Send a special stocking to a soldier

Getting a holiday stocking stuffed with goodies will make a soldier far from home feel like a kid on Christmas morning. You can send stockings, holiday feasts, phone cards and many other packages to someone from your home state who is serving our country through an online provider of care packages, Treats for Troops. Its Web site is http://www.treatsfortroops.com.
You don’t need to know anyone in the service. The company’s Foster-A-Soldier Program lets you select a soldier to sponsor by home state, branch of service, area of deployment and gender.
The soldier’s online profile will tell you what kinds of foods, snacks and supplies they need and want, why they chose to serve their country and what they miss most about being away from home.
The slumping economy has taken its toll on troop-support programs. According to the founder of Treats for Troops, Deborah Crane, the number of packages being sent to the troops has fallen to an all-time low, while the number of soldiers hoping to get a package is at an all-time high. “Service members wonder if their country is still behind them,” Crane said.
The company’s Denver warehouse is filled with big, bright-red stockings stuffed to overflowing, holiday feasts with all the trimmings, right down to freshly baked cookies and pumpkin fudge, electronic games, phone cards, and dozens of other packages, all ready to brighten a homesick soldier’s holiday. There’s even a Christmas tree that comes with ornaments, battery-powered lights and instant “snow.”
You can create a personal message to go with your package, and get a personal thank you back from your soldier.
“Soldiers love hearing from someone from their own state. It gives them a real sense of camaraderie and makes them feel connected to home,” Crane said. “We civilians can never really appreciate what it means to hear your name at mail call.”
Or as one soldier wrote to his sponsor, “It can get really lonesome over here. It was wonderful to get a package from someone from my home state. You really lifted my spirits.”