Wanting to bump up this thread,

P.S. I just got a letter back from the platoon we sent blankets to thanking us and requesting sheets and pillowcases lol. Good thing we already have a fundraiser planned this weekend. I love these guys and gals. They really appriciate all that people are doing! less

That's a really nice thought, but they would probably be spoiled by the time they arrived. However, if you wanted to organize a bake sale in your area to raise money to donate to the USO that would be a wonderful idea! I will also be giving information on how to organize USO events and how to create care packages. Stay tuned!! less

Oh, too bad. I know baked goods used to be shipped overseas during Viet Nam, Korea and WWII. There are certain types of cookies especially made for long shipping times, oatmeal with dried fruit and things like that.

As for a bake sale; I'm not the greatest at organizing things, and our area has some bizarre restrictions regarding selling home baked goods. Even my Mother's Support Group doesn't do bake sales anymore. less

I know this doesn't have to do with the Eden community, but it's another way for individual members to support our troops in another way as well. I belong to a group called books for soldiers and what it is once you go through a process to become a helper you can donate any books, dvds, video games, magazines etc. that you have lying around your house collecting dust that you have no where else to give them. I really like the program and it gives the troops something to do in their downtime. Just go to booksforsoldiers.com and can read more about it. They have rules about no pornography, but fiction/non-fiction, college textbooks that we no longer need or want and cant sell, self help, biographies, etc. less

Click on the "Account" link in the top left hand corner, then click on the "EdenPoints Program" link in the list of services. This will open the EdenPoints dashboard. You'll see a link next to the amount of points you currently have, click on that and convert the points into a giftcard. Once that's complete, go back to the list of services and click on the "Gift Card" link. That will give you the number that you will then send to sam@edenfantasys.com Please include the value along with the gift card number and your EdenFantasys screen name.

If you have any problems, please don't hesitate to send me a message and I'll be happy to help!

Thank you for your participation!! less

If you have any problems, please don't hesitate to send me a message and I'll be happy to help!

Stormy,
Can you check with Sam, and see if she received my information. I sent it a couple of days ago, and I just want to make sure it got there. If not, I will resend it.

Thanks less

Eden Gives Back is a wonderful, community-driven program that asks you to donate those hard-earned Eden points for good causes. There have been clothing drives and school supply donations for needy families, in the past. When the tornado hit Joplin, Missouri and left the town devastated in its aftermath, Eden came together to raise $675.54 in donated points, with all of the proceeds going to The American Red Cross. In addition to all of that, the adopt-a-family fundraiser to help parents struggling to purchase presents for their children at Christmas-time in 2010 was a huge success.

And now it’s that time again! We have a new fundraiser with an open forum for suggestions from you!

As some of you may be aware, we have a few members whom have family members or spouses in the military stationed overseas. And anyone who has been away from home longer than a week can attest, being away can be draining at times. And even more so when it’s a foreign country and you have limited contact with those who remain stateside.

In an effort to give our hard-working troops a taste of home, we are asking for points donations and/or care packages to be sent directly from you to a soldier or a base of your choice. What are the points for you ask?

MAGAZINES!

I have found a wonderful, all-inclusive magazine e-distributor that will ship to military addresses overseas.

In addition to sending in your points or care packages, put on your thinking caps and start throwing out suggestions of magazines you think would be good.

Gaming, entertainment, hunting, fishing, snowboarding…just shout out (well, type and then post) names as they come to you! And while you’re at it, if you have a specific base you would like to send the magazines to, then list that in your comment also. Sadly, we can’t send the troops a bunch of adult magazines as it’s not allowed and would just be confiscated by officials.

Giving points is easy to do! Convert the amount of points you wish to donate into a gift card (for example: you would convert 500 points for a $5.00 value) and email the gift certificate number and the value to sam@edenfantasys.com, along with your Eden screen name.

In the coming weeks, I will be posting polls to let you, the contributors, decide which base we will be sending the subscriptions to and how we will divide the monies raised. There will also be an informational post on how to create and donate care packages to service men and women across the world. If you choose to send a care package in lieu of donating points, please be sure to submit photos of the contents and a little information on the who, the where and the why (you chose those products) to the Eden Gives Back blog.

The donation portion of this fundraiser will run from Monday, September 26th until Monday, October 10th, 2011. Suggestions for magazines and locations will be accepted until Friday, September 30th. less

This is a great idea!

Dwtim, thanks for posting the title suggestions. Many of us would have no idea where to begin finding good car magazines since we have zero to no experience with them!

Anyone who has familiarity with hunting and fishing magazines, please make suggestions here, too!

Also, please don't forget that we have women in our armed services, too. Some women's magazines would be appreciated as well. I'm not a magazine reader myself, so I'll let others make the suggestions. However, when I lived at home when I was young, my mom subscribed to Reader's Digest and I loved reading that . . . less