LEBANON, Pa. (Nov. 17, 2014) – Royer’s Flowers & Gifts and the American Red Cross are teaming up this year to deliver “Holiday Mail for Heroes.”
From Nov. 17 through Dec. 5, Royer’s stores will collect holiday cards and coloring pages that will be delivered to patients at the Lebanon VA Medical Center. Red Cross volunteers will organize the cards and tie them with ribbons for hand delivery to the veterans.
Cards may be dropped off during normal business hours. Coloring pages are available in all Royer’s stores or can be downloaded at www.royers.com/holidaymail.
The Red Cross, which created the national “Holiday Mail for Heroes” program, offers these guidelines for preparing cards:
• Include messages of support and thanks;
• Use generic salutations such as “Dear Service Member” as cards addressed to specific individuals can not be delivered through this program;
• Don’t include letters or inserts such as photos;
• Don’t include email or home addresses on the cards: the program is not meant to foster pen pal relationships;
• Sign your name to them;
• Refrain from choosing cards with glitter as it can aggravate health issues of ill and injured warriors.
The American Red Cross shelters, feeds and provides emotional support to victims of disasters; supplies nearly half of the nation’s blood; teaches lifesaving skills; provides international humanitarian aid; and supports military members and their families. The Red Cross is a charitable organization — not a government agency — and depends on volunteers and the generosity of the American public to perform its mission. For more information, please visit www.redcross.org or blog.redcross.org.
Based in Lebanon, Royer’s (www.royers.com) has 17 stores in Berks, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon and York counties. Sister company Stephenson’s Flowers & Gifts has one store in Harrisburg.
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