| "Holiday Hugs To Our Heroes" is our yearly Christmas project for the troops! We Need YOU for our 5th Annual Event! |
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| Help us make the Holidays special for thousands of brave deployed military! The more help we receive the more boxes we can ship and the more SMILES we can bring on Christmas Day! Please remember our brave troops who are going to be so far away from home this Holiday Season - we have strived to keep our Campaign free of politics, this is not an issue of pro war or anti war, we are just supporting our men and women and we need YOU! HOW CAN YOU HELP?? Individuals, Businesses, Clubs, Churches, Schools, Youth Groups, 4-H clubs, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, etc. -- this a great opportunity for you to hold a drive for items to be wrapped for Christmas care packages or help raise postage funds to help us cover the unbelievable costs of postage for this project! Set out a collection box in your business or school, take up a special offering at church in honor of our troops, have a contest within classrooms by doing a "penny pitch", hold a bake sale or come up with your very own special project to help the troops. We would also love Christmas cards or letters to include in the boxes, this is a great project to get the whole family involved in! WHAT TO COLLECT?? We send necessity & snack care packages all year long, but like years past we want the Christmas packages to be EXTRA special full of wrapped Christmas gifts for them to open. Items we are collecting for Christmas packages include: New DVD's & CD's AT&T Phone Cards (around 120 minutes) Electronic Handheld Games Disposable Cameras Men's White T-Shirts & White Socks Beef Jerky Regular Sized Boxes of Cherry Chocolates Boxes or Tins of Candy or Cookies (not homemade) Homemade Christmas Cards Also, to prepare for shipping we need gallon sized ziploc baggies & Christmas wrapping paper Items can be brought into our headquarters located at 315 East Poplar Street, Harrisburg, Illinois (right on Route 13, downtown Harrisburg), by appointment only please. We also have several other "drop off points" in towns around Southern Illinois. You are welcome to drop off donations at the following locations as well (during their business hours): Fast Print ( 501 W. DeYoung St) Marion, IL Tangles Beauty Salon (Route 13 - across from the Army Reserve Armory) - Marion, IL Tub Surgeon (906 N. 14th St.), Murphysboro, IL Or if you are needing to ship donations in, they can be sent to: "SI Yellow Ribbon" (Holiday Hugs) 315 East Poplar Street (or PO Box 602) Harrisburg, Illinois 62946 If you need to reach us for further information, questions, etc. feel free to call us at 618-926-1299. You can email us at siyellowribbon@onemain.com or fax us at 775-521-3728. DEADLINE: ALL items, cards, etc. for our Holiday packages MUST be IN OUR HEADQUARTERS BY NOVEMBER 19th, 2007. The next few days following will be spent preparing the packages to the be mailed out before December. Everything will be going out our headquarters via Priority Mail. We hope our 5th year will be a big success as in years past, but we need your help! |
| Click here to read about our "2nd Annual Holiday Hugs To Our Heroes" and see the link to photos from our 1st Annual. |
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Press Release 2007 5th Annual “Holiday Hugs To Our Heroes” Kick-Off The Christmas care package campaign "Holiday Hugs To Our Heroes", designed to collect and send gift wrapped Christmas gifts to our military overseas and sponsored by "SI Yellow Ribbon", a voluntary organization has officially begun in its fifth year and hopes are to collect all donations of items and monetary donations by November 19th. "SI Yellow Ribbon", since it formed in March of 2003, has already sent cards, letters and care packages of requested necessity items and snack items to thousands of our men and women serving overseas on a regular basis but it is hoped to collect some "special" items that can be gift wrapped and sent to make their Holidays without family and home just a little brighter. Thus this special campaign is on top of the normal drives that take place around the whole year. Requested items to be donated for the Christmas care boxes are new DVD movies and new CD's, phone cards (120 minutes and above), new electronic handheld games, disposable cameras, beef jerky, regular sized boxes of cherry chocolates, boxed or tins of candy or cookies (no homemade), homemade Christmas cards and to prepare for shipping gallon sized baggies and Christmas wrapping paper is needed. As always, however, monetary donations are in desperate need to pay for the high cost of postage to send the boxes. Postage stamps are also accepted anytime to help in sending care packages. It is not too early to get started on this Christmas project as packages will be sent early to ensure delivery before the holiday. This is where schools, churches, businesses, civic organizations or just individuals can help by holding drives, putting out drop boxes, conducting contests, taking it on as a charity for the holiday, etc. Cards and letters are always welcomed to put in the packages also. There are thousands of deployed military names that "Yellow Ribbon" has access to but how many can be sent will depend on the generosity of the public. Individuals or groups interested in helping are encouraged to go to the organization's website at www.siyellowribbon.com. The headquarters where items or donations can be dropped off is located at 315 East Poplar Street in Harrisburg, Illinois by appointment only. Other drop off points (during their business hours) include Fast Print ( 501 W. DeYoung St) Marion, Tangles Beauty Salon (Route 13, across from Army Reserve Armory) Marion and Tub Surgeon (906 N. 14th St.), Murphysboro. Info can also be obtained by emailing siyellowribbon@onemain.com or by calling (618) 926-1299. If you are looking for a way to reach out to a deployed military member who will be in a foreign land during the Holidays away from loved ones and friends, this is your chance to help! No help is too small or too large. Let's show our military that no matter how one feels about politics or the war, we still support our brave men and women and care for them as Holidays can be a very depressing and lonely time. It is hoped that this 5th year for sending Holiday care packages will be as big of a success as in years past but everyone's help is needed to do so! |
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| Major William Miller puts in his Christmas wish to Santa while serving in Iraq! |
| SPC Jessica Fitzgerald looking forward to a visit from Santa while she was serving overseas! |
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| Something special to include in Christmas Care Packages - Visit Avon website of Dodie Seyssens - supporter of "SI Yellow Ribbon".
http://dseyssens.avonrepresentative.com/ Purchase Avon for our troops and Dodie will see that any items you purchase will be delivered to us to include in care packages! They LOVE the small lotions, deodorants, lip balms, etc. When you order let her know you heard about her from "SI Yellow Ribbon"! |