Holiday Mail for Heroes – I am in, are you?
Did you know that my husband, Jeff, is a veteran? I also have a brother in law who served overseas during both Iraq wars. Holiday Mail for Heroes is not only a program I am deeply involved in because of my employer, Pitney Bowes, but because it is important to me.
What is Holiday Mail for Heroes?
The purpose of the program is to make it easy for you to send a holiday card to our men and women in uniform, veterans and their families. It works in three stages. You send a card to a designated PO Box address, Pitney Bowes processes the mail and ships it to over 300 Red Cross Chapters across the country and oversees where Red Cross volunteers sort it and deliver it to servicemen and veterans overseas and in hospitals across the country.
I had the privilege of participating in a card sorting event last year where 40 volunteers from Pitney Bowes processed over 20 thousand pieces of mail.
I brought my entire family to this event.
Want to help? It’s easy to get involved.
There are currently 1.4 million active duty US military men and women serving in our country and abroad. Many of them are going to spend the holiday season away from home. Is there something you can do to help? Well, glad you asked because there is. You can get involved and all it takes is a holiday card.
- Write a holiday card yourself and mail it to:
Holiday Mail for Heroes P.O. Box 5456 Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456The deadline for mailing your card is December 7th so don’t delay.
- Tell others about the project and direct them to http://www.redcross.org/holidaymail for more info.
- Use your social media channels to energize others. Use #holidaymail hashtag to mark your Facebook, Twitter or Flickr entries so that we can track them and thank everybody for their involvement.
- Bloggers, blog about the program. More info. in this post from the Red Cross blog.
- Feel free to organize card making events among your family and friends. It can be a great way to get your kids energized. Take pictures of your cards and post them online or add them to the Holiday Mail for Heroes Flickr group.
- Schools, houses of worship, community centers: get involved by encouraging your members to make a card.
- Contact your local Red Cross Chapter to find out how you can help sort incoming cards.
Want to know the progress we are making with the campaign?
Follow us on Twitter @mail4heroes or follow the #holidaymail hashtag to see what others are saying about the program
Check out Flickr pictures of past cards and card sorting events
Watch the Holiday Mail for Heroes program video , or an animated slide show of last year’s cards
Become a friend of the Red Cross Facebook fan page to to stay up to date.
And THANKS!
Aneta Hall's Blog 
Aneta — you are so real and transparent. That’s why I love your blog!
Greetings:
My name is Ry Zimmerman. I am on a mission and determined to bring quality and diversity together in gifts that reflect not only ourselves but the people that we buy them for.” Whether or not an individual supports the war in Iraq, it is certain that we all support our loved ones, & those who protect our virtues. “Our cards reflect life; meaning that everything we have been through will be artistically displayed on each and every card.” It is hard to believe that still in the 21st century the world has yet to fully embrace diversity. With this in mind and passion in our hearts, brother and sister team, Ry and Gregg Zimmerman, founded Billets Doux “Love Letters”. Billets Doux is a multicultural greeting card and luxury gift company also, featuring Handmade designs by Ry. Our Braveheart Collection is a great way to honor those who are present and those who have passed.
Spread Awareness, Support and Love to our True Heroes of our country. God Bless. My deepest gratitude and respect.
Ry Zimmerman Billets Doux ~ Ry’s “Love Letters”
http://www.rysloveletters.com/braveheart
Complete Greeting Card Collection: http://www.rysloveletters.com/watch_-_video
A question in regard to this project: I went to the Red Cross’ page and they offer a service to purchase postcards through them. My question is, must I buy my postcards through them in order to participate or can you purchase your own and send those?
While you don’t need to purchase custom designed cards from the Red Cross if you do the funds from that sale will go directly to help Red Cross support their outreach to the American military and veterans. Having said that, we will be very happy to deliver any card, custom-designed by a celebrity or better yet custom-created by YOU. Here are a few cards from last year to get your creative juices going http://pbi.bz/6Zbxe9 . And thanks for getting involved.
Aneta