Packages From Home began as a labor of love for my son, Christian, a soldier
with the Army’s 1st Infantry Division. Christian was deployed to Iraq in
March 2004. I began sending care packages to him on a regular basis. When I
received a phone call from him thanking me for all of the comfort items from
home, I found out that my son was the only soldier in his squad receiving
any packages from home. Some friends and I decided to adopt his squad, and
began shipping packages to the men in his unit. This is the point where
“Packages From Home” was born.
Along with my friends and neighbors, I began having “packing parties” in my
garage every month or so, sending requested and needed items to Christian’s
squad. As we all know, volunteering for a good cause is contagious. As the
small group of volunteers kept sending packages, more and more people began
to get involved. In October 2004, our small organization caught the eye of a
local a.m. radio talk show host and I was invited to appear on his morning
talk show to Packages From Home. After the appearance on his show, my phone
lines lit up. Some people wanted to donate money, other people wanted to
donate items, and more people wanted to donate their time to help support
the squad.
The grassroots effort began to grow in leaps and bounds from November 2004.
By then we realized that the amount of donated goods, and the money coming
in to ship the items would require us to request charitable status with the
IRS. Packages From Home then became a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.
Our sole purpose is to provide food, personal care, and recreational items
to deployed American troops, at no cost to them. Since March 2005 we have
averaged 1,000 to 1,500 packages a month being shipped to our heroes. Our
goal is to ship many more. We collect donated items from generous patriotic
citizens who live all across America. These items include non-perishable
food, personal toiletries, and recreational items like games, books, music
CDs and movie DVDs. A list of items needed by the troops is available on our
“Things to Donate” page along with the location of “Drop Off Locations” in
the greater Phoenix, Arizona area where items may be donated. (No alcohol,
tobacco products, pressurized containers, x-rated materials or any other
item deemed unsuitable or unsafe will ever be sent by us.) Our staff and
volunteers carefully pack the donations into U.S. Post Office Flat-Rate
Priority Mail boxes. The boxes are then mailed to U.S. servicemen and women
who are deployed overseas in harm’s way. Monetary donations go towards
mailing costs and/or purchasing of special items to send to the troops.
Packages From Home is listed and recognized by the Department of Defense to
send care packages in support of our troops. We have been featured on many
Military-related websites, such as The Military Report and America Supports
You.
Whether you are in Arizona or in another state, we hope you can find it in
your heart to give a little back to our proud troops still serving abroad.
Thank you,
Kathleen Lewis
Founder of Packages From Home
Please check us out on the following websites:
www.PackagesFromHome.org
