giving back

This is what I do with a lot of the free or cheap items, I get from all the stores.  I gather it up & save it for either food pantry or lately I've been sending care packages over to the troops.  One of my friends in my MOMS Club told me about www.anysoldier.com .  It's highly addictive.  This is my 4th box I've sent since July.  This time, I found a group of female Marines that were all orginally stationed in San Diego that are in the Middle East right now.  It breaks my heart to see the simple things that they are requesting.  I also stuffed some magazines in the box, lots of female stuff, homemade notecards, a game, pens, candy, air freshener, granola bars & flavored drink mixes.  The USPS gives you a discount for sending it to a military base.  This box weighed 12 lbs. and only cost $11.95!

If you do send to a group, a hint I learned was to look for an APO or FPO that has an "AP" after it instead of an "AE".  AP is sent as if it's going to San Fransico (if you're on the west coast), this will be cheaper to send.  AE is somewhere on the east coast, maybe New York.