Published: November 13, 2009 09:13 am      

Red Cross provides way to send greetings to service members, their families

Thursday, November 12, 2009 — The American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes have joined forces for the third year to send a touch of home to military service members, veterans and their families in the United States and around the world.

The Holiday Mail for Heroes program will feature the collection, sorting and distribution of holiday cards for service members, veterans and their families.

All cards must be postmarked no later than Dec. 7. Cards postmarked after Dec. 7 cannot be guaranteed delivery and may be returned to the sender. This deadline ensures enough time to sort and distribute cards before the holidays.

Cards may be mailed to: Holiday Mail for Heroes, P.O. Box 5456, Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456.

The Stanly County Chapter of the Red Cross will receive 2,000 cards in the near future to sort and distribute locally before Christmas.

“We will need volunteers to sort and distribute the cards and identify veterans, active military and military families in Stanly County,” said Jean Hendley, executive director, Stanly County Chapter of the American Red Cross.

For information on volunteering, call (704) 982-0070.

Card Guidelines

Do...

• Ensure that all cards are signed.

• Make cards more meaningful to a wide variety of recipients by using “Dear Service Member, Family or Veteran” rather than any more specific language. Note: Cards addressed to specific individuals cannot be delivered through this program.

• Limit the number of cards to 15 from any one person or 50 from any one school class, business or group. If you are mailing a large quantity, please bundle the cards and place them in large mailing envelopes. Each card does not need its own envelope, as envelopes will be removed from all cards before distribution.

Do not...

• Send letters. Only cards are being accepted.

• Include e-mail or home addresses on the cards, as the program is not meant to foster pen pal relationships.

• Include cards with excessive amounts of glitter. Because cards may be received by wounded service members and veterans in hospitals, large quantities of glitter could aggravate existing health problems.

• Include inserts of any kind, including photos, as these items will be removed during the reviewing process.

For more information, visit www.redcross.org today.