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(click on photos to
enlarge)
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Package
Contents
A full package (large photo) surrounded by contents.
First row: food bag; hygiene bag; misc. bag.
Second row: gifts for
Iraqi/Afghani kids; gum/candy bag; entertainment bag (contains
letter)
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first row: Adrienne and Joyce carrying boxes
of donated goods into Sherrill House for assembly; Ed and Adrienne putting together packs for Iraqi/Afghani kids; Rafi, Miriam and Mildred at the table; Arielle & Mildred putting
food/drink bags together.
second row: the group hard at work; Meir
assembling cleaning supplies; Ed with 25 boxes; 25 boxes in car; 35 packages
assembled so far!
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Assembly party for
third set -- 40 packages assembled (September 2008)
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Thank you to both the individuals who donated items
and helped assemble the packages, as well as the groups:
--Young Government Leaders, which held donation drives in 2 of their buildings and
whose members also came to the assembly party;
--Ransom Unit of the Historic
Charles St. A.M.E. Church, whose participating organizations and church members
donated so many of the goods we assembled; and
--the Massachusetts Division of
Healthcare Quality, whose last-minute drop-off of goods they had raised enabled us
to exceed my original plans for assembling 30-35 packages, and reach a new goal of
40 packages!
Thank you again to Sherrill House for letting us use their Board Room.
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from left: Barbara putting rags & Q-tips into bags (for soldiers to use to
clean their guns); Monique & Natellie with bags of candy and cough drops; Connie
assembling toiletries; Stan hard at work |  |  |  |  |
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| from left: Stan and Colin assembling the
entertainment bags; Joyce & Ashley hard at work; Jaclyn, Chris and Barbara bagging
gifts for Iraqi/Afghani kids; Chris with boxes |  |  |  |  |
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from left: Ashley hefting tub of food bags; supplies waiting to be
assembled; the care packages after assembly; Rob assemblying deodorant, foot
powder,bug spray and more |
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assembling packages; 75 care packages set out so
far! |
Thanks to all the donors and
volunteers this past year, we assembled our 106th care package today!
That’s 106 soldiers who received the moral support they need, who know
they’re appreciated, who felt our love. Read a letter from a
soldier’s mother, thanking all of us.
I appreciate all the support you've shown our soldiers this past year -- we've now
exceeded my goal of assembling 100 care packages.
--Thank you to English High School Junior ROTC, for holding a donation drive and
then helping assemble the packages.
--Kristen Hafferty also held a donation drive
at work.
--Big thank you to Amanda Kaiser and Angel Miller for, between them,
getting 10 letters to soldiers written in 2 days (by their family, friends, and 2
dogs).
--Dave Sullivan, Paul & Sue, Orianny, and Laura Liebster did a great job
assembling.
And, once again, we assembled the packages at the Sherrill
House. |
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from the left: Kristen, Dave & Paul bagging; the group working together to
assemble entertainment packs; Joyce & Amanda with pencils and sharpeners for
Iraqi/Agfhani kids; a smiling Chanel with Jennifer |
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| from the left:Anaceilys bagging rags for
soldiers to clean their guns; cadets relaxing with Paul & Sue; Laura & Sue bagging
candy and cough drops; 106 care packages assembled to date! |
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Fundraiser at
Monica’s -- August 23, 2009
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Hurricane Bill couldn’t keep people
away!
Folks gathered for a low-key afternoon of playing games (Scattergories,
anyone?), chatting, and noshing on food. More than just a social gathering though,
everyone made a donation to the care packages.
Thanks to everyone’s
generosity, I have food (granola bars, Clif bars, peanuts, pretzels, cracker
sandwiches) and drinks (hot chocolate packs, Crystal-Lite), Q-tips, and the critical
wet wipes (used by soldiers when they don’t have access to showers) to use in the
packages, as well as $75 to buy specific items I need for the care
packages.
Monica--thank you for hosting, especially since we didn’t know what
the weather would be!
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from left a furious game of Scattergories with Todd, Chris, Kristy, Kerry
and Jacinta; Monica chatting with guests; the day began with Apples to Apples, with
Kerry, Todd, Joe, and Jay |
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from left: Monica and Rick hard at work noshing again; Todd, Jacinta, and
others by the food, of course! |
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Assembly party for
fifth set -- 75 packages assembled (November 2009)
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The donations kept pouring in -- at first I thought we'd assemble our usual 30-40 packages; then I knew we had enough goods for 50 packages...make the 60...no, I think we'll do 70 (special thanks to Christine, Kerry, Beth, Emily and other last minute shoppers). How did we get so many goods? From collection drives at 2 work places, a very enthusiastic collection at the Flagship Dental Group in Longmeadow, MA, Marcia S. asking all of her friends for supplies (and letters--we had 15 wonderful letters for every packet; thanks also to Marcia R. for getting letters, as well as drawings from kids)--and lots of individual donations from all of you.
So WOW! We ended up assembling about 75 care packages! This brings the total up to about 180 packages to date!
A special thank you to those who were able to stay late, to ensure we made finished products of everything we assembled: Elvie, Brian, Emily, Zina, Kerry, Liz, Joyce, Natasha, and Kristen.
As always, thank you to Sherrill House for letting us use their Board Room. We couldn't do this without your support!
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from the left: Molly and Natasha assembling entertainment packets; Pam and Liz taping entertainment packets closed; Lindsay, Melissa, Joyce and Emily assembling toiletries bags; Rachel, Chris and Brian hard at work |
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from the left:Liz & Emily dedicated to ensuring all packets for Iraqi/Afghani kids had similar amount of toys; counting out pencils, sharpeners & erasers for kids' packets; Zina, Rachel and Natasha assembling food bags...; and Elvie adding drinks to the food bags |
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from the left: Kristen & Brian assembly cleaning supplies;Kerry getting ready to stuff a bag; assembly line to sign cover letter; 181 packages assembled to date! |
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Two people helping with the assembly mentioned what it was like for their family and friends to serve--and how excited they are to get care packages because of the support they represent. Best story--the soldiers get so sweaty and are unable to wash their clothes (and themselves) for such long periods of time, that their uniforms become encrusted with salt and literally stand up on their own. That's why I always try to include as many wet wipes as possible!
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I also want to quote from a beautiful letter someone wrote, which we included in the packets:
My wife and I were born in Uganda but are now naturalized citizens of the USA...Recently we had an opportunity to vacation in Uganda, East Africa. We had a lovely time visiting and reacquainting with family and friends we had not seen in a very long time. However during this visit we also witnessed some very deplorable conditions under which many Ugandans live, unhealthy conditions of extreme poverty with few freedoms. This experience was a blunt reminder of how fortunate we are to be living in America where we take most conveniences and freedoms for granted....However what we cannot and should never take for granted are the sacrifices that are made by individuals such as yourself." |
Halloween Candy Sorting -- 1,900 lbs of candy collected (November 2009)
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We sorted a ton of candy today!
Really--thanks to the schools and dental practices who ran drives, as well as individual donors, we had a total of 1900 lbs of candy (technically weighed in at 1,894, but I think we can round to 1900--see photos of the weighing process below). Cape Cod Cares for the Troops is sending out 1,000 packages--that means each soldier can get 2 lbs of candy!
I also received wonderful letters and drawings from children, for the soldiers--thank you for cheering up our troops! You can read a note from a soldier's family about the candy drive.
It took ten people 3 hours to sort the candy. Thank you to:
- Patrick McDonagh for bringing his pickup truck and then waiting while we finished sorting and weighing the candy!
- Joyce, Zina and Liz who came back a second week--apparently bagging items for 75 care packages didn't scare them away!
- Theresa, for her help the past 2 weeks
- Kristen Hafferty for driving the candy down to Boston for 2 groups
- candy drives run at: Ward Elementary School, Newton; Dental Associates of Walpole; Pediatric Dentistry of Salem, NH; Boyden Elementary School, Walpole; Butler Elementary School, Brockton; Office of Dr. Tina Theroux, DMD, N. Grafton; Laschi Hairstylists and Day Spa; Flagship Dental Group, Longmeadow; Greenwood Elementary School, Wakefield; The Lincoln School, Lincoln
- Sherrill House for letting us use their Board Room (and hallway!)
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from the left:panorama of all the boxes and bags of candy that were donated |
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from the left:Liz & Zina covering the table with newspapers; Liz, Zina and Scott starting to sort; Joyce & Sheera pouring out candy; Liz, Zina & Scott sorting |
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from the left:Scott dumping out candy; Susan (with Scott and Kate) holding up Toxic Bar candy bar; Sara, Joyce, Sheera, John working; Liz and Zina weighing bags of candy (very high tech!) |
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from the left: first pile of bags; Susan dumping out candy; more bags on the floor; Joyce & Sheera weighing bags |
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from the left: Kate and Susan weigh bags; the ever growing pile of bags; whole group with finished bags; finished bags |
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from the left:the bags in the truck; John & Patrick with their truck; bags in Susan's car; 1900 lbs collected and sorted! |
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