Operation: Love from Home - HOLIDAY CARD DRIVE FOR DEPLOYED TROOPS

HOLIDAY CARD DRIVE FOR DEPLOYED TROOPS

www.OperationLoveFromHome.org

OCTOBER 15 to NOVEMBER 28, 2009

The Mission: To collect Christmas/Holiday cards, candy canes, and other festive holiday decorations & goodies for American troops serving all over the world, to let them know that we are thinking of them during the holiday season and have not forgotten them!

The Reason: Being away from home, often living in harsh conditions with combat & constant danger is difficult ~ our troops need to know we have not forgotten them!!! Mail from home helps to keep our troops' morale strong, making a very real difference in their lives. It keeps them motivated and focused when they know we care about them!

The Address: Send your signed, unsealed holiday cards to the following address:

OPERATION: LOVE FROM HOME
P.O. Box 1660
Loganville, Georgia, 30052

ALL ITEMS MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN NOVEMBER 28, 2009

The Guidelines:
**The cards can be handmade or store-bought. Even regular letters are fine. This is a great opportunity to get your Scout troop, school, church/house of worship and other civic organizations involved in doing something to tangibly show support for our troops.
**Please do not write the date on your cards. This is so that, in the event cards reach us after our shipping deadline has passed, we can hang on to the cards and use them for our next card drive.
**Keep the cards fun and light-hearted – this is not a dating service, nor do we allow any political statements! Any cards of an inappropriate, suggestive, or political/otherwise negative nature will be thrown away.

If you have any questions, please contact us at Kat@OperationLoveFromHome.org or info@operationlovefromhome.org

PLEASE CONTACT US IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO RECEIVE A PRINTABLE PDF OR WORD VERSION OF THIS INFORMATIONAL FLYER! Please visit our website at http://www.OperationLoveFromHome.org!

For more info, join our Yahoo Group to stay in the loop - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoveFromHome!

Postage costs are our biggest expense, along with supplies and related expenses of conducting card/care package drives throughout the community. Donations towards postage & supplies are most gratefully accepted!

Operation Love From Home - Request

Special Request from an Infantry Unit!

Good morning everyone!

We have recently had an infantry unit sign up with Operation Love From Home. They are not in need of much by way of cards & letters at this time; HOWEVER, they ARE very much in need of basic hygiene items, snacks, and the like. I've created a page on our website (along with a clickable, downloadable and printable flyer on that page) to get the word out about their needs. Please click here to view:
http://www.operationlovefromhome.org/index.php?pr=Items_Needed_ASAP!&=SID

Collecting care package items (and postage funds to ship) will be an ONGOING project until very late this year - and beyond, if more units sign up and request 'stuff' in addition to holiday cards.

Anything you can to to help out in this regard would be MOST appreciated! Right now, out of all the items on that list, we have exactly...NOTHING. Nada. Zip. Zero. Zilch. Since our Board hasn't won the lottery yet (or bought any tickets, come to think of it, haha), we need YOU to help us take care of these troops! :) Much of the stuff can be bought at dollar stores; you can also possibly get donations from area hotels, businesses, your dentist (toothbrushes, floss, etc. is on the list!) and the like. Walmart gift cards are also welcome if you do not have time to shop for items yourself - we are more than happy to. Whatever it takes to take care of our troops! :)

God bless - looking forward to seeing mountains (of stuff) move from here to The Sandbox!

MamaKat

Can You Feel the Love?! Valentine's Card Drive for Troops!

It's that time again, folks! Christmas is over with, New Year's celebrations are through (and hopefully recovered from!)... so now is the time to chase away those "after-holiday blahs" for our heroes! (Not to mention, the day-to-day "regular" blahs that come from being so far away from home!) Check out the info below to see how you can help -- and please do forward this on to others, post on your blogs, message boards, etc -- we need a lot of people working together to reach our goal by January 31! (We also have a nice, printable flyer that you can hand out to folks - just email us and we'll get it to you!) ~ Thanks for your support of our HEROES!

VALENTINE'S CARD DRIVE FOR DEPLOYED TROOPS

The Mission: To collect at least 3,000 Valentine's Day cards for troops stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and all over the world. We are also collecting Hershey's Kisses and Hershey's Hugs – the more, the better!

The Reason: Being away from home and living in harsh conditions with combat & constant danger is difficult ~ our troops need to know we have not forgotten them!!! Mail from home helps to keep our troops' morale strong, making a very real difference in their lives. It keeps them motivated and focused when they know we care about them!

The Address: Send your signed, unsealed thank-you cards to the following address:

OPERATION LOVE FROM HOME

P.O. Box 1660

Loganville, Georgia, 30052

ALL CARDS MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 2009.

(Sorry, no exceptions or extensions can be granted due to shipping time!)

The Guidelines:

• The cards can be handmade or store-bought. Even regular letters are fine. This is a great opportunity to get your Scout troop, school, church/house of worship and other civic organizations involved in doing something to tangibly show support for our troops.
• Please do not write the date on your cards.
• Keep the cards fun and light-hearted – this is not a dating service!
• Send in Valentine's candy if you are able to!
  

If you have any questions, please contact us at Kat@OperationLoveFromHome.org or info@operationlovefromhome.org

Check out our website: www.OperationLoveFromHome.org for more info, and join our Yahoo Group to stay in the loop - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoveFromHome!

Postage costs are our biggest expense, and we are also in need of funds to file our 501(c)(3) application with the IRS.  Donations towards postage and/or IRS filing fees are most gratefully accepted!

Operation: Love From Home - UPDATE

Via Momma Kat comes this email from a recipient of Operation: Love From Home

Operation love from home,

Thank you for the cards you sent to us. I go out to the troops before they go on mission and pray with them. It is always great to get things from home so that while I am out talking with them I can give them something to remind them why they fight. They are always happy to get the cards. You make a difference in there lives. It can be hard to keep perspective and you help them by showing that you care. When I am out talking to them I also take things out to them. What ever I get in packages I give out to them. It is great to be able to pass along things from home. They like things that they can take with them to eat on the mission. Anything can help, thank you again for your generosity.

Chaplain (CPT) A.N. (name withheld for OPSEC)
1-303
CAV

Great job guys, each card you sent for our deployed heroes REALLY made a difference!

Operation: Love From Home - UPDATE!

[Posted for Kat in GA]

Today, we (the Operation Love From Home Board members) spent the day packing up all the Christmas/holiday cards we've received for our heroes. A local self-storage facility real near my house was kind enough to donate use of a large storage area (about the size of my garage, but without all our junk in it, haha) to us for a couple months for our Christmas card drive. I don't have the final count of how many cards we took in this year (will have that tomorrow), but we estimate we are somewhere in the neighborhood of 18,000-ish, give or take. Will give y'all the actually accurate and official final tally tomorrow!

It was such a relief to have somewhere else to store all the cards this year... for once, our family could move thru our living room, hahaha! Last year we shipped even more than 18000 cards, and what a challenge that was to negotiate our living room/dining room, while weaving thru stacks and stacks of tens of thousands of Christmas cards, haha! Yeah...thank GOD for the local storage owner guy and his most marvelous donation! The only downside to having a storage unit was that in December, it gets COLD. Like, in the 30s today. We had a small space heater in the unit with us, but it didn't do much if you weren't standing practically on top of the thing (which I did. quite a lot!). By the time we were done, I think we were life-sized popsicles, haha! :)

I have a few hundred left here at my house (my nice, heated, WARM house!) that I'm in the process of boxing up now. :-) Tomorrow morning, December 3, at 0830, we'll be first in line at the post office with about a gazillion boxes. :-) Yeeehaw!

In spite of a very slow start to this card drive (thanks a lot, lousy economy!), we've done alright this time around! I'm most happy about this...approximately 18,000 (that's eighteen THOUSAND - just think on how many people that is!) troops scattered all over the world, in all branches of the service, will receive a Christmas/Holiday card from YOU, yes YOU ...and YOU will have made a tremendous difference to each and every one of those 18,000 heroes out there.

That's approximately 18,000 smiles, because of each of you!

Awesome job, folks! You have our eternal gratitude.

But don't get too comfy...starting in January, I'll be pestering the heck out of you for Valentine's cards and chocolate.... ;-) (Not for me, silly - for the troops!)

Anyway, stand by for the final tally of Christmas Card Drive 2008! I just know you are waiting with bated breath!

UPDATE: Operation Love From Home

Momma Kat writes:

Today, we mailed out the Thanksgiving cards we received for the troops. We sent out 449 Thanksgiving cards to troops scattered all over the place - Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Phillippines. Total postage costs were $39.25 for our Thanksgiving shipment. WAY TO GO, Y'ALL!

Just a VERY few days left of our Christmas/Holiday card drive - if you haven't sent in a card or twenty (LOL - every single bit helps!) NOW is definitely the time to do it - so go ahead and drop everything, sign some holiday cards, and get them in the mail *ASAP* -- if not sooner! :-)

Currently, our total stands at 6,200. We have several boxes that are in the process of being read and counted, so that is not our "final" figure by any means. Christmas and holiday cards should be sent to the following address:

Mama Kat Orr
Operation Love From Home
Post Office Box 1660
Loganville, GA 30052

If you need a physical address for overnight shipping, please contact me at Kat@OperationLoveFromHome.org and I will give it to you. :)

For more details and further information about Operation Love From Home, please check out our website at: www.OperationLoveFromHome.org .

Y'all totally ROCK! Thanks for ALL you do to REALLY support our troops!

Thanks Kat...we think you rock too!

Operation Love From Home Card Drive for Troops UPDATE

Yesterday, Operation Love From Home participated in the annual "Loganfest" community festival. It was a resoundingly HUMONGOUS success! We collected 1,194 cards for our heroes in that ONE DAY alone, and between selling t-shirts/bracelets/hats and getting outright donations from folks, we raised $305 towards postage and supplies!!!! (that's huge...last year, mailing 27,000 cards cost us about $800 -- since we are doubling the goal this year, postage will be more expensive, as well. More cards = more shipping!).

Will finish counting the cards picked up at the post office over the weekend soon, and post our grand total so far ASAP. (Note: the totals reflect the number of cards we actually have in our possession - not including the number of folks who "have xx amount of cards and will send soon.")

We still have a long, long way to go to get to our goal of 50,000 cards, though... but we can do it! :)

"Mama Kat"

Operation Love From Home: NEED 50,000 SIGNED HOLIDAY CARDS FOR TROOPS!

Operation Love From Home is starting its 2008 Christmas and Holiday Card drive to support our deployed troops. Founder and primary organizer The Thunder Run's own Kat in GA writes:

OK folks, here we go again, collecting Christmas/Holiday cards for our deployed Heroes!!! This year the goal is the biggest ever: we would like to get at least 50,000 holiday cards to our Heroes in harm's way! We can't accomplish this awesome goal without YOU! Please forward this info on to others you think would be interested in this project, and if you have a blog, please consider posting about it. This is a team effort...together, we can make a real difference to our troops who are missing home during the holidays! Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions. We have a printable flyer we are happy to send you (can also be downloaded from our Yahoo! group), as well as a letter that you can send to local schools/organizations to seek their support. Just drop us a line and we'll be happy to send those items to you. Thank you for your support of our heroes! Info re: Love From Home 2008 is below!

Most sincerely,
"Mama Kat" Orr
President, Operation Love From Home.

What is Operation Love from Home attempting to do?
Well read on for your orders.

The Mission: To collect at least 50,000 Christmas/Holiday cards for troops stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and all over the world.

The Reason: Being away from home and living in harsh conditions with combat & constant danger is difficult ~ our troops need to know we have not forgotten them!!! Mail from home helps to keep our troops' morale strong, making a very real difference in their lives. It keeps them motivated and focused when they know we care about them!

The Address: Send your signed, unsealed thank-you cards to the following address:

Mrs. Kathy Orr
OPERATION: LOVE FROM HOME
P.O. Box 1660
Loganville, Georgia, 30052

ALL CARDS MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2008.

The Guidelines: The cards can be handmade or store-bought. This is a great opportunity to get your Scout troop, school, church and other civic organizations involved in doing something to show support for our troops.
Please do not write the date on your cards
Please, no glitter on the cards. Because of the intended destinations of the cards, nothing "shiny" should be sent for safety & security reasons.
*IMPORTANT: This is not a "dating service." Please do not send suggestive or otherwise inappropriate cards or materials. Please also refrain from making political statements of any nature. We will be reading and screening every card received to ensure that the above guidelines are adhered to.

Remember: This is strictly to let the troops know that we love them, we are proud of them and that we HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN them! If you have any questions, please contact us at Kat@OperationLoveFromHome.org or info@operationlovefromhome.org

Check out our website: www.OperationLoveFromHome.org for more info!

THANK YOU FROM THE MARINES [By Kat]

I arrived home after a funeral today to find a special treat (and much needed smile) in my mailbox. Seeing that "free mail" always does the trick! This letter was received in response to our recent Operation Love From Home 4th of July card drive. Y'all truly made a great difference for this bunch of Marines (and several others, as well!).

Dear [Operation Love From Home],

We would like to take some time to thank you for sending us thank you cards. It means a lot to all of us over here when we receive thank you cards; it lets us know that people are still supporting us. Once again we would like to thank you for all your
support.

Sincerely,
The Marines
(and each Marine in the platoon signed the letter)

How cool is that?! Great job y'all.... you did good.

Remember, thanksgiving and Christmas are right around the corner, so start thinking of ways to gather up bunches of holiday cards and goodies for our heroes!!! Stay tuned to our website for more details re: our upcoming holiday card drives.

You rock, each and every one of y'all!

4TH OF JULY CARD DRIVE FOR DEPLOYED TROOPS

The Mission:
To collect at least 5,000 "thank you" cards for troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The majority of the cards collected will go to a unit currently stationed in an extremely harsh and remote area of Afghanistan.

The Reason:
Being away from home and living in harsh conditions with combat & constant danger is difficult ~ our troops need to know we have not forgotten them!!! Mail from home helps to keep our troops' morale strong, making a very real difference in their lives. It keeps them motivated and focused when they know we care about them!

The Address:
Send your signed, unsealed thank-you cards to the following address:
Mrs. Kathy Orr
OPERATION: LOVE FROM HOME
P.O. Box 1660
Loganville, Georgia, 30052

ALL CARDS MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2008.

The Guidelines:
The cards can be handmade or store-bought (letters are just fine, too). This is a great opportunity to get your Scout troop, school, church and other civic organizations involved in doing something to show support for our troops.
Please do not write the date on your cards
Please, no glitter on the cards. Because of the intended destination of the cards, nothing "shiny" should be sent for safety & security reasons.

*IMPORTANT: This is not a "dating service." Please do not send suggestive or otherwise inappropriate cards or materials. Please also refrain from making political statements of any nature. We will be reading and screening every card received to ensure that the above guidelines are adhered to. Remember: This is strictly to let the troops know that we love them, we are proud of them and that we HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN them! If you have any questions, please contact us at LoveFromHome@Gmail.com.

Trackbacked / Linked by:
Operation Love From Home for the Troops from Right Truth
URGENT: Operation Love From Home from Rosemary's Thoughts

Operation Love From Home Radio

Operation Love From Home the brainchild of Kat in GA, friend of and contributor to this blog, is taking off. Kat in Ga will be a guest on DJ Cajun Lady's internet radio show to promote Operation: Love From Home!

Kat writes:

Tomorrow (Friday, May 16), I will have the honor of appearing on America's Freedom Broadcast Radio (an online station dedicated to supporting our troops! - tune in at http://www.afbradio.us/ ). My new friend Gilda (who somehow heard about the 4th of July card drive and contacted me out of the blue last week!) is "DJ CajunLady" and will be interviewing me about Operation Love From Home. I'll be on the air from shortly after 2:00 pm EST to 3:00 EST.

So, please listen to http://www.afbradio.us/ tomorrow between 2 and 3 to hear the interview!

Great job Kat

4th of July Card Drive for Deployed Troops!

4TH OF JULY CARD DRIVE FOR DEPLOYED TROOPS

The Mission: To collect at least 5,000 "thank you" cards for troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. The majority of the cards collected will go to a unit currently stationed in an extremely harsh and remote area of Afghanistan.

The Reason: Being away from home and living in harsh conditions with combat & constant danger is difficult ~ our troops need to know we have not forgotten them!!! Mail from home helps to keep our troops' morale strong, making a very real difference in their lives. It keeps them motivated and focused when they know we care about them!

The Address: Send your signed, unsealed thank-you cards to the following address:

Mrs. Kathy Orr
OPERATION: LOVE FROM HOME
P.O. Box 1660
Loganville, Georgia, 30052

ALL CARDS MUST BE RECEIVED NO LATER THAN SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 2008.

The Guidelines:

• The cards can be handmade or store-bought (letters are just fine, too). This is a great opportunity to get your Scout troop, school, church and other civic organizations involved in doing something to show support for our troops.
• Please do not write the date on your cards
• Please, no glitter on the cards. Because of the intended destination of the cards, nothing "shiny" should be sent for safety & security reasons.
  

*IMPORTANT: This is not a "dating service." Please do not send suggestive or otherwise inappropriate cards or materials. Please also refrain from making political statements of any nature. We will be reading and screening every card received to ensure that the above guidelines are adhered to. Remember: This is strictly to let the troops know that we love them, we are proud of them and that we HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN them! If you have any questions, please contact us at LoveFromHome@Gmail.com or http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoveFromHome/.

With respect,

Kat

OPERATION: VALENTINE 2008 --- FINAL RESULTS!!!!

Kat sends this note:

5,320 Valentine's Cards are now boxed up and sitting in my living room, ready to be delivered to the post office in just about three hours. YIPPEE!!!! *high fives all around* :)

Great, great job everyone...thank you a million times over for sending in all the cards!!! (Up till yesterday, I hadn't gotten much... everything showed up at the last minute! :) Thank God it all got here in time. :) ) I didn't think we'd make the 5,000-card goal!!! But y'all did it!!! Awesome job...thank you so very much!!!! This will mean a lot to our HEROES!!!!!

And now, I'm going to sleep, for a few hours at least! :)

Y'all rock... Thank you sooo much!

Oh no Kat thank you for your unstoppable force and continuous drive to ensure the troops are not forgotten! HOOOAH!

25,400

Look at that number and ask yourself 25,400 what?

And now ask yourself another question, what do you think it takes to collect and ship 25,400....

Christmas Card for deployed troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Well that is the total amount of cards and leters collected by Kat in Ga during her 2007 Operation Love From Home Christmas Card Drive which concluded last week.

Kat writes on her blog:

[t]he for real total going out in a couple hours is 25,400!

I have another nine thousand letters left over from the Q100 Big Thank You project (remember they gave me all the "after the deadline" stuff they didn't ship) that have been read and sorted, etc... but I ran out of suitable boxes (only had the super-huge ones left) and need to get a few more addressees to send them to. Funds permitting, I hope to send the remaining 9,000 next week. (Better late than never...) :)

WAY TO GO EVERYONE! THANK YOU SO MUCH! Now, time for a quick "Kat nap" before I have to get up and go to the post office - LOL!

So I'm asking a favor of the readers of The Thunder Run...can you send her a couple bucks to offset postage...

Donations can be sent to:

Mrs. Kathy Orr
OPERATION: LOVE FROM HOME
P.O. Box 1660
Loganville, Georgia, 30052

Thanks Kat and thanks to all of you for helping her reach this goal and spread some cheer to our deployed troops.

[Ed Note: Kat is not asking for this help, this is me asking you to help her out...she deserves it.]

Operation Love From Home - Update

Folks, I've been terribly remiss in not pushing this this year, but Kat in Ga sends us an update on her current Christmas Card drive.

Current Update on our 2007 Christmas Card Drive for the Troops:

Between the Christmas cards I've received (and am still getting in) and the letters leftover from Q100's Big Thank You that I was given, we are currently up to... 15,719 cards/letters/etc to ship to our heroes all over the world!!! This is by no means the "final count." I don't think I'll truly have the final final count until late Friday night! But it's bound to be a huge number! :) Too darn awesome. :)

Thanks everyone for all you've done to make this year such a success!!!!!

I wish I had done more Kat, but I'm glad that once again it was a success. I know for those deployed it may be difficult to find the cheer in the holiday season but I want you all to know that I am eternally grateful for your service to our country.

OPERATION: LOVE FROM HOME UPDATE 10-13-07

Kat in Ga writes:

Today was a very good day (aside from getting lost a couple times.... *sigh* haha)! The Greater Grayson Chamber of Commerce allowed me to share a booth with them at a local annual chili cookoff. A dear friend of mine (God bless her!) came with me and with her help, we got 170 cards signed for the troops today!!!! :) Yay!

I ran by the post office on the way home and picked up the mail. When I got home I counted everything, and as of today, the grand total of cards received (including from today's event) is 463!!! Yay! Not bad for only two weeks - great job everyone! Remember the goal is 20,000, so keep 'em comin!!!! :)

Thanks for helping to make sure that our Heroes know they are NOT FORGOTTEN during the holidays! :)

OPERATION: LOVE FROM HOME

Its that time folks...Kat in Ga sends this via email:

OK, folks, it's officially official -- Operation Love from Home begins now!

Last year, thanks to all your hard work and commitment, 20,000 cards were collected and shipped to Iraq & Afghanistan! How awesome is that? LET'S DO IT AGAIN THIS YEAR -- I KNOW WE CAN!!! :)

All the information is below. This is a great project for scout troops, businesses and other organizations to get involved in tangibly showing support for our troops. The troops can't see the yellow ribbon magnets on our cars...but they CAN hold a letter or card in their hand and KNOW someone back home REALLY CARES! :)

Individually we can not achieve this on our own...it will take us all working together to make it happen.

Hang on - we're in for a wild ride. :) This is going to be GREAT! :)

OPERATION: LOVE FROM HOME

During this holiday season, let's show our troops we love and support them!

From OCTOBER 1 to November 24, I will be collecting holiday cards for troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Being away from home and living in harsh conditions during the holiday season is especially difficult ~ they need to know we have not forgotten them! Mail from home helps to keep our troops' morale strong, making a very real difference in their lives.

Send your signed, unsealed holiday cards to:

Mrs. Kathy Orr
OPERATION: LOVE FROM HOME
P.O. Box 1660
Loganville, Georgia, 30052

The cards can be handmade or store-bought. This is a great opportunity to get your Scout troop, school, church and other civic organizations involved in doing something to show support for our troops.

If you wish to send an email greeting,which will be printed off and mailed along with the holiday cards, please send an email to: LoveFromHome@Gmail.com

*IMPORTANT GUIDELINES: This is not a "dating service" of any type. Please do not send suggestive or otherwise inappropriate cards or materials. Please also refrain from making political statements of any nature. I will be reading and screening every card received to ensure that the above guidelines are adhered to. Remember: This is strictly to let the troopsknow that we love them, we are proud of them and that we HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN them!

IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT ME AT LoveFromHome@Gmail.com. You canalso join my Yahoo group to receive regular updates on the card drives --http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoveFromHome.