ONE TO THREE HOUR TYPE EVENTS AT YOUR LOCATION:
Customize your own schedule by mixing and matching any of the activities below:
10-15 minutes: Watch videos of our activities and responses from soldiers on a big screen TV or large monitor. Our Youtube videos are listed on our website. You can also download our 13-minute highlight video (135MB) and play the video without an internet connection.
For a non-video option, read some of the letters from soldiers on our website. (Check out our 'Feature Pages' section to read letters from our troops, or read through our blog posts on this website.)
10-15 minutes: Invite a soldier to speak about what it means to receive care packages from home. Or have some of your own members talk about their experiences with the military.
5- 10 minutes: Sing some patriotic songs (great for kids).
15-30 minutes: Bring blank cards or paper along with extra pens and crayons (kids). Have everyone write 3 to 5 personal notes that can be included with the care packages.
20-30 minutes: (for optional collection drives): Sort goods. Make sure liquid goods (shampoo, etc.) are double bagged with ziploc type bags. Don't mix smelly items with foods. Apply address labels and tape securely.
5-minutes: Collect cash donations for your postage costs to us, or for our own care package expenses. We are always in need of financial donations for our shipping costs.
90-120 minutes: Bring popcorn and watch a patriotic movie.
Other possible activities:
* Buy blank pillow cases. Let children (or adults) draw pictures and write notes to the soldiers on the pillow cases.
* Sew cool ties, blankets, towels, scarves and other personal items for the troops.
* Use blank stock paper or cards and make colorful handmade greeting cards (great for kids) that soldiers can use to send messages home to their loved ones. Leave enough blank space for soldiers to write their own messages to their family and friends.
Financial and Time Considerations:
a) Gathering boxes, tape, sorting, ziplocking liquids in bags, packing boxes, taping, and carrying boxes to the post office, paying for postage, etc. ... all require a fair amount of time and costs for your organization. For those wanting to keep it simple, you can support the soldiers in many ways without collecting goods. Also, keep in mind that for date-specific collections (Christmas packages, etc.), we would need to receive those goods about 1-2 months in advance of that holiday.
b) If you are shipping boxes to us in Texas, if possible, we would sure appreciate it if you could collect additional funds for the postage from Texas to the soldiers overseas. A 2-cubic foot box typically costs us about $25 in postage to mail overseas.
FUNDRAISING EVENTS:
1) Host a party and have a donation jar for the troops. A dance, movie-watching party, poker night, swim party, neighborhood party, Christmas party, 4th of July party, game day party, picnic, fun run, etc. Collection of goods is optional.
2) Host any kind of contest (golf, poker, bowling, cooking, art, etc.) with donations going to the Airborne Angel Cadets of Texas.
ASK YOUR COMPANY OR LOCAL BUSINESSES FOR SUPPORT:
* See if your company will match your donation to a good cause.* Place collection boxes or donation jars in good locations.
* Ask companies if they can donate surplus, misprinted, or other goods for the soldiers.
COLLECTION DRIVES FOR GOODS:
1) Pick an item or items for your particular collection drive.
2) Print out flyers and distribute to your collectors.
3) For motivation, you can have internal contests to see which group collects the most.
4) If possible, set up collection boxes or donation jars at local businesses.
5) On completion, gather the goods and make sure all liquids are double bagged.
6) Pack up the boxes.
* Do not pack smelly items (air fresheners, BenGay, insect repellant) together with food items.
* Do not mail glass bottles, pork products, cans that require a can opener, or chocolates (except during winter).
7a) If in the Dallas area, email us for arrangements on receiving the goods.
7b) Outside of Dallas area, email us for instructions on where to mail the goods, or for certain shipments, we can give you instructions on mailing directly to our soldiers overseas.
Single item or single theme drives (keeping it simple) :
* "Socks for Soldiers" - Plain white (no logos) or military specific (Thorlo).
* "Coffee for Troops" - Ground or instant coffee.
* "DVD's for Troops" - Can include CD's or video games.
* "Flip flops for Troops" - Used for showering.
* "Go Nuts for the Troops" - Peanuts, cashews, almonds, pistachios, etc.
* "Ladies Only" - Beauty products, feminine products, moisturizers, chick flicks, cosmetic sets, ladies deodorant, fancy sheets and pillow cases, colorful stationery.
* "Holiday theme" - Pick a holiday 2 or 3 months in advance (Valentines, Christmas, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving, etc.) and send decorations, decorated paper plates and napkins, foods and gifts so that the soldiers can have a little fun.
* "Birthday theme" - Every soldier has a birthday, but it's not always fun to celebrate it away from family and loved ones. Send care packages that will brighten the birthdays of soldiers overseas ... birthday plates, napkins, table cloths, hanging decorations, signs, birthday treats, table cloths, party noisemakers.
Multiple item collection drives:
Pick any combination of items for your collection. You can see our detailed list of requested items (including a printable PDF version) on our web page "What is Requested".
