Hudson Valley's United For The Troops Ships 1,000 Holiday Care Packages

YORKTOWN, NY— Serving far from home, few things do more to brighten the holidays for members of the military than a care package from family and friends back home.

With assistance from the Shrub Oak Post Office employees and USPS Westchester District officials, volunteers from the United For the Troops organization got together on a recent Sunday to pack and ship 1,000 holiday care packages from the Shrub Oak Post Office. The pack and ship effort was part of the United For the Troops’ Operation Defend The Holidays initiative.

UnitedForTheTroops.org was created by friends and families of our troops serving the U.S. overseas in harm’s way. The Mahopac-based non-profit organization’s mission is to make life a little better for members of the military by collecting shipping food, donations, goods, hard-to-come-by items and the extra amenities that the troops receive while at home. Some of the items include cookies, dvd’s, cd’s, snacks, t shirts, and other food items.

To send packages to loved ones serving in the military abroad, the Postal Service offers a discounted price of $16.75 on its largest Priority Mail Flat Rate Box. The price includes a $2 per box discount for mail sent to APO/FPO/DPO (Air/Army Post Office/Fleet Post Office/Diplomatic Post Office) destinations worldwide.

Priority Mail Flat Rate Boxes are available at no cost at local Westchester Post Offices and online at shop.usps.com. Postage, labels and customs forms can be printed online anytime using Click-N-Ship at usps.com/ship.

Photo: Westchester District postal officials and Shrub Oak Post Office employees, helped more than a dozen volunteers from the United For the Troops organization on a recent Sunday to pack and ship 1,000 care packages for the holidays from the Shrub Oak Post Office to our troops serving overseas./ contributed