In one of my Facebook Mommy Groups I came across Lydia, who runs “Operation Adopt-A-Soldier” about a year ago. She came up with the idea because her son is in the Army, and her family mails him packages once a month while he is deployed. Like many of us who have loved ones in the armed forces, this is common practice. Well, some soldiers are less fortunate than others and do not receive packages regularly. So Lydia and her family started sending them to friends of her sons, many of whom are stationed in Afghanistan. When Lydia realized that her family alone could not meet the needs of all of the soldiers she started the project on Facebook. The response has been huge, earning Lydia’s program over 300 likes in little over a month!
This is where I found Lydia’s program. It resonates with me because my brother was a Marine who was deployed in both Afghanistan and Iraq. I remember feeling the same way and sending presents to many of his friends who were not receiving the important supplies that they so need. Although the Adopt-a-Soldier response has been great the need to continue to help our soldiers is enormous. During this time of year it is especially important to show our gratitude and to thank them for their service. It is especially difficult to be so far from home and the people that they love around the holidays.
As a family we try to instill the importance of giving during the holidays and when I came across this program I knew that we had to do it. I contacted Lydia first via personal message on Facebook, and within a few hours she had in my inbox not only the name and address of a soldier that we could “adopt” but also a cheery email that included a list of suggested items that you can send.
Some items that our soldiers request:
- eye wash
- q-tips
- baby wipes
- deodorant
- body wash
- laundry detergent (Pods)
- toilet paper
- razors
- chapstick
- tooth paste
- brushes
- hand warmers
- foot powder
- beef jerky
- white socks
- sun flower seeds
- hand sanitizer
Lydia really tries to make it easy for you, even posting a sample customs form on the Facebook page so that you can fill it out correctly. She suggests that many of the everyday items can be purchased at the dollar store so it does not cost a lot to contribute, and of course she suggests that you have fun with it.
I took (A) and (E) to Target to find out items. We took the list and (A) got to hold it as we walked through the store checking off items. When we got home we packed them into the box and drew a picture for our soldier. We finally wrote a little note asking our SGT to let us know if there was anything that he needed or wanted and off to the mail we went!
Our family has been super supportive, we are already working on our second box of goodies. We look forward to many more, and hopefully making our SGT’s deployment a little more bearable.
If you are interested in helping a soldier in need please contact Lydia at: scrawnysquid1@aol.com !
Like them on Facebook (www.facebook.com/OperationAdoptASoldier), and watch our community support our everyday heroes!
(A) fills up our first package for our hero!
(A) draws his part of our letter to our soldier. 
All that work really tuckered someone out!
