What a great way to teach patriotism and get children involved in a meaningful project!

Welcome to Operation Packing Company and thank you for choosing to participate in our School Donation Program. This program is operational at many schools and we have taken all we have learned to do everything we can to make this easy to implement on your campus and for us to gather the items that our troops value most.

First, we need to know if your school will do this on a monthly basis from September through May or if this will be a one-time project. You will be provided with a list of items we include in the boxes and ask you to choose one item for each month you will participate. We found that, in most cases, when the students selected the items to be collected, they were more successful. We ask that items are the smaller, travel size to make it affordable for the kids to purchase and allow us to include a wide variety of items in the boxes we ship out. It is also worth noting that we need to make sure that the expiration dates have not passed. We have attempted to choose items that can be found even in dollar stores. Items must be individually wrapped for us to ensure their safety and to pass customs.

Some schools have added homemade greeting cards and we know the troops really enjoy these. Because we ship the boxes out every other month, and there is a lag time in the shipping, we ask that the cards be generic rather than holiday related.

Thanking them for their service is always appropriate. Having a designated location for donations to be dropped off is up to you, but we know that if it is in a visible spot the kids seem to remember to bring in donations a little better. We are happy to provide a container and signage for your school to make this easier.

Some schools have had collection points in each classroom, but that is completely up to you as to how many collection points you have. We will pick up the donations on the last school day of each month. We hope that you will take pictures that showcase the amazing job the students did and please pass them along to us (you can email them to me at lbpub@earthlink.net or tag me on Facebook and I will share on the OPC Facebook page).

We want to make sure that your community sees the good things that our students are doing and trust that you will know the best way to show this in a photo. We also know that you will know the best way to promote this to your students. We have seen schools include them in their video announcements, their school calendar of events and flyers.

We are also available if you would like for us to come do a short presentation in a rally. We can even bring a member of the armed forces that can talk to the students about what it means to be in some isolated place overseas and receive one of these boxes of things that are often impossible to get there and helps them feel like they are remembered. If this is something you are interested in let me know and we will work with you to make it happen.

Please feel free to contact me with any questions, ideas or suggestions. Rhonda Lowe (209) 704-4384 lbpub@earthlink.net

If you would like to find out how your school can get involved, contact Rhonda Lowe at operationpackingcompany@gmail.com.