The following message is from Neal Denton, Senior
Vice President,
Service to the Armed Forces: Sen This holiday season, we have a great
opportunity to bring a touch of home to wounded warriors recovering in
military hospitals across the country.
As you may know, the American public has a strong desire to send holiday
cards to soldiers staying at Walter Reed and other military medical
centers. However, for security reasons, the former military program was
discontinued. One of our colleagues at Walter Reed suggested, "If
anyone can find a solution to this - it's the Red Cross."
We're proud that this season, communities across
mail holiday greeting cards along with personal messages of support to
wounded soldiers at military hospitals around the country, through a
unique partnership of the American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes Mailing
Solutions.
Now we have a solution that will not only benefit soldiers at Walter
Reed, but also recovering soldiers at military hospitals around the
nation. With the help of the Department of Defense, Walter Reed Army
the public will be invited to mail their holiday cards to:
We Support You During Your Recovery!
c/o American Red Cross
Red Cross volunteers will sort the cards for appropriate content and
repackage them for shipping. Our steadfast partners, Pitney Bowes, will
ship the cards to Red Cross stations at the military hospitals.
This project provides a great opportunity for chapters and station
offices to coordinate resources and volunteers. Staff members at
national headquarters will call each station office before packages are
mailed to that military hospital. Those station managers will be
looking for chapter volunteer support to help in accepting, storing and
delivering the cards.
A national news release will be issued shortly after announcing the
program. Once you know that your field unit will be receiving holiday
cards to distribute, I encourage you to contact your local media with
the attached localizable news release, to take photos and write stories
for your Web sites and to send us your stories at
SAFstories@usa.
We realize this is short notice. It took some time to work out a plan
with the Department of Defense to revitalize this wonderful program and
provide a way for people to express their support. I have every
confidence that Red Crossers will want to participate in this joyous
project. Already, we have had a very positive response at national
headquarters to help with the sorting and packing.
Thank you for your support of SAF. And our office hopes that you enjoy
your holidays surrounded by friends and family!