The Frederick County chapter of the American Red Cross will distribute holiday cards to local military families, and members of the Fort Detrick Chapel Center will send out care packages to troops stationed in the Middle East.

The Frederick County Red Cross expects to dole out about 2,000 cards this year, said Judy Peterson, supervisor of chapter operations.

The Holiday Mail for Heroes drive is in its third year of existence. It is a collaboration between the American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes, a mail software and services company.

Pitney Bowes screens the mail for hazardous materials and provides free shipping. Red Cross volunteers sort the letters and box them for delivery to area veterans' organizations, military posts and hospitals and individual military families.

Cards must arrive by Dec. 7 to Holiday Mail for Heroes, P.O. Box 5456, Capitol Heights, MD 20791-5456. They cannot contain money, goods or anything beyond a card because of the screening process. See www.redcross.org for information on donation requirements.

Fort Detrick stocking stuffer drive

Donations to the Fort Detrick Chapel Family stocking stuffer drive are slowly trickling in this year, said Rosemary Debes, a Boonsboro resident who started the community's quarterly donation drive. She said she's hopeful more donations will come in once Thanksgiving is over.

"Sometimes I think that people have forgotten our brave men and women who are serving our nation, and then I get calls, letters, et cetera from people all over that have heard about the Fort Detrick Chapel outreach to our Armed Forces and want to help," Debes said.

Volunteers, largely from local church groups, will meet Dec. 5 at the chapel at Fort Detrick to make cookies and Afghans for the soldiers "so they will be covered in love and prayers," she said.

On Dec. 6, they will fill shoeboxes with the goods they made and collected for local service members stationed in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait.

Debes started the drive just after 9/11, when her brother deployed to Fort Lee, Va., with the local Army National Guard unit. She wanted to make sure they knew the community supported them, so Debes has sent out care packages every few months since.

In September, volunteers sent about 300 shoeboxes to 12 different units, Debes said. Service members -- some, though not all, of whom have a Frederick connection -- love the care packages, Debes said.

The thank-you notes they write back "could make you cry," the main reason she hasn't been able to quit spearheading the quarterly collections, even after her brother retired from service, she said.

Debes asked that donations be dropped off at the chapel Dec. 5 or 6, or contact her at rdebes@aol.com to make other arrangements. Some of the most useful donations include canned meals, energy bars, anti-bacterial wipes, eye drops and contact lens cleaner, first-aid kits, toiletries, batteries, playing cards, balls and international phone cards. Ideally, Debes would like to include a paperback book and DVD with each care package, even if they are lightly used.

"It gives them a few minutes away from the war," she said.

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