We've read in several blogs and probably seen the e-mails that we should be sending out Christmas Cards to "A Recovering American soldier" at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Like many other well intentioned FWD messages on the internet, that's not what we should be doing. The U.S. Postal Service will not accept mail addressed this way, because it could be providing a conduit for those who might do harm to armed services members.
Officially, here's the link to Walter Reed's statement: (It's a PDF file) : Click Here For The File
It's a great idea, but currently the Red Cross is about as close as you'll get to doing something similiar. I got this courtesy of LivingWaters.com e-mail newsletter:
The Walter Reed Army Medical Center is ONLY accepting phone cards, CDs, individual small packets of candy, things like that; which they will distribute among the soldiers (as they have a lot of in and out patients). They are not accepting Christmas cards, as they don't have the human resources to distribute them.
You may send your packets to:
American Red Cross
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20307-5000
Otherwise, do a little more work and find a neighbor, co-worker, or anyone you know who knows someone in the service and send them a THANK YOU or a CHRISTMAS Card. I have several client's families who include me on the "what to mail my son/daughter/brother..." lists.
Ask 5 people you know and you'll find at least one person who knows a serviceman or woman that would appreciate your thanks and your Christmas wishes! If you want to take it a step further, ask that person (the soldier) who he knows that was injured!
So this Christmas, don't be lazy!
Eleanor - You can also look for ribbons in your neighborhood. In mine we have gold ribbons on Soldier Families's home.
Al - See the link above. We can still do this, but it takes more work.
I sent a card to a soldier this Christmastime....one of our members in the group "Christianity and Real Estate" had a post about how to do it online....
It was really fun!!
=-)
Thank You!! I was one of the people who whole heartedly believed that Christmas Cards to the soldiers WOULD indeed arrive and be distributed to anyone wanting mail from the U.S. I think the idea of "a scam" is terrible injustice to our Men and Women serving.
I love this idea...thanks for the post with accurate information!