Saturday: Bring Troop Day Items to Pearl River Elks Club

The Andy K & Friends Charitable Foundation is asking the community to donate certain items to be packed up and shipped overseas to soldiers stationed in several military bases in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

For the past two years they sent over 500 boxes of medical supplies, food, necessities and comfort items. Last year over  were packed up and sent overseas.

This Saturday, April 21 is their third annual Troop Day and the list of needed items are below. Bring your items to the Pearl River Elks Lodge in Nanuet at 2041 Elks Drive starting at 9 a.m. They will be there collecting and packing up care packages. They also encourage people to write letters of support.

"Help us to show them our appreciation for their service to our country. Remember that the freedom we enjoy each and everyday is because of the sacrifice they make for us every morning.  Let’s show them that we appreciate it," according to their website. 

Note: No Aerosol cans of any kind, the post office will not allow them to be sent

They are also looking for volunteers so contact info@andykandfriends.org if you can help. If you can't make it on Saturday, contact them to make arangements prior to the event. You can also donate and those donations will be used to purchase supplies and comfort items for soldiers overseas. 

Items that are needed are:

Baby wipes (travel size), hand sanitizer (travel size), shampoo/conditioner (travel size), deodorant (travel size), disposable razors, ChapStick, Q-tips (travel size), eye drops (Visine), clean socks, sunscreen, Tylenol or Advil packets, baby powder/foot powder (travel size), vitamins, toothbrushes/toothpaste, feminine hygiene products, facial cleanser, body lotion (travel size), instant food (mac-n-cheese, Ramen noodles, Crystal Light, etc.), non-perishable food (coffee, trail mix, candy, snacks, etc.), calling cards to call their families, DVDs, magazines, books and audio books are some of the items that our soldiers request.  

For a full list, go to their website: http://www.andykandfriends.org/troop-day.html
 
Letters of Appreciation:
Thank a soldier.  It will only take a few minutes of your time, but is invaluable to our men and women overseas.  The soldiers enjoy receiving letters from the people back home and they especially get a kick out of letters from kids.  So write a letter or have your kids write a letter thanking them for their sacrifice.  Take it a step farther and ask your child's class to write letters, too.  Each letter  received will be included in one of the boxes sent overseas.