WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (October 13, 2020) – The South Florida Red Cross is calling on the community to help bring the holiday season to our nation’s heroes. Every year, the Red Cross launches its Holiday for Heroes campaign to spread holiday cheer and gratitude to military troops and veterans for their sacrifice and service to our country.
For more than a decade, the Red Cross has relied on the support and generosity of the community to donate items and write messages of thanks for holiday care packages that will be sent to troops overseas and veterans in local hospitals.
This year, due to COVID-19, the Red Cross is encouraging the community to purchase requested items through the Holiday for Heroes online gift registry, where items will be directly shipped to the Red Cross distribution team.
A list of the requested items can be found below or online at redcross.org/HolidayforHeroes.
The care package items will be placed in a holiday stocking, that is personally cut and sewn by local Red Cross volunteers.
Red Cross teams along with lead partner Arthrex, Inc. and other sponsors will assemble and deliver these stuffed holiday stockings to military members and local area veterans who are away from their families during the holidays.
“As someone who has been on the receiving end of a similar care package during a combat deployment, I can tell you, this may be the most appreciated gift you give this Holiday Season,” said Heidi O’Sheehan, Service to the Armed Forces Director for the South Florida Red Cross. “When you visit the event homepage you will see some great photographs that show just how much these small gifts mean to our service members and veterans.”
Last year, more than 1,000 stockings were delivered to soldiers serving overseas and O’Sheehan received a letter from Becky LaPolice, the Regional Service to the Armed Forces Manager in Poland, sharing her appreciation and gratitude for the care packages.
“We received your shipment of Holiday stockings and we can’t thank you enough,” said LaPolice. “It really lifts the spirits of our deployed service members to receive these care packages and cards from home, especially the fact that people they don’t even know have taken the time and effort to remember them and show their support, we feel like a piece of home has been sent here to us. Please pass along our thanks to all of the volunteers and donors that help make this project happen.”
Purchases for the holiday care packages MUST be made by Friday, Oct. 30 from the Holiday for Heroes online gift registry. Please lend your support and show your appreciation to our nation’s heroes by visiting redcross.org/holidayforheroes.
For photos and videos of our Holiday for Heroes Campaign, please click here.
About the American Red Cross:
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies about 40 percent of the nation's blood; teaches skills that save lives; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a not-for-profit organization that depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit redcross.org/southflorida and visit us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at @SFLRedCross.
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