700,000 children in this country have a parent at war. When babies are born to deployed troops, it's doubly hard for both mom and dad. The dad must wait weeks or months to meet his newest child. The mom has responsibilities of both parents, juggling the exhausting care of a newborn while meeting the needs of other children without the help of her husband. It's a sacrifice, and one that military families make every single day.
Operation Marine Corps Kids is a new effort designed to support the quiet heroines of this war and the littlest heroes - the kids that miss their daddy but know that he is away helping to protect them.
Operation Marine Corps Kids will send care packages to the families of deployed troops when babies are born. The packages might include a hand-crafted baby afghan, cap or bonnet, booties or toy. With sufficient resources, we'll also be able to include a handmade toy for other kids in the family. It's a small, but significant, gesture of love and support for those who keep the home fires burning alone.
After our initial project announcement, crafters from all over the United States generously worked and sent some beautiful hats and blankets to get us started. Now, we are ready to start sending packages.
Our first package will be mailed this week to the new mom of a precious baby girl in California! We also know of about twenty other expecting mom’s who we will be sending gifts to in the next few months.
We invite all crafters at every level to join us in this effort. No gift is too small and all gifts are appreciated. Donations of hand crafted clothing, hats, blankets, booties and toys will be accepted. Feel free to use any pattern of your choosing. We do ask that all donations be in soft acrylic or cotton yarns, and that color choices be appropriate for babies.
If you would like to help us with a monetary donation to help cover the cost of postage, you can donate through PayPal at this site. Many thanks to Deb of Marine Corps Moms and to the VA Mortgage Center for their donation which is making this all possible.
Donations can be sent to:
Marine Corps Kids
4524 E Beardsley Drive
Bloomington, IN 47401
For more information, contact Delia at delia.mck@gmail.com or Deb at deb@marinecorpsmoms.com.
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11 comments:
This is such a great cause! I will add it to this page hon:
http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/charity-links.html
Hope it brings you lots of help!
Bev
Hello Gals,
My name is Dana from MN. I have an awesome group of gals we are "Love's Many Cloths". We do lots of charity projects and finding this one really touches close to home!
My dad is a Marine Corps Vet. I know he would be so proud of me for taking part in something so dear to him. I have emailed him and I am sure he will be researching in the morning! I have some other military projects that I would like to add this with them.
Dana J. aka "Libby Love"
Hi!!! What a great idea. I love what you are doing. I linked over here from Love's Many Cloths...and I was wondering, how do you feel about baby bibs? My dad is a MC Vet as well, and so this is near and dear to my heart too. Thanks so much for coming up with such a great project.
Shelly
Thank you, Ladies!
We appreciate your support!
Shelly - Babies need bibs, too! We would be delighted to accept and distribute them! Thank you!
Hi! our group, hugs4hope, will be donating. I want to post about it on my blog. You don't mention where to send the items. I'd like to include that if possible.
Thanks,
Kelly
Perfect! I added a link to this blog under my "Knit for our Troops" category. Please see my blog titled "Access Fashion" for more details.
Donations can be sent to:
Marine Corps Kids
2532 N. Skyline Drive
Bloomington, IN 47404
Is this where I mail items?
Couldn't find your address anywhere, but thought I'd double check. Hoping you see this soon; as I wanted to head to the post office.
Sandy
Yes Sandy.
That is the address for donations.
Thank you so much!
I think I asked you this before, but someone posted about it and I wanted to answer them, then found I wasn't sure of the answer. Must have forgotten. Where all do the donations go? They asked if it was just Marines?
Seems I saw an old post of yours, and added comment, though am unsure if you saw it. You were collecting squares? ARe you still doing that?
You've not visited in a long time, please stop in and let me know.
Thanks
Sandy
Hi Sandy!
I'm sorry if I didn't answer your question.
Our donations are distributed in a few different ways. We send gifts directly to new moms if the mom or someone close to her notifies us of a birth.
Most of our donations are sent to volunteers at Marine Bases who distribute the gifts as babies arrives. This is a timely way of distributing, and it also protects the privacy of the families. Right now we work with volunteers at just a few bases, but we are always looking to make connections at more.
We don't limit our donations to Marines, but will send to any armed forces family. Last year we sent a large package to a wondeful army family who adopted 4 children.
Thanks!
Delia
do you have any drop off locations in phoenix az postage to in is expensive i have lots of things joannemariedevine@gmail.com
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