American Legion Care Packages

Where To Send Bonnie J. Bryan American Warrior Support Group Paradise American Legion Post 259 P O Box 697 Paradise, CA 95967-0697 Send Care Packages To Above Address IF YOU PREFER TO DONATE MONEY: A donation of $8.95, which is what it costs to send a soldier a package, would be greatly appreciated by these hard working ladies. Any larger donation would go to purchasing the items in the middle column to send to them. Do not send cash; any check or money order should be made payable to: "The American Legion Auxiliary, Unit 259" and mailed to the above address c/o Mrs. Bonnie Bryan. She will write a letter to the treasurer enclosing the check, and if your name and address is included, you will also get a copy. The American Legion and Auxiliary are both non-profit organizations so your donation is tax deductible.

What To Send American Legion "Care Packages" My friend Bonnie (Bonnie J. Bryan) is a member of the American Legion Post 259 in Paradise, California and she and her friend Debbie are in charge of sending "Care Packages" to our troops in Iraq. I wrote to her and asked her what things does she include in the "Care Packages," and this is what she answered: " Thanks, Rusty. Just to give you an idea of what else we send them: Beef jerky Black socks - one size fits all Wet wipes - individually wrapped Raisins Hard candies Chewing gum Frisbees Dehydrated soups Energy bars Deet - 100% - for those bugs there are terrible Head "handkerchiefs" for their heads during the hot summers Old beanie babies Phone cards - can only be purchased at a    military base Gold Bond foot powder Batteries, especially AA and AAAs Gun oil Pencils Paper Gatorade mix and/or Crystal Lite Hot chocolate powders, especially Swiss Miss Feminine wipes and spray Aspirin or Advil Razor refills Christmas and all occasion cards Eye glass cleaner Letters and drawings from school children Soft toilet paper (they only get very small rolls) Pads of paper and pencils Auto mechanic, motorcycle, and Sports Illustrated magazines Tampax for the young ladies Most of our boys don't smoke but we'll send an    occasional carton or several packs of    cigarettes as they use them for barter Rubik Puzzles Yo Yo's What we cannot send are: Movies with a lot of sex or violence in them Anything in aerosol cans Anything with an odor as the Iraqi men there    don't use it and odor carries. Just for the girls, when we send Tampax or Light Days Napkins, I wrap them and on the outside write "For Little Sis Only". We're getting ready to send a box to a hospital over there as well, as when the hospital receives a wounded man or woman, they are in their skivvies only and need all kinds of things, including sweats. Our deodorants and soaps we'll send to them as the individual arrives at the hospital with absolutely nothing. The hospitals sometimes have to wait until they receive another shipment to have enough to go around; so we send a lot of the toothpaste and toothbrushes, soaps, shampoos, etc. Debbie found a place on the Internet where we can get different cheeses,ends of sausages, and beef jerky for practically nothing. You know if you purchase them in the stores, they are quite expensive. She bought them - jerky - 1 lb package for 3.99, cheese - although it melts, 1 lb package $2.99 and the same price for the sausage ends. If our unit still has enough of anything we send, they send it on down the line to another unit. Some of those guys get absolutely nothing. My oldest son to whom I send a care package every month said that some of the guys in his unit receive absolutely nothing and THEY ARE STILL STATESIDE! He shares as well with those who don't. We use the boxes we pick up from the post office that have "Flat Rate" written in a red circle as we can get up to 70 lbs in the large box and postage is $8.10 and the smaller boxes, 70 lbs and the cost is $5.10. So far we've been able to pack up to 15 lbs in a box. I don't know how anyone can get 70 lbs in either of those size boxes, but oh well ... We had our Veterans Day function yesterday at the hall and the program was beautiful. The girl scouts served us lunch which was delicious. It was raining so none of the flags were put out. Everyone calls Skyway, The Skyway, and every national holiday veterans go up and down The Skyway placing large American Flags all the way down the street and is a beautiful sight to see. Makes one's heart jump with pride that one is an American. Well, now you have it, Rusty. In the event anyone asks you a question about what we send the troops, you can give them this information. Thanks again, Rusty. Bonnie"

Letters From Our Troops If you would like to read about the things that Bonnie and her friends do for our troops please read Notes From Bonnie Interesting to Note: Tampax, Cigarettes, and Saran Wrap are sent because: The soldiers in Afghanistan do not always have medics with them when they go on a mission. Tampax cotton can be used if one of the soldiers gets hit, is wounded and the saran wrap can be used as the patch covering. Cigarette filters can be used to help keep weapons clean and the tobacco can be chewed for the "juice" to be used to kill stomach worms and other bugs. There are bugs there that go under the skin and the tobacco juice will kill them. We are always learning new things about what to send.