ATTN D/FW PEEPS!

The very narrow-footed Camille has the skinny on the supply drive being conducted to benefit our troops.

The D/FW Red Cross will be sponsoring a one day only donation drive to supply some much needed “quality of life” items to our troops. This is a one day only deal, so snap to it, people.

At five different collection drives from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Friday, March 28, the Red Cross will be collecting only the following items to be sent to the troops: (printer-friendly list here)

• Individually wrapped pieces of hard candy (Twizzlers, Tootsie Rolls and Tootsie Pops, Bubble gum, Skittles, Lifesavers, Sweet Tarts, etc.) NO CHOCOLATE ITEMS
• Microwave popcorn, peanuts, pretzels, snack foods
• Sweetened Kool-Aid, Gatorade and other sweetened drink mixes
• Coffee, sugar, creamer, tea bags, hot chocolate
• Toiletry items such as shaving cream, razors, toothbrushes, toothpaste, shower soap, hand lotion
• Wet Wipes
• Sunscreen and lip balm—Wrap-around sunglasses
• Batteries (all sizes)—Non-Lithium type
• Blank greeting cards for birthday, anniversary, Get Will, Miss You, Mother/Father’s Day
• Videos, DVD’s, music CD’s and cassettes
• Small board games such as Chess, Checkers, Dominoes, Parcheesi, Yahtze, Uno, Cribbage, puzzles
• Recent paperback books (mysteries, action, drama and science fiction are highly read), Crossword Puzzle books and comic books

Items can be dropped off on Friday, March 28 from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. at these five sites:

Grapevine Mills Mall – 3000 Grapevine Mills Parkway, Grapevine, TX
American Red Cross – 4800 Harry Hines Blvd., Dallas, TX
American Red Cross – 1450 Redbud Blvd., McKinney, TX
American Red Cross – 412 S. Carroll, Suite 1001, Denton, TX
American Red Cross – 109 Tejas Drive, Suite 700, Terrell, TX

This is a one-day collection event only. The Red Cross is not only limited in its resources to process, warehouse and ship these items, but the Military has placed limits on the amount of items we can ship weekly. Given these limitations, and knowing that other Red Cross chapters are collecting items also, we feel that we’ll more than meet the current need for items and our capacity to process the items during this one-day event on Friday, March 28. If more items are needed in the future, we’ll announce future collections dates and sites. If you are unable to support the collection of items within this time frame, please consider supporting our efforts with a financial donation to facilitate the mailing of these items ($2 per pound on average) or read more about the many other ways they can support our troops through the Red Cross.

For more information, contact the Dallas Area Red Cross at 214-678-4800.

If you live in the D/FW area and are looking for a way to do your part, here’s your chance. Merrin & I will be working this into our regular Friday Night “date night” activities. You should too.