Thank you so much, Nicole, for passing this along:
I was sharing the Iraqi toy drive with a coworker, and she pointed me in the direction of the US Postal Service. You can request a FREE mailing supply kit for sending items to military personnel. The kit includes boxes, tape, labels, and customs forms. This will allow you arrive at the post office ready to ship. Please note the the supplies are free, but you must still pay for postage.
Via the USPS website, here is how you can request this kit:
- Call 1-800-610-8734 (Packing Supply)
- Choose your language (1 for English, 2 for Spanish)
- Choose option 1 (For Express Mail, Priority Mail, and Global Express)
- When you reach an agent, request CAREKIT04.
The agent will get your address, and the kit should arrive in 7-10 days. I just requested mine today.
For the latest information about how to send toys to Iraq, please see the original post.
This is fantastic info. I edited the Cool Mom Picks review of your Toys for Iraq program to add this. Thanks, Asha!
The boxes USPS sent me were for Priority Mail, and they all say “for domestic use only” on them. Will I be able to use them to ship toys to this APO address?
I have tons of toys and stuffed animals that I would love to send over. I want them to go to children who have nothing so that they have something and all the programs I’ve found are just going to take them and sell them which I don’t want to do. This sounds perfect, is she still accepting stuff?
Hi Edmay,
I am just wondering if you are still looking for toys for the kids. I have a lot of stuff I could send if you are. Is your address still the same?
Thank you for doing this for the kids,
Karen
I have two large bags of hardly used stuffed animals. Are you still accepting these? I would be delighted to be able to send them to children in Iraq.
Are you in need of gently loved stuffed animals? We have some we’d love to give to the children!
Thanks so much for posting this information, I just called the USPS to request the free military mailing kit to send my stuffed animals to their new homes. Could Michael or Natalie or Edmay please confirm if the donations are still being collected for the children in Iraq.
Our community is involved in a similar effort. Airman Crystal Carper, a 2004 High School graduate, and local resident is currently serving in Iraq. Crystal wanted her hometown to rally together and send needed items for Iraq children who had been injured and were in the base hospital in Balad, Iraq.
Crystal volunteers in the hospital when she’s not preparing her F-16 jet for combat missions in the war-torn region. She says the needs include blankets and single bed sheets for the hospital beds, small stuffed animals and small toys for the children.
“I have always been a really caring person and when I started volunteering at the hospital, I saw those kids and it just broke my heart,” she said.
Items can be mailed to:
Airman Crystal Carper
332 EMXS/MXMMP
Weasel Phase
APO AE 09315-9997
The full article in our local paper is linked below…
http://tinyurl.com/2pttxa
Our community is involved in a similar effort. Airman Crystal Carper, a 2004 High School graduate, and local resident is currently serving in Iraq. Crystal wanted her hometown to rally together and send needed items for Iraq children who had been injured and were in the base hospital in Balad, Iraq.
Crystal volunteers in the hospital when she’s not preparing her F-16 jet for combat missions in the war-torn region. She says the needs include blankets and single bed sheets for the hospital beds, small stuffed animals and small toys for the children.
“I have always been a really caring person and when I started volunteering at the hospital, I saw those kids and it just broke my heart,” she said.
Items can be mailed to:
Airman Crystal Carper
332 EMXS/MXMMP
Weasel Phase
APO AE 09315-9997
The full article in our local paper is linked below…
http://tinyurl.com/2pttxa