Soldier Gifts for Those In Iraq....AWESOME pics!!!!

[MichiganWoods]

Have a wonderful weekend, momofdrew!!

(waits to hear about Athena's box overload!)

 

[Athena]

Quote:
Cass.. as of yesterday afternoon, nothing..

I did get a couple of boxes in, mailed out on the 31 and the 1st... They were from The Womans Club of Port Charlotte, Florida..

Right now, its close to 3 am, and Im going to go to midnight chow in a few, then stop over at Troy's.. (I do that nightly to make sure volunteers keep coffee going, etc.....) and I will check to see if your boxes came in..

 

[Athena]

Quote:
Im reading posts backwards...lol...

Have an awesome time with your son, and his friends.. and tell them how proud we are of his service!

and you tooo, have a good time with them as well... I bet you'll be making his favorite meals, because I do that too, when Im home and my kids come down to see me from college.. Of course, they call in advance, and tell me what they want me to cook...lol..
and all of a sudden, your their best friend cause they want YOU to take them shopping...lol..
Its all good stuff... and I personally miss doing that!

Kids are wonderful..and I miss mine ... and my grands!!!

Give them a big hug, and a big squeeze... and remind them to buckle up on their way back down to NC..

 

[Athena]

Quote:
CASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Your packages arrived today, apparently AFTER I had left Troy's.. (I left at 4 pm today to get some sleep.. as I work the midnight to noon shift), and after my 3 am chow break, I stopped at Troy's to check and there they were!!!!!!!

I opened 5 of the boxes that you had marked snacks, as we needed some variety out on the shelves.. I cannot believe how expertly you packed everything.. not a cookie or cracker broken. I immediately put half of the boxes in the storeroom, as we put things out in moderation, if not, I might not have anything to put on the shelves in a few days....lol..

Everything on the shelves is determined by donation, and unless someone tells me they are shipping something, I might not get anything for weeks, as that has happened!!

It's funny, I went into Troy's first to check on things, coffee, creamer, cups, etc... and there was a gal looking at the slim pickings on the shelves.. She said, she got busy with injured troops at the hospital and that she missed chow, and she was starving, looking for snacks to tide her over till breakfast.. so, I told her to give me a few minutes, so that I can look in the storeroom and see if anything came in...and there were your boxes.. so, as I said, I opened the first 5 that said snacks and she helped me stock, and said to tell you THANK YOU, as I told her, who they came from.. I also got her to sign a volunteer form, to come volunteer a few hours when she can spare. (I have to take advantage of certain situations.. and besides, volunteering at Troy's is unbelievably rewarding!)

The troopers are gonna love all the things you sent.. from the small cereal boxes to the fruit cups and roll ups and gum... Thank You so much, and your mom too for shipping them out for us!
You went above and beyond with all the great things shipped, and thats with less than half the boxes opened.

BYCers came through again... Thank You so much Cass..

((Gosh, what would we have done without this thread!!!!))

I will get to the rest of the boxes later on today after work, and after church!!


Athena sends!!!

 

[MichiganWoods]

So glad it all got there!! I was beginning to wonder if the P.O. started snooping and causing delays.

And that's awesome that they were able to be immediately put to use. Of course that lady was more than welcome.

Enjoy everything!!

P.S. Let me know if all of the other boxes were OK upon opening or if there was any breakage of anything. That way I'll know how to better pack for next time.

 

[momofdrew]

Cass
you'll have to tell me how you packed your stuff I am gathering items to be shipped as soon as possible...but am unsure how to pack it all...I have mostly shampoos and soaps donated from one of my church ladies and plan on going to the dollar store tomorrow... I plan on getting my son and grand son to help me shop tomorrow too...

Athena
We have had a housefull since he got in yesterday They have been playing video games watching goofy movies and playing board games....eating candy and drinking mountain dew...needless to say it has been very wild here...I would love to have him all to myself but he has such a close relationship with these kids that I cannot begrudge his being with them... I have a feeling he will be deploying very soon...he said something about the 20th.!.?.
I assume there will be a chapline in the area Drew is deploying to...is there anyway I can find out??
By the way what is your job when you aren't volunteering???

Pam

 

[MichiganWoods]

Pam,

Basically I took everything out of their bigger box/packages and packed all of the individually wrapped items tightly into each box. If I needed to, I filled the gaps in with single pieces of (wrapped) candies and the like. Once the lid was closed (but not taped), I shook the box to hear if the stuff inside was moving at all. If it was, I tried to pack it in a little tighter -- added some more candies or crumpled up paper (once I ran out of the candies!). Then once I taped it up, I made sure to run an extra piece of tape around the top and bottom to cover all the edges so that there were no edges of paper to get caught up in the machinery at the post office.

Has your hubby or nephew mentioned getting a box yet?

 

[Athena]

Quote:
Hi Pam...
Yes, every unit has a chaplain.. so no fears there.. They hold church services, and counseling sessions to whomever needs.. They travel with the units, etc.. Just so you know, there is a confidentiality clause, and anything anyone says is kept between him/her and the chaplain. Our chaplain at Sunday services reminds us of that..

Im a systems engineer by trade..
not necessarily doing that at the moment, but something along those lines.. moreso with communications.
I am hoping that I am on the downhill side of my assignment. Five more months!!!

 

[Athena]

Quote:
Cass... That was Gretchen's hubby/nephew you sent the packages too.. maplesomething is her handle..

and... SUPER, SUPER job on packing, even the debbie cakes made it, just like out of the box!!!!!! andddddddddd... I got to the snack and sandwich baggies... boy, did we need those!! Thank You!!
Had to explain to the chaplain, what BYC stands for...lol...

 

[MichiganWoods]

Er, whoops! Well, I went to bed early last night. I've been exhausted for the past week... rushing to finish up our coop before the hatchlings arrived.

Gretchen... any word??

Oh I'm so glad to hear it all made it through. When I saw your posting about the baggies I thought I needed to toss some of those in there. - Was the chaplain amused??