What Makes A Care Package Even Sweeter??

...Girl Scout Cookies!!

We will be partnering with the Turners Falls Brownie Troop #12943 to send Girl Scout Cookies in our next shipment of care packages on Saturday, April 20th.  Troop Leader, Heather Poirier, recently contacted OTOH in hopes of adding some extra sweetness to our care packages.  Heather has sent care packages to a loved one previously stationed overseas.  She knows how much these packages mean to our troops.  We hope to include at least one box of Girl Scout Cookies in each package for this next event.

If you are interested in donating a box of cookies, please contact Heather at: fourpoiriers@msn.com. 

The Brownie Troop will also be helping to prepare the care packages and will be bringing letters and drawings to be included.  We are very excited about this new collaboration and look forward to hearing from you!  Mark your calendars and be on the look-out for more information about our next event!

We did it again!

On Sunday, November 3rd, more than thirty volunteers joined OTOH for the 11th event to send some joy to the soldiers stationed overseas during the upcoming holiday season.  Volunteers included military family members and those from Diemand Farm, North Orange Grange, Mahar Key Club and Veterans Education Project.  The volunteers helped to prepare more than fifty care packages which included items such as drawings and letters from students at Swift River School, crackers, Easy Mac, cookies, magazines and toiletries.

Soldiers have already written thanking OTOH for the unexpected kindness.  One Sargent wrote, "A little taste and reminder of home from these care packages are what truly makes a deployment worthwhile.  Knowing that people at home who are taking time out of their busy schedule just to not only think of us over here but act on it speaks volumes."  A First Lieutenant wrote, "Being deployed in support of a war that many have forgotten about is difficult sometimes.  To be the recipients of such an overwhelming random act of kindness is incredible.  The soldiers here face challenges on a daily basis that no person should have to experience in their entire lives.  Constant reminders that the American people are still behind the soldiers are what keeps these guys going."

Our next event to prepare care packages will be held in April 2013.  However, if you know of a soldier who is stationed overseas and would appreciate a care package, please contact OTOH.  Thank you to all of our wonderful volunteers!!  We could not do this without you!

We need YOUR help!

We are gearing up for our eleventh care packaging event on Saturday, November 3rd.  To make this another successful event, we need YOUR help!  As always, we need volunteers on the day of the event to help us pack the boxes, complete the custom forms and write letters.  However, there are many other ways you can help!

1)  Do you know of a soldier stationed overseas who would appreciate a care package?  If so, download the "Soldier Referral Form" from the link above and return it to us by Saturday, October 20th.  Your soldier will then be sent a package with a "touch of home"!

2)  Donate supplies to go into the care packages!  Download the "Suggested Supply Donations" list from the above link to see what items we need.  Supply donations can be dropped off at Adams Animal Hospital in Athol or Diemand Farm in Wendell until Saturday, October 20th.

3)  Make a monetary donation to help us purchase needed supplies and pay for the cost of shipping.  We spend close to $1,000 for each event!  This includes purchasing supplies for the care packages as well as shipping the packages.  Donations can be mailed to: Operation Touch of Home, 93 Royalston Road, Orange, MA 01364.

If you'd like to help at the event, please contact us by Saturday, October 20th to receive more details.  As always, we greatly appreciate the support we receive from you and others in our community.  We could not do this without you!

We're still at it!

Although our next care packaging event is not until November, we recently sent out nine packages to soldiers stationed overseas.  We received new addresses of troops deployed to Afghanistan and we didn't want to wait until our next event to send them goodies and a "touch of home".

The summer is flying by and shortly we will be preparing for our big shipment of care packages in the fall.  Enjoy the weather and we hope to see you in November!

Our 10th Event!

Time sure does fly by! We held our tenth care packaging event on Saturday, April 14^th. Nineteen community members came together to prepare more than forty packages to be sent to soldiers overseas. One soldier recently thanked OTOH: “Your packages could not have arrived at more of a perfect time … It means so much to us to know that we are not forgotten out here, 9000 miles away from our home.” Another wrote, "Most of us have completed multiple tours during both of these wars, and it amazes us that people at home still care." We appreciate the support OTOH receives from the community; from donations of supplies and money to volunteering, spreading the word and referring soldiers. Since OTOH began in 2007, more than 510 care packages have been sent to troops overseas. Without the community's support, none of this would be possible. OTOH is sponsored by the North Orange Grange and Diemand Farm in Wendell.

Time flies...!!!

Although it seems unbelievable, our next care packaging event is coming up soon!! It feels like just yesterday that we had our ninth event and sent more than fifty care packages to soldiers overseas.

Volunteers after another successful event

Our tenth event will take place on Saturday, April 14th. We will be looking for volunteers to help on Saturday to prepare the care packages. If you are unable to help on that day, you can help in other ways as well. We are in great need of supplies to fill the care packages. Please use our Suggested Supply Donation list (found above in the Important Documents link) as a guide for needed supplies. Donations need to be submitted by Friday, April 6th. To recommend a soldier to receive a package at our next event, please fill out the Soldier Referral Form (found above in the Important Documents link) and send it to us. If you are interested in helping in these or other ways, please contact us to become involved in another great event!

Upcoming Event!

Our ninth event to prepare care packages will be held on Saturday, November 5th in North Orange. If you are interested in helping us with this event, we would love your support!  Below is a list of ways you can help, but if you think of another way you would like to support OTOH, please contact us.  We would love to hear your ideas!

Help Us Get the Word Out: Below you will find a link to our poster for the upcoming event. Please share this link with your friends. Also, you could print a copy and hang it up at your workplace, church or anywhere in your area that would be visible to help get the word out about this event.

November 2011 Event Poster

Monetary Donations: We are always looking for monetary donations to help cover the cost of shipping and purchasing supplies. If you would like to donate money, please make checks payable to Operation Touch of Home and mail to 93 Royalston Road, Orange, MA 01364-9633.

Supply Donations: Below you will find the link to a current list of needed supplies. Supplies can be dropped off at Diemand Farm in Wendell, Adams Animal Hospital in Athol or you can contact us to make other arrangements. The deadline for supply donations is October 28th.
Supply Donation List

Refer-A-Soldier: We are collecting current names and addresses of soldiers stationed overseas that would like to receive a care package. Below you will find a link to the form you will need to fill out to send us all the information we need. The deadline for addresses is October 28th.

Soldier Referral Form

Volunteer: We are in need of volunteers to help at the event. If you are interested in helping, please contact us by October 28th to be added to the list and to get the details about volunteering at the event.

Thank you for your continued support of Operation Touch of Home!!