do you have a spare Christmas card?

[mimitabby]

i know, odd coming from me, but I thought this was a cool idea:


When you are making out your Christmas card list this year, please
include the following:

A Recovering American soldier
c/o Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue,NW
Washington,D.C. 20307-5001

If you approve of the idea, please pass it on to your e-mail
list. These guys need all of the good cheers and will that we can
give them.

[Zen]

Anyone who has spent more than a day in the hospital knows how interminable the days can be.
These guys(a unisex term here) are there for a long time undergoing extremely painful recovery from wounds that run the gamut from burns, brain injury and loss of limb(s). It's difficult and expensive for their families to visit them though there is the Fisher House nearby but they can only take so many families at a time.
That's a great idea, Mimi.

[Tri Girl]

I'm not even doing the Christmas card exchange, but I'm doing to do this for sure. I've got a whole box from last year that need a good home. Do you think I could stuff a whole bunch of cards in a big manilla envelope and send them at once?

[Trek420]

That's a great idea, Mimi. And does not surprise me that such a considerate idea comes from you. You rock!

Knott reminds me to say, send non-denominational New Years cards, and Hannuckah cards. Some of those guys (in the non gender specific senbse of the word) are Jewish, Muslim, Wiccan, Hindu .... Rosicruchian ("would you like to meet my Mummy?" sorry to any Rosicrucians I may have offended).

[mimitabby]

Trek that's where I'm coming from, I'm not a Christmas person, not even christian by a long shot. But being all messed up and stuck in a hospital? That's tough.

[sundial]

This was a great idea....BUT....

http://www.snopes.com/politics/christmas/soldiercards.asp

:(

[Tri Girl]

I guess they can't be too sure in this crazy day and age. My DH works for the postal service and said that those types of letters probably get thrown into the same bin as the Dear Santa letters (and I was going to send some). Sad when we live in such a society that we can't send our thoughts to recovering soldiers for fear of it being destructive in nature. :(

[Grog]

My DH works for the postal service and said that those types of letters probably get thrown into the same bin as the Dear Santa letters (and I was going to send some).

In Canada you can write to Santa:
http://www.canadapost.ca/dec/santa/writesanta/default-e.asp?icid=hd07000327

Most kids receive a pretty standard letter back in the mail (at least I did in the days) but they make sure they catch letters like: "I would like a friend because I'm so very lonely" and write a lot more personal letters back...

Nobody has tried to send a poisoned letter to Santa here... yet.

[Trek420]

in Canada kids can write letters to Santa and in Canada you can write to "any soldier" and in Canada there's health care and..... :rolleyes: :cool: :p ;) we're just patiently waiting here. Please invade and take us over ;-)

Meanwhile I'm cascading back down the e-mail list my "oops, my bad" note this came in and it works!!

Something Xerox is doing so I went to the website. The cards are drawn by kids and are so cute.

You go to the web site www.letssaythanks.com

Pick out a thank you card, Xerox will print it send it to a soldier serving in Iraq. You can't choose who gets it, and apparently it does not go to members serving in other areas but it does go to a member of the armed services.

[KnottedYet]

It would be nice if some went to Afghanistan.

Everyone seems to forget about Afghanistan. "Osama bin Forgotten."

[mimitabby]

hey, remember this? don't do it!

It's a great idea -- send a Christmas card to a hero. That's the message in an e-mail making the rounds.

It says..."When you're making out your Christmas card list this year, please include the following: A Recovering American Soldier, c/o Walter Reed Army medical Center."

As I said, it's a wonderful thought, but don't waste your time doing it. A letter addressed this way won't be delivered.

Because of security concerns, the medical center can only accept mail made out to a specific soldier at the facility, per Department of Defense regulations. And because of privacy rules, they can't give out those names.

"The U.S. Postal Service has also been helping out by not accepting these letters, packages or cards," says Walter Reed Deputy Public Affairs Officer Terry Goodman. "But sometimes some will get to Walter Reed, and if they do they are returned to sender."

Goodman says you can send an electronic greeting to the recovering soldiers there. For instance, tens of thousands of text messages were sent around Thanksgiving.

"The soldiers really, really enjoy and love the support that they're getting from their fellow countrymen," Goodman tells me.

Go to the Walter Reed web site (http://www.wramc.amedd.army.mil/support/Pages/default.aspx) for a list of ways to show you care.

[OakLeaf]

You can send a card through the Red Cross (http://www.redcross.org/flash/leadership/cardstosoldiers.html).

[Tuckervill]

You can also use anysoldier.com, which I think was inspired in some way by Ann Landers.

http://anysoldier.com/

When my son was in Iraq, most of the care-package stuff was unnecessary. He was in Baghdad at Camp Victory, so he had access to the PX and the local markets. He was getting first run movies before they were released over here, for instance (I'm sure they were bootlegged, but he had no way of knowing where the Iraqi's got them.) It seems to me that a lot of the information still going around is leftover from the very beginning of the invasion, before the infrastructure was in place to support the soldiers in style.

Of course, there are troops in certain areas where they don't have access to that kind of infrastructure. My suggestion is to find out the latest information and what they need the most, and only send that. And send your holiday greetings through the sites already mentioned.

Karen

[mtbdarby]

I don't know how many of you sent cards but I did, and I got it back Christmas Eve.

So I did a little digging and here's what I found:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22114832/

Remember the good ole days when this would have been delivered? A sign of the times, I guess, so for next year please go through a charity of your choice.

[Trek420]

Bump!

I was reminded of this thread because there was an email circulating throughout work today with the OP suggestion. I knew we'd come up with a bunch of good ideas here on TE. Had to excuse myself from work and "I know I have the info someplace" ;) :rolleyes:

Since I'm working on my holiday cards (which somehow never seem to get out till New Years) maybe others are too. :cool:

[mary9761]

If one would like to do something for recovering soldiers, there is always the possibility if you live in an area with a local veteran's hospital to donate toiletries etc. You could also check your local American Legion, VFW etc as they nearly always have a program year round collecting items for the veterans in hospitals etc.
Just a thought.

[PamNY]

This email is making the rounds, but I'm fairly sure the information isn't accurate. Here's what Snopes has to say:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/christmas/walterreed.asp

I send some packages through Anysoldier.com -- that's one resource for supporting deployed military (not wounded). In that case, I know for sure there has to be a specific name on a package or card. I have some other resources for military support but they aren't immediately at hand. I'll post them tomorrow.

Pam

[vinbek]

My Girl Scout troop sends cards and packages each year. One of our girl's dad is career military - 30 years so far.

Holiday mail program for service members under way
Body The American Red Cross is sponsoring a national "Holiday Mail for
Heroes" campaign to receive and distribute holiday cards to service members
and veterans both in the United States and abroad.

Holiday Mail for Heroes, which began Tuesday, Veterans Day, is a follow-up
to the 2007 effort that resulted in the collection and distribution of more
than 600,000 cards to hospitalized service members. This year's program will
expand its reach to not only wounded service members but also veterans and
their families. The goal is to collect and distribute 1 million pieces of
holiday mail.

"As we enter this holiday season-a time to celebrate with family and
friends-it's important to remember the thousands of men and women who serve
our nation in harm's way and those who are recovering in military and
veterans hospitals," said Army Col. Norvell V. Coots, commander, Walter Reed
Health Care System. "The Holiday Mail for Heroes program is a wonderful
outreach effort and a great way to acknowledge the sacrifices of our men and
women in uniform."

Holiday cards should be mailed to:
Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD. 20791-5456

All cards must be postmarked no later than Dec. 10. Cards should not be
mailed or delivered to Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

For more information, visit www.wramc.amedd.army.mil or
www.redcross.org/holidaymail for Holiday Mail for Heroes program
guidelines.Walter Reed is not accepting mail addressed to "A Recovering
American Soldier."


Linda Rasnake 202-280-9389
FRSA/WTB
WRAMC
6900 Georgia Avenue, N.W.
ABRAMS HALL ROOM 1020
Washington, DC 20307