Aiming to bring a touch of home to our troops, I’ve launched Operation Holiday Cheer 2009, the seventh annual drive to send holiday care packages to Rhode Island service men and women stationed overseas.
The holidays are a time when our thoughts turn to home and family. For troops stationed around the world—and more than 250 Rhode Islanders were deployed overseas just last month—the holidays can be an especially difficult time to be away.
Operation Holiday Cheer is one of the small things we can do to support our troops—both as a thank you for the work they do on our country’s behalf and a way to make their holidays a bit more festive.
What specifically can you do? We’ll need donated goods to send and volunteer help, so mark your calendars now with two key dates for Operation Holiday Cheer:
• Saturday, November 14, collection/drop-off donations of goods and money for postage to send the packages, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the North Main Street Armory in Providence.
• Saturday, November 21, pack up the care packages and prepare them for shipping, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the North Main Street Armory.
Items with a uniquely Rhode Island flavor are always big hits with the troops, such as Del’s Lemonade mix, or coffee syrup to make our famous coffee milk.
Other requested donations include: ground coffee, beef jerky, packaged cookies, trail mix, nuts, hard candy, chewing gum, shaving cream (no aerosol), dental hygiene products, foot powder, sunscreen, deodorant, hand sanitizer, moist towlettes, DVDs, music CDs, books (no religious content), AA and AAA batteries, headlamps for reading, games and playing cards, baseballs, softballs and gloves, white socks (no logo).
My thanks in advance to our many community and corporate sponsors, the United States Postal Service and our volunteers. Their generosity has made this endeavor possible in the past and will again this year.
I hope you’ll join me in brightening the holidays of our deployed Rhode Island troops. To volunteer, please call 222-2371. For more information on Operation Holiday Cheer, click here. If you have Rhode Island friends or relatives in the active service overseas, email operationholidaycheer@ltgov.state.ri.us to ensure they’re on our list.