Each Month Highland Coordinates Care Packages for Troops, Here’s How to Donate
(Crystal A. Proxmire, Dec. 11, 2023)
Highland, MI – The spirit of giving shines all year round at Highland Activity Center, where items are collected on an ongoing basis to be sent to troops serving overseas.
Personal care items, gifts, and notes or cards of encouragement are collected through the month, and on the first Thursday of each month volunteers gather at the center for sorting and packing from 11am to 1pm. Everyone is welcome.
“We are working with The Desert Angels,” said Highland Activity Center Director Heidi Bey. “On the first Thursday of the month volunteers come in to help box and prepare the items for shipment overseas. November, we got stockings shipped out for the Christmas. This month is just a general goodies and staples for the troops. January will be Valentines Day and so on.”
Prior to the pandemic, items were collected for the holidays. But now as the program is ramping back up, the need is there all year round. Bey said that in previous years shipments were made overseas, or taken to Veterans Hospital in Detroit.
“The response has always been great,” she said, “but volunteers are always needed as well as the donations.” Bey, along with staffer Chari Scicluna and volunteer Carolyn Kress, are excited to work with Louise Blain who is the liaison from Desert Angels. “Ms. Louise is a Veterans herself and has been a pillar of the Desert Angels program since 9/11,” Bey said. Oakland County Sheriff Office Lt. Snider, who serves the Highland community, is an Army veteran who also pitches in to help, along with other volunteers from the community.
Those wanting to donate can use the drop off bins located in the entryway of the center at 209 N. John Street in Highland.
Items accepted include packaged foods like trial mix, hard candy, cookies, energy bars, bagged chicken and tuna, small bags of jerky, pop-tarts, gum, and powdered drink mix.
Travel size personal care items like deodorant, bug spry, Q-tips, shampoo, hand lotion, over the counter medicines like Tylenol and Motrin, and alcohol-free mouthwash are also appreciated.
For entertainment, the troops love receiving hacky sacks, puzzles, and word searches.
There is also a need for clothing items, including black or brown gloves and knit hats, tee shirts, and socks. Misc. items requested include blank notecards for troops to use to send to loved ones back home, wrapping paper, bows, balloons, and tape. (See the full list in the image below)
Blain, who began organizing care packages in 2001 after the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks on Sept. 11, 2001. The website talks about the efforts across SE Michigan to send “Miracle Boxes” to the troops. “We show our Troops they are not forgotten in deeds, not just words. ”
The work is done by volunteers, and donations help with the shipping costs. “Kind-hearted generosity and word of mouth is how “The Desert Angel” keeps going,” the website states. “Americans are good-hearted people,They really want to do something to support our Troops, I just show how.”
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