"It began as just a class Christmas project, but the results were something big." The classes involved only were able to send cards and letters at the time.
Supply Drive for our Troops was created on December 26th, 2011 by Hope (Moore) Stansberry, who was a senior in high school at the time. It is a four month long care package, letter, and card donation project that runs from November to February. Cards and letters are collected from early November to the beginning of December and sent to an adopted platoon deployed overseas during the holidays. Begi
nning early January to early February, items are collected to send in care packages to the same platoon. (Note: The list of acceptable items changes annually, but a new, up to date list can always be found on the Supply Drive homepage.) It began as just a class Christmas project, but the results were something big. Then, after a few weeks of more organization, the idea of sending care packages as well was presented. Not all the classes were able to donate items, but after making a few phone calls, things began to look up. Stansberry contacted several business and churches in the community. They agreed to help, and then people started calling her wanting to know where they could drop off items for donations. It was decided the first official drop off site for the drive would be at Sugar & Spice Childcare in Harrodsburg, Ind. Near the end of the first drive, Stansberry began getting even more recognition after calling the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 604 and the American Legion Post 18 in Bloomington, Ind. She was featured in two newsletters; the Tell Them Thanks March newsletter, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 604 April newsletter, The Harold Times newspaper (electronic copies of the newsletters and articles can be viewed in our "In The News" photo album), and awarded a Certificate of Appreciation through the American Legion Post 18 on March 12th, 2012 at their 93rd birthday dinner. The VFW Post 604 agreed to ship half the items, and the American Legion covered half the shipping costs for the packages Stansberry shipped herself. In total, 2,841 items were donated and shipped in 22 care packages to two platoons deployed in Afghanistan. As of today, Supply Drive for our Troops is run by Hope and her husband, Hayden Stansberry. The 2013/2014 drive marks the third year of operation. You can contact the Supply Drive for our Troops staff by:
E-mail:
Phone or Text: 812.361.5618
Drop-Off Location: 9291 1/2 S. Harrodsburg Rd., Bloomington, Ind. 47403
