Holiday Mail for Heroes Program

The Red Cross ‘Holiday Mail for Heroes’ program provides Americans with the opportunity to extend holiday greetings and thanks to service members, veterans, and their families around the world.  The program first was started in 2007 when the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. approached the Red Cross to distribute thousands of holiday cards for wounded troops.

To ensure cards reach their destination, the following guidelines apply:

• Ensure that all cards are signed.
• Use generic salutations such as “Dear Service Member.” Cards addressed to specific individuals can not be delivered through this program.
• Only cards are being accepted. Do not send or include letters.
• Do not include email or home addresses on the cards: the program is not meant to foster pen pal relationships.
• Do not include inserts of any kind, including photos: these items will be removed during the reviewing process.
• Please refrain from choosing cards with glitter or using loose glitter as it can aggravate health issues of ill and injured warriors.
• If you are mailing a large quantity of cards, please bundle them 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.

All holiday greetings should be addressed and sent to:

Holiday Mail for Heroes
P.O. Box 5456
Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456

The deadline for having cards to the P.O. Box is Friday, December 7, 2012.

Postage-free cards may also be dropped off at either of Smith’s district offices by Monday, December 3, 2012.