OSOT - Operation Support Our Troops

Dear 2008 Generous Friends:

We Did It! with lots and lots of assistance from all of you.
Thank You, Everyone, so much.

We have just completed our fifth annual community project, "Stockings for Soldiers".
It has been a tremendous and resounding success. We have included so many new volunteer elves this year, all joining together from all walks of life to send some special Holiday Cheer to our wonderful and brave troops who are deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

This year, we even surprised ourselves with the amount of Goodies that our special troops will receive. Over 500+ great volunteers helped us to mail out 1,150 boxes packed with 5,400 homemade, personalized Christmas Stockings that were filled with over 30,000 pounds of Christmas Goodies. We also made 2,200 small polar fleece blankets and 2,400 knitted hats for our troops.

Included in these figures are 40 boxes (approx. 240 stockings) that will go to a movie theater in Iraq for some of our US troops and to several Chaplains who will give out our stockings to those who otherwise would have received nothing for Christmas. In addition, we sent 6,000 handmade greeting cards and 1500 letters of appreciation from children from many, many schools.

I appreciate everything that all of you did to work so hard, so quickly, so efficiently and so successfully. I know our troops are so grateful and happy to receive our Goodies. Because of our combined efforts, we will be able to touch the hearts of over five thousand of our most precious young men and women who are bravely Serving their Country in harm's way.

Our sincere THANKS go to all our working volunteers who came to our Stocking Store to donate their time, purchase Goodies for our troops, donate needed funds and bring a cheerful, happy-to-help attitude.

Many, many volunteers helped us and our project in many, many ways by doing many, many jobs:

Many, many elves sewed over 6,000 stockings,
Many, many elves glittered and glued the names of our troops on our 5,400 homemade stockings,
Many, many elves made over 2,200 polar fleece blankets,
Many, many elves knitted over 2,400 wool hats,
Many, many elves made over 6,000 packets of "Snowman's Soup" (hot cocoa),
Many, many school-aged elves wrote over 1,500 letters of support for the troops,
Many, many elves made over 6,000 personal greeting cards to go with each stocking,
Many, many elves collected and donated over 30,000 pounds of Goodies for the stockings,
Many, many elves came to our "Stocking Store" and helped us stuff 5,400 stockings,
Many, many elves, new citizens of the U.S., in Virginia, donated funds from their very first paychecks for our troops,
Many, many elves collected and donated funds to help us pay for the $17,120 postage costs,
Many, many elves collected and donated Goodies to go into the stockings,
Some special elves brought us 1150 boxes, so we would be ready to pack up the stockings,
Many, many elves helped us pack up and tape closed all 1,150 boxes,
Some special Team Leaders, known as Our Late Night Crew, processed our 1,150 US Customs Forms, one for each box, in only 2 1/2 days via the Internet.
Some special elves brought us into the 21st Century, showing us easier ways to proceed with all the paperwork and to process all the Customs Forms,
Many, many elves, dressed as the wonderful Delaware National Guard, carried all our 1,150 boxes to the US post office,
Many, many elves at the post office in Wilmington, DE, processed our 1,150 boxes,

THANK YOU, everyone who helped us to make a difference.

Judy Travis
Project Coordinator,
"Stockings for Soldiers"

Here is a photo of one of our Happy Volunteer Elves:

Vice President - Elect, Joe Biden and Mrs. Jill Biden stopped by to assist us. They were "loving parents" joining us to fill a stocking for their son, who is deployed in Iraq. They worked with us to send some Holiday Cheer to our troops. Thank you, Vice President Biden and Mrs. Biden. It was a thrill to host them.

Vice President - Elect Joe Biden and Judy Travis, Founder of Stockings for Soldiers.

Vice President - Elect Joe Biden, Judy Travis and Second Lady - Elect Jill Biden.