Johnson County Fair

My first week as Mrs. Midwest has started out amazing! I spent 2 days at the fair telling everyone about Iowa Troop Pantry. A local family came up with the idea to send care packages to our troops serving in the Iraq/Afghanistan war. They have compiled a "shopping list" that a person can pick items they want to send or make a cash donation and the family will shop for you. Then the Tysons package and mail the boxes to our troops. Boxes usually contain food, personal hygiene items like soaps,lotions, chap sticks etc, movies, magazines, anything that helps the soldiers have a little piece of home. The Tysons take care of the postage also. So it makes it very easy for anyone to "support". Each box also has a letter or postcard from someone in the community or a colored picture from a child. I loved watching the kids color pictures and see adults and teens write letters. They were so excited to send messages....and when they were done we would read some of them...but I had to stop because they made me cry! I remember how much a letter means when you are not home... its like a hug from someone! I still have every letter my family and friends sent me during training & deployment and one of my favorites is from a little girl I never met. When I was deployed for Desert Storm the community my Unit was based out of sent us hand made cards from elementary kids...it really made me proud of what I was doing when I received a colored picture...and when I was having a bad day-it reminded me someone was thinking of me and my unit! Please, take 15 min and write a letter just saying hello and thank you to a service member.... you have no idea what the impact will be. Many never receive mail...yours could be the difference in someones life...if you would like to donate to the boxes or just a letter, please contact me and I will help you make it happen!