Sharing Your Gift of Words

As writers, we always hope that our words will touch somebody's heart, and maybe even impact someone's life.  I want to suggest something that will do both those things.  It doesn't require a certain word count, or following any writing rules.  All you need is a heartfelt thought and a few minutes to jot down your words to someone who will be incredibly grateful to hear from "home".

I'm talking about soldiers stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan and maybe even places that had other names when I was learning geography in the seventh grade.

It doesn't matter what your political affiliation or philosophy is.  Because we're talking about people, who are in a far away land, doing a difficult job in dangerous situations. . .But then, on top of all that, too many of them do not get any mail.  EVER.  Nobody sends them a card or a letter to say, "thinking of you", or "thank you", or anything.

A while ago I saw a notice at the post office about a local group gathering up things to send to soldiers.  I made about 30 cards, writing a little note inside each one, to send along with the packages.  The women in charge of the project said that as much as the packages are appreciated, it's the cards and letters that the soldiers go for first.  The organizers recently emailed some comments from a few of the recipients, and it was wonderful to hear how much they enjoyed everything, but what they really appreciated was being remembered.

I got a little misty reading those comments, and I emailed the women to ask if there was more I could do.  One of them emailed back with several names of "neglected soldiers", people who never got any mail, which nearly broke my heart.   The word "neglected" should never be combined with the word "soldiers". 

So, if you could add one more card to your Christmas card list this year, or take a break from all the madness of shopping and baking and wrapping presents to write a note to someone who is most likely exhausted, and homesick, and definitely living in very rough conditions. . .I think you will feel joyful, and there's no doubt the recipient will too.  Sending a card or a letter only costs .44 cents first class postage, since they use APO or FPO addresses to get mail to the battlefield destinations.

Maybe you have a local group that is doing something like the one I connected with.  If not, you could check out Any Soldier, which will let you request addresses so you can send cards or packages.  It might astound you how many people are listed there, and they are merely the contact person for a group—it will tell you the number of males and females the contact person is taking care of with this project, as well as the things they would be grateful and happy to receive.  It should be noted they do not EXPECT these things, but it stunned me to see how many basic items they are in need of.

After I initially posted this blog, I received a tweet from a fellow Massachusetts writer, Kristin Offiler, about her blog post on this same topic, titled Raise Your Pen To Give Thanks.  (This is one reason I love Twitter--it puts me into contact with people I would not even know about otherwise!)  She let me know about a local group called Pack It Up that sends letters to soldiers, and their goal is to send 1000 letters overseas this holiday.  If you would like to send your letters to them at Pack It Up, 500 Randolph Ave., Milton, MA  02186, they will get them sent on their way.

It's easier to do something like this at the holidays, because our hearts are feeling the tug of compassion a little more than usual.  But this is something I want to try to do each month.  I like the thought of using my ability with words to bring a moment's happiness to someone half a world away. 

It's a gift I can easily share, and yet it somehow feels like I'm receiving a present too.

Comments

[Maureen]

I know Starbucks usually does a coffee thing this time of the year. Buy some coffee for the soldiers and I always do that, but sending a personal card sounds wonderful, Donna. I'll check out the link later today and see what I need to do.

[Donna Cummings]

Maureen, I definitely like the coffee thing! I just stopped at a local Starbie's and didn't see anything--I'll ask next time I'm there.

I mailed off some cards today at the post office, and felt great at the thought of someone being surprised with some mail. I plan to do some more later, when I've done some more NaNoing.

[Maureen]

You know, my Starbucks isn't doing it this year...I need to ask the managers if they stopped doing it for one reason or another... I know with their new Via coffees, it would be so easy to send them off. I think that was what they did last year...

[Donna Cummings]

Mmm, maybe the soldiers didn't like the Via coffee any better than I do. LOL Or maybe they're doing something else this year. I'm going to ask my local Starbies to see what they might be doing.