Over 500 Soldiers are Waiting for Letters
@Kouponkaren (5497)
United States
September 13, 2023 1:28pm CST
I have mentioned before that through a program called Soldier's Angels I was adopting US soldiers who were deployed and sending them letters, cards, and packages. But then my local post office made it complicated to send overseas packages. Sometimes I'd go to post offices in other towns but that got to be a pain so I decided to just join the letter-writing team.
The letter-writing team requires me to adopt a minimum of 1 soldier a month and write them 1 letter. That's it. These soldiers are waiting for someone to adopt them and send a card or letter 3 times per month, plus a package once a month, so they will get mail every week. I love to write letters and this requires me to just write a single letter to each soldier I adopt so they at least get some mail while they're waiting. I have been doing it for a few months and enjoy it. I'm not able to develop a relationship with anyone, and basically repeat most of the same things in my letters, but that's okay.
So I chose the name of a soldier to write to this morning and decided to look through the list and see if there were a lot more waiting. I gave up after I hit 500! Can you believe there are that many soldiers waiting for someone from home in the U.S. to them? It breaks my heart. I wish I could write to every single one.
With the program, I can choose 3 soldiers a day to write to. I may do that closer to Christmastime. I will send a Christmas card with a short letter inside to at least one soldier per day for a few weeks.
This is the only program I volunteer with because my husband doesn't like me to be away from him too much as he is getting older, and is afraid of falling. This way, I can help others from home.
Do you do any volunteer work?
8 people like this
7 responses
@RebeccasFarm (91297)
• United States
13 Sep 23
What a shame they had to mess up the package sending.
This is a good way for you to volunteer. So many are so glad to receive communications.
1 person likes this
@RebeccasFarm (91297)
• United States
14 Sep 23
@Kouponkaren I would do it too if it was not such a long way to the post office for me.
1 person likes this
@Kouponkaren (5497)
• United States
14 Sep 23
@RebeccasFarm
AW, that's nice of you to want to anyway.
1 person likes this
@Kouponkaren (5497)
• United States
14 Sep 23
@RebeccasFarm
I agree. Although I had a lot of clutter around the house with stuff waiting to be sent and my hubby didn't like the clutter so just writing letters works better for him. They really liked to hear their name called during the mail call. I can understand that. The current ones waiting on the waiting list have been waiting since June for someone to send them a letter. They may get mail from home, but many of them don't.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (59252)
•
14 Sep 23
I did something similar to this for awhile. Several of my friends, as well as myself. took it upon ourselves to form a community 'giving back' to soldiers. We made up packages of toiletries, odds and ends that could possibly help them, cookies, goodies. We did that for 6 months. Honestly, we couldn't find enough people to help, and the postage just ate us alive. The postal service somehow needs to pitch in and provide some type of relief for the soldiers to get packages, etc. It means so much to them.
Thank you for doing what you are doing, its' so nice and I'm sure it's appreciated.
1 person likes this
@MarieCoyle (59252)
•
14 Sep 23
@Kouponkaren
Honestly, the problem wasn't really gathering things to send to them, as much as it was trying to get the postage money together. I know they really enjoyed the packages. I would do it again if I could, but not right now.
@Kouponkaren (5497)
• United States
14 Sep 23
@MarieCoyle
Aw, you don't have to thank me. It was nice what you did also. I know what you mean about postage though. It did get expensive after a while. That was nice of you to do what you and your friends did as well.
1 person likes this
@AmbiePam (120899)
• United States
13 Sep 23
So I can sign up to write them, but not send packages? I don’t have the money to pay for shipping. It makes me sad that so many soldiers want to be written to, but not enough people have signed up to do so. I’d like to sign up to send letters.
1 person likes this
@Kouponkaren (5497)
• United States
14 Sep 23
@AmbiePam
Yes, you go to the website and sign up to be on the Letter Writing Team. It does cost $12 per year for administrative fees, which I am not thrilled with but it is what it is. That would be great if you could write letters to soldiers. The website says some soldiers don't get any mail from home at all. How sad is that? Feel free to ask me any more questions if you want. You can pick a male or female soldier and you can also see who has been waiting the longest to get mail and choose them. Apparently they love to hear their name called during mail call. I can imagine having a pretty bad day and hearing your name called and knowing someone cares has to brighten their day. The Soldier's Angels website link:
Soldiers' Angels provides aid, comfort, and resources to the military, veterans, and their families. Will you help us support our troops?
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (209010)
• United States
13 Sep 23
Not right now, but I think I would like to volunteer for that program. The only problem is my handwriting is terrible, but I guess I could print. I would just do it on the puter, but my printers don't work. Thanks for mentioning it. I do have time to do it
1 person likes this
@Kouponkaren (5497)
• United States
14 Sep 23
@snowy22315
I have heard a lot of young people today can't read cursive so I just print my letters. You CAN type them also but if your printer isn't working, I guess that won't work for you. Unless you have a friend who you can email the letters and they can print them for you? It is a really good program. When I was sending packages and cards and letters to one soldier at a time, most of them responded through email or a letter back and told me how much they appreciated getting mail from me.
1 person likes this
@Kouponkaren (5497)
• United States
14 Sep 23
@sol_cee
I like to write and I figure it's the least I can do for them. A few of them I wrote to told me they were in ht areas of the world and I used to imagine them being hot and dusty and getting cheered up by a letter waiting for them when they got back to their barracks.
@Kouponkaren (5497)
• United States
14 Sep 23
@JudyEv
I think it does and it seems to be so, at least from the ones I have heard back from. This new letter-writing program that I have recently started is a bit different in that I don't expect to hear back from anyone because it's just a one-time letter to give them some mail while they wait to be adopted. I can actually write back to them more if they want to hear from me and I include my contact info (email address) in my letters but after sending out 10 letters and not hearing back from anyone, either write bring letters or they are too busy to let me know they want more mail from me. I hope it's the latter situation!
1 person likes this
@freelancermariagrace (29342)
• Philippines
14 Sep 23
That is so nice of you, Karen! Keep up the good work. 
