Wow! Today (Monday, Feb 26th) the team gathered, joined by McChord AFB firefighters, Fort Lewis' 24th Quartermasters, Pino, and Aaron & JJ, at the Lakewood post office.
Our U-Haul trailer was filled to the brim with the Lincoln Moving & Storage boxes (It took 2 trailers to get the shirts and the packout items to the armory) ... and more filled the back of Larry's truck. We hadn't counted them as they were packed, but were all taking guesses at how many we had. There were several single boxes, and our largest group had over 45 boxes.
The boxes had all sorts of items donated, not just shirts. There were t-shirts of course, but there were also polos, hats, pants, sweats, shorts, tanks, patches, certificates, letters, messages, and more.
As the troops unloaded the boxes, Chani, Leta, and the rest of the 24th QM's worked inside to assure the customs forms were correct and attached properly. It was a great team and it flowed very smoothly. There was much laughter, even the customers in the post office got into the mood of things. They were adding donations to help us cover the postage, and getting rounds of applause from the troops (& JJ). We got to speak to a lot of veterans, family members, and troops as well, who spoke appreciatively of how important efforts such as ours are to a troops' morale. **People occasionally question us about how much salary we receive ... We do not receive payment in monetary denominations, but in the smiles and thanks that happen at the most unexpected times.
So the final step of the PackOut began at 1pm, and did not end til around 5pm! When all was said and done, post office customers had donated over $130, which we added to the $3400+ from the PackOut and Evening of Heroes.
So when the reallllllllly long receipt totaled out, we shipped 193 boxes for 7,000 troops, for a total cost of over $5,100! Whew!
They should be there around the middle of March, and hopefully by the 19th. After that, we hope to be able to share pix and words from the troops who receive them. I know that is not the reason you give the shirts, but we are also aware that you all enjoy seeing the smiling face of a troop in your shirts. So we have done what we can, now we wait.
We want to thank the troops who stepped up for us today, and gave most of their day to the final push.
Photos are en route!
lj
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