Golden Egg Vintage: Sending LOVE to Soldiers: A Very Different Kind of Swap!

I was thinking about a Valentine's Swap for 2015, and then I started thinking about my huge Rubbermaid container of Valentine's Day décor, crafting supplies, and vintage cards. I can't fit the lid on it anymore because it's overflowing.

I love swapping with my bloggy pals, but what if we did something different this year? What if we sent Love (and Gratitude) to a group of soldiers overseas?

I went to AnySolider.com and chose a group of U.S soldiers of the Army who are stationed in Kuwait. I purposely chose a unit that was full of junior enlisted soldiers who are on their first deployment, and away from their families for the first time. The soldier's name who represents this unit is Brandon S. He has contact with 75 male, and 10 female soldiers.

The site has tons of helpful information about what to send. It's so interesting to read all the requests from the soldiers too. It's mind blowing to me that our country pays it's professional sports team players millions of dollars a year, when our soldiers have to buy their own soap and gloves!

Here's what I'm thinking, but please give your opinions and advice!

I haven't done anything like this before. :)

I want to fill four, large, Priority USPS boxes with things for this army unit in Kuwait.

The boxes will contain dozens of things that the soldiers need, including personal hygiene items, and snacks. These things aren't expensive. Dehydrated noodle bowls, jerky, razors, lotion, magazines, candy, etc.

Because we are vintage loving, crafty girls, we will send handmade Valentine's for every solider. Another thing I kept coming across on the site was the fact that they don't have access to greeting cards to send home to family and friends. If any of you are especially good at making cards (not me), and could send handmade Easter, Fourth of July, Birthday, and blank cards for the soldiers to send back home, that would be wonderful!

Once I get some feedback and know how many of you are on board with me, I'll post more details. I'm a little nervous that I bit off more than I can chew, but it shouldn't take long to fill four boxes. I believe that it will cost $53.00 to send 4 large, flat rate priority boxes. I'm hoping that (if you choose to participate) each gal will send ME a shoebox filled with a mix of items, and $5 to $10 to cover shipping, plus the small monetary donation to "Any Soldier" itself. I'll open the shoe boxes, do some rearranging, and then everything will go into the 4 larger boxes. We must ship edible things separate from things like soap and deodorant.