iWebTech:    Chird Bobbitt

Friends of Our Troops, PO Box 65408, Fayetteville, NC 28306 or visit www.troopfanmail.net
How the campaign functions, an online photo album at www.troopfanmail.net/album.htm
A group of unidentified Army National Guard GIs take a breather from activities held in their honor at a community sendoff
at Spring Park on Friday in Searcy. The image of the soldiers, young, confident, a bit pensive is reminiscent of photos
once taken of WWII GIs one author called "America's Citizen Soldiers." Focus on White County takes a look at
several lives of these common men who are heading off to war. More photos from Friday's events can be
found on page 12A of Sunday's print edition. (Photo by Philip Holsinger)

Writing to support troops is easy

By Melinda Holt
Staff Writer 26 Oct 2003

Writing is already underway all across the nation by individuals and families, in schools and churches, with campus groups, scout troops, youth organizations, veterans groups and auxiliaries, to prepare fan mail to the troops at home and abroad for the 2003 Christmas Fan Mail for the Troops campaign.

As the continuation of the Vietnam Mail Call program established in 1965, there have now been almost 40 years of service to and support of America's soldiers, sailors, Marines, airmen and coast guardsmen.

The Wilburn Beta Club, along with sponsor Dutchess Butler of Pangburn, a math teacher at Wilburn High School, helped make the 2002 campaign quite successful. As part of the National Beta Club Service Project program, the group coordinated the campaign for students at the school to write and send Christmas cards to the organization, who in turn distributed the cards to the troops.

Mail from all over the nation was sent to Friends of Our Troops headquarters, where it was thoroughly mixed, then prepared into well over 1,000 packages of mail to be sent out.

"The packages range in size from just a few [letters] for small units, up to several thousand for very large units," said G.B. Wiser, executive director of the program. "This helps us get an appropriate amount of fan mail to all those places."

The Fan Mail program is an exciting activity for people of all ages. While the project at Wilburn was sponsored by the high school Beta Club, students at both the elementary and high school levels participated.

"It's really an easy project to do," Butler said, "and the students had a lot of fun doing it. Many students handmade their cards, especially those at the elementary level."

The group sent out approximately 120 cards, and many of the students who included their contact information received letters of thanks from the troops in the months following the campaign. For their efforts, the Wilburn Beta Club received a certificate from the National Beta Club recognizing them as one of the top 10 Beta Clubs in the state.

Interested individuals, families, schools, churches or organizations who would like to learn more about the campaign and how to help should send their name, address and where they heard about the campaign to Information Please, Friends of Our Troops, PO Box 65408, Fayetteville, NC 28306 or visit www.troopfanmail.net .

Also, military friends and loved ones can be VIPs when they receive a big package of fan mail to share with their buddies. Send their name and their current and complete military mailing address, along with your name, address, phone number and e-mail address (if applicable) to Send Mail, Friends of Our Troops, PO Box 65408, Fayetteville, NC 28306. All military names and addresses are kept strictly confidential.

A visual overview of how the campaign functions has been posted in the online photo album at www.troopfanmail.net/album.htm . In addition, there are special pages for schools, colleges, churches, veterans groups, youth groups and others.

Melinda Holt can be reached at lifestyles@thedailycitizen.com.

Veterans Affairs