Heroes Card Drive!!!!!

Hello there!  Welcome to the Heroes Card Drive!

This drive has been months in the making, and we are so excited to bring it to you at last, because it's a cause that's very near and dear to our hearts, and affects at least one of us here at Lawnscaping in a very personal way. 

You may or may not be aware that our sweet Laurel's husband Christian has left just this week on deployment with the U.S. Navy. We wanted to do something similar to Operation Write Home, but specifically for the courageous men and women who work and serve along side Christian on his ship. Those who have each other's backs and are keeping each other safe while they are away from their families.

We would so love for you to get involved. 

We are looking for quality, handmade cards FOR OUR TROOPS TO SEND to their loved ones. Out on the field, many of our soldiers do not have the opportunity to purchase a card to send for their child's birthday or simply to tell their significant other that they love them and are thinking about them. We want to provide them this service.

For the safety and to meet the desires of our troops, we have a few simple guidelines that we would ask you would adhere to:

• NO STORE BOUGHT CARDS. Cards must be handmade. Use quality products that won't fall off in extreme temperatures. A good quality adhesive is a must. These cards have a long way to travel and once they arrive, they will likely be cherished and kept and perhaps even saved in scrapbooks or collections. Send your best, because our troops and their families deserve nothing less. Make sure that your card will stand the test of time. 
• ABSOLUTELY NO GLITTER! This is a serious one. Glitter that has flaked off on a soldier's uniform can become a real threat to their lives, as it makes them visible to night-vision goggles. And as anyone who has ever worked with glitter knows, the stuff just gets everywhere. ;o) The last thing we would ever want to do is put one of these brave men and women in harm's way. Glitter glues that do not flake off such as stickles or glitter pens such as Sakura StarDust Jelly Rolls or Copic Atyou Spicas are acceptable.
•  KEEP IT RELATIVELY FLAT. Some dimension is okay, such as lifting images up with pop dots or adding twine or ribbon, but try to save the buttons and other large, bulky embellishments for other projects. We want to make sure these cards make it through the postal system and arrive at their intended destination in one piece.
• LEAVE THE INSIDE BLANK. We don't want to use up any space that our heroes could potentially use to write their own personal message to their loved ones. In fact, if you use a dark cardstock for your card base that makes it difficult for someone to write legibly on, we ask that you would line the inside with a white or light colored cardstock so that the recipient has no trouble whatsoever discerning their soldier's words.
• DO NOT SEAL THE ENVELOPE. We want the troops to be able to open it right up, personalize it and send it to their loved ones. For this purpose, please include one blank envelope with each card INSIDE the envelope you mail them in.

Send cards to: 

Laurel Beard

P. O. Box 15198

Jacksonville, FL 32239

Card themes that the troops have expressed a desire to receive:

• Birthday
• Love
• Thank You
• Missing You
• Thinking of You
• Blank (no sentiment)

Undesired themes:

• Wish You Were Here
• Party Invitations
• Baby/Bridal Announcement
• To Mommy/Daddy
• Retirement/other rare themes

We hope that you will all be excited as we are to help out with this incredibly worthy cause. We will begin collecting cards immediately  up through the end of July.

Thank you so much! We appreciate your generosity and can't wait to watch your beautiful cards start rolling in so we can ship them off to our well-deserving heroes!

Please spread the word about this drive. Post this link on all social networking devices. Grab the badge and post it on your blogs linking back to this post!!!! WE WOULD SO GREATLY APPRECIATE IT!!!!!!

EDITED TO ADD: ANYONE CAN PARTICIPATE, REGARDLESS OF WHERE YOU LIVE. NO SPECIFIC STAMPS ARE REQUIRED. USE WHATEVER YOU HAVE.