By Tim Cherry
Staff writer
Thursday, October 18, 2012

Many servicemembers will spend the upcoming holiday season deployed or in a hospital; these are the sacrifices associated with defending one’s country.

Fort Belvoir community members can provide a sense of home and appreciation for these servicemembers and their Families by participating in the annual Red Cross Holiday Mail for Heroes program.

Once a year, between October and early December, Red Cross employees collect and deliver holiday cards to veterans, military Families and active-duty servicemembers at hospitals and installations globally.

The cards encompass personal messages, sent by thousands of Americans, that offer a welcome “touch of home” for troops during the holiday season, according to Marin Reynes, American Red Cross Station Manager, Fort Belvoir Community Hospital.

“Just hearing a simple ‘thank you’ from the community means so much during the holiday season,” Reynes said. “The servicemembers really do appreciate it, especially the ones from the kids.”

Community members can help by sending cards to the Red Cross individually and by participating in card signing, card making or sorting parties.

Reynes said Belvoir’s Red Cross station will assist organizations seeking to host card making parties but she isn’t sure whether Fort Belvoir will host a card sorting or signing party.

The Holiday Mail for Heroes program is the official way for anyone to send a holiday card to a servicemember. The program started at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and then expanded nationally. Red Cross employees currently distribute cards at 57 locations internationally, according to Reynes, who said Fort Belvoir Community Hospital received hundreds of cards last year.

“Every holiday season we get hundreds of holiday cards to hand out to servicemembers, veterans and their Families from all over the U.S.,” Marin said. “This is the way we make sure they’re distributed worldwide so that every servicemember gets one.”

The holiday mail card box opened Oct. 1. Mail received after Dec. 7 cannot be guaranteed delivery.

Guidelines for card making are as follows:

• Only cards are accepted.

• Do not send or include letters.

• Red Cross employees will screen every card received for hazardous materials and then review each card’s message.

• Each card must be signed and use generic salutations such as "Dear Servicemember."

• Cards addressed to specific individuals cannot be delivered through this program.

• The program is not meant to foster pen pal relationships so do not include email or home addresses on the cards.

• Do not include inserts of any kind, including photos, because these items will be removed during the reviewing process.

• Refrain from choosing cards with glitter or using loose glitter, as it can aggravate health issues of ill and injured servicemembers.

Mailers should bundle large quantities of cards and place them in large mailing envelopes or flat rate postal shipping boxes. Each card does not need its own envelope, as envelopes will be removed from all cards before distribution.