navy veteran and the editor of the weekly newspaper at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside, Calif.

As both the sender of less-than-ideal care packages and the receiver of awesome ones, Megan discusses the importance of care packages to deployed military personnel and the elements that distinguish an outstanding care package from a run-of-the-mill one. 

By Megan Just

One of my most vivid memories of my deployment to Iraq is the adrenaline rush of receiving care packages. The arrival of a care package could instantly turn a bad day into a euphoric one.   Receiving care packages was so important to me that I often wrote about them in my diary.

At the beginning of the deployment I wrote, "I received Eric's (my boyfriend) package today and I've been waiting all night to open it. I've been so looking forward to it that I don't want the anticipation to be over."

The next day, after opening his package, I wrote, "Eric's box was great. He sent my favorite fig sugarless cookies (which I am finishing as I write), a bunch of Cliff Bars and a variety of dried fruit. He also sent two issues of ‘National Geographic’ and ‘Climbing.’"

In that care package, Eric had also enclosed a small book he made that contained his favorite quotes, photos of us together and a long letter. My reaction to the book tugged at my heartstrings enough to nauseate you, so I'll pass on sharing that section of my diary here, but I can assure you, the book meant a lot more than the fig cookies and it is still a treasured item today.

Toward the end of deployment, even as the recipient of an estimated 50 care packages, I was still raving about them. "I love getting care packages," I wrote. "It is hands-on proof that somebody loves me. Opening them is like being a kid on Christmas morning. Each package contains a surprise and what is inside is additionally valuable because the contents are things that I can't procure myself."

While all care packages are great to receive, I did notice a difference in the emotional impact of a run-of-the-mill care package versus one where the sender put a lot of thought into selecting the contents and packaging them in a creative manner.

A run-of-the-mill care package contains generic items and things servicemembers can easily buy themselves at the Exchange on base or order online. A run-of-the-mill care package is one that might as well have been packed by one of the many web-based care package companies. See, the preparation of an exceptional care package cannot be outsourced. The preparation and thought that goes into a care package is half of its value and the servicemember can perceive this extra effort.

Now, I must confess that buried in my past is a string of these generic care packages. Back then, I was dating a servicemember who was deployed to Iraq and although I am a procrastinator by nature, I was determined to send him care packages at regular intervals and I was determined to do it in an efficient manner.

From the post office, I gathered an armload of identical Priority Mail boxes and customs forms.  At Costco, I stocked up on a variety of jumbo packs of single-serve snack items like trail mix, crackers, beef jerky and sunflower seeds. Once a month, like clockwork, I tossed a handful of each type of snack item into a Priority Mail box and, voila! I had a care package!   I think I added a note to each box before taping it up, but I couldn't be sure. (FYI: Not including a note -- even if it's just a sentence -- is the cardinal sin of care package preparation.)

I sent this string of care packages before I'd been deployed myself. The care packages I send to friends now are different.  They are smaller, for one, and I think about details like picking a nice card for my note so the servicemember can use it to decorate their trailer. I sent a small box of gourmet chocolates to a friend around Valentine's Day one year and now, when I bake batches of cookies to send, I pay close attention to the packaging so the cookies don't turn into a plastic bag of crumbs by the time they arrive overseas.

While I'm on the topic of baked goods, it's important to mention that one of the greatest joys of a care package is being able to share homemade treats with the members of your unit and your trailermate. Keep this in mind if you send baked goods to servicemembers and send enough so the servicemember can share without jeopardizing his or her own stash of treats.  Help them out by packing a large container for sharing and a smaller container for hoarding.

In some cases, however, the servicemember may be watching his or her weight and you shouldn't send them a double batch of Aunt Hermonie's Triple-Fudge Buttery Delights. Depending on the servicemember's level of self control, you might consider sending a single serving of the baked good: enough so they can enjoy the special treat, but not enough to throw their diet off course.     

What I found especially touching as a deployed servicemember was when I would receive a care package from someone unexpected, like the parents of a close friend, a distant cousin or a co-worker who I didn't know very well. Recently, a friend of mine sent a care package of gag gifts to the goofy husband of one of our mutual friends who is deployed on a Navy ship.

Family members back home can facilitate this process by making a list of the types of things the servicemember would like to receive and circulating the list with the servicemember's mailing address. Also include an approximate date range –- so you don't violate operations security -- so senders can spread packages through the entirety of the deployment.

If you have the time and desire, savor the process of preparing the care package. While you're packing, think about the servicemember who is absent. Tuck a family photo into the spine of a book. Wrap a brightly colored ribbon around a fancy chocolate bar. Have the kids make crafts. Go to an imports store and pick up a food item that you enjoyed together during your honeymoon in Paris. Make a good, old-fashioned mix CD. Clean a few seashells from your summer vacation and nestle them inside the package of undershirts your servicemember requested. In the end, you're not shipping goods. You're showing that you care.

The following are some care package items I found especially awesome while I was deployed:

-- A stack of 11x17 landscape prints from a friend who is a professional photographer.

-- A peppy comforter and matching curtains sewn to fit the dimensions of my trailer window.  Also, a new sheet set and a foam mattress pad to make my bed more comfortable.

-- A mini-rice maker and a bag of rice helped me stay healthy by enabling me to skip occasional meals at the all-you-can-eat dining hall. Just-add-boiling-water meals were nice, too.

-- Good books friends and family members back in the States had recently read. I discovered several great books by authors that I might not have otherwise picked up and it gave me something interesting to discuss in letters and e-mails.

-- Ground coffee from my favorite coffee roaster in San Diego.

-- Fashion magazines and current newspapers from back home.

-- Watercolor paints.

-- Fancy shampoos, lotions and soaps.

-- Tape and scissors.

-- Decorations for the holidays, including the minor holidays, like a small pumpkin for Halloween.

-- Blank cards for sending thank you notes.

And here are some questions for you:

What have been some of your favorite items you've sent or received in a care package?

What are your strategies for sending thoughtful care packages ... efficiently?