TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Help Put Your Stamp On Packages To Military Personnel

ADVERTISEMENT

By KEITH MORELLI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 10, 2008

TAMPA - Bob Williams of Wesley Chapel wants American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan to get the goodies he is sending. He has boxes and boxes of donated items, including socks, coffee, underwear and cookies, all ready and packed. He just lacks the cash to pay the post office.

"We have tripled the amount of donations we've had," he said Friday. Williams, who runs OurTroopsOnline.com, has scores of volunteers who have packed all those things in boxes, and there they sit.

"We have a tremendous amount of donations," he said, "but the postage money has dried up. Right now, I'm looking at a $30,000 deficit. I've got stuff piled up all over the place. All the boxes are done and ready to ship. I just don't have the money to ship them."

It costs $37.77 to ship one box, he said.

Williams' Web site provides a network by which troops overseas can request items or just get goodies unsolicited. He said the site gets about 150 e-mails a week from troops seeking goodies from home or just saying thanks for boxes they have received. A typical box contains coffee, coffee pots and DVD players. Many contain notes from area children. Troops in Afghanistan, he said, are in need of warm clothing.

"They are in 18-degree weather, and they are living in caves," he said. "They aren't getting thermal underwear from the government."

Getting a box from home around the holidays is especially important, he said.

"It's such a morale booster to get packages on Christmas Eve," he said.

Anyone who wants to help pay the cost of mailing the packages can send a check, payable to Postmaster, to P.O. Box 7560, Wesley Chapel FL 33545 or call (813) 991-9400. Williams also can be reached at sift@aol.com.

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT