ELLY GRIMM
• Leader & Times
The holiday season is rapidly approaching and in the midst of all of that busyness, military personnel serving overseas can be forgotten about.
As with the past few years, however, Volunteer Kansas is looking to make sure that does not happen, and Volunteer Kansas Executive Director Nola Brown said she is excited for this year’s Presents in a Package campaign.
“We will be hosting our Presents in a Package event Friday, Nov. 14 at the Farm Credit Bank Building at 245 N. Waco Ave. in Wichita, and it will go from 10 a.m. until around 2 p.m.,” Brown said. “The purpose of Presents in a Package is to provide care packages to deployed military personnel from Kansas for the holiday season. They do so much for us, and we want to do something for them, and this is the least we could do. Many people in the military never receive a single care package during their deployment, so we want to make sure they know people in Kansas care about them and are thinking about them. Before that event, however, we have to get donations of items to go in those packages. With those donations, we're looking for non-perishable food items, toiletries and other useful items the troops need, and there's a whole list of items that are acceptable to ship through the U.S. Postal Service on our Web site, volunteerkansas.org. We are accepting donations through Nov. 10, and the list of items that can be donated can be found on our Web site, volunterkansas.org. They're all very inexpensive items that can be found at any Walmart or other grocery store, and those are the items we hear a lot of requests for from service members. Drop-off locations include any Southwest National Bank branch and the KAKE-TV station at 1500 N. West Street in Wichita. We're also accepting monetary donations, and those can be sent to Volunteer Kansas at P.O. Box 781598, Wichita, KS 67278 or submitted electronically through the Volunteer Kansas Facebook page.”
With the holiday season being so busy for people, Brown offered encouragement for people to get donations and name submissions in sooner rather than later.
“As long as we get your donations by Nov. 10, you'll be good. We use those donations to help pay for postage. It costs about $23 for each package we send, and we would love to send out about 400 care packages,” Brown said. “People can do this in honor of someone who served in the past or is currently serving overseas now. I encourage people to do what they can and send what they can, because we want the soldiers to get these packages in time for the holidays. We can't send these packages if we don't have any names, so if you want a package to go to someone in particular who's serving overseas, we need their name. People can submit names through volunteerkansas.org, there's a popup that will take them to the form, and they just have to fill it out with the name and the shipping address. I know Veterans Day is right before our event, plus the holiday season, so people will most likely be really busy with everything else with that. Now is the perfect time to go ahead and send us those names so we for sure have them and don't get forgotten in the other holidays craziness. But even if you don't have a name to submit, consider still sending a donation so these soldiers can have a brighter Christmas. We're also accepting volunteers to put the care packages together, so if anyone wants to do that, signup information is on the Web site. We give out prizes that day and do some other things to make it fun for everyone, and it's just a good day overall.”
With the success of past campaigns, Brown said she hopes to see more of the same for this year.
“The goal is to be able to send 400 care packages overseas, and I also hope we get a lot of volunteers to help put them all together. I hope people find it in their hearts to contribute to this year's campaign in some way, whether it's by making a donation, submitting names or volunteering to put everything together,” Brown said. “My favorite part is working with all the volunteers. We've got people who have volunteered every year with this, and we get a lot of new faces too. It's great getting to know everyone, and I know I'll always have a good crew to make sure everything goes how it's supposed to. I can't tell you how many stories I've heard from people who have loved ones who are deployed overseas, that tells me we're doing the right thing.”
This is Brown’s sixth year coordinating the campaign, and she said she is proud to have reached such a milestone. She added she hopes to continue seeing growth as time goes on.
“I feel really good about us having done this for as long as we have. We took this over from another organization after they decided they didn't want to do it anymore, and no one else was stepping up, so we decided to fill the void,” Brown said. “I feel really proud of carrying on this tradition and everyone coming together to help make it happen. This is something that's near and dear to a lot of people's hearts, and it can't happen without all of us working together. I can't wait to see what we do in the future. The more soldiers we can reach, the better. We'd love to be able to send a package to everyone who's deployed overseas so they're not forgotten over the holidays. Last year was really great, we had hundreds of donations and more than 100 volunteers who helped put everything together, so it was really good for us. We ended up sending 393 care packages last year, and I feel like we'll be able to eclipse that number this year.”
Overall, Brown said, she is excited to see the results of this year’s campaign.
“I'm excited to meet all of the volunteers and see everyone come together and work together. It ends up being quite the well-oiled machine and it amazes me every year how quickly everyone finds their groove and how quickly all the packages come together. At the end of the day, we're able to take a truckload of packages to the post office and get them sent off to the soldiers overseas,” Brown said. “Another thing I enjoy about doing this every year is the aftermath. I've gotten so many cards and letters and emails from soldiers who have received these packages, and it just does my heart good knowing we're doing this for them. Being away from family during the holidays is tough, and a care package can make all the difference. This is a simple but powerful way to lift spirits and remind our troops how much they are appreciated.”
