IBEW Local 481 (Indianapolis) comes through when the Post Office fails for US Servicemen!

http://www.indystar.com/articles/5/199892-8275-103.html






Mailing gifts to troops overseas? Better hurry!

In change from previous years, post office won't take mail sent to 'Any Service Member.'

By Jon Murray, jon.murray@indystar.com

December 5, 2004


Time is running out to mail holiday cards and gifts to family members and friends serving overseas in the military.

With delivery times ranging from seven days for a letter to 24 days for parcel post, the U.S. Postal Service suggests that holiday-related mail to overseas military addresses be sent as soon as possible.

Mail delivery takes longer in volatile areas such as Iraq and Afghanistan, where troops are widely spread out.

If mail is sent to an APO or FPO address, postage costs the same as if it were sent inside the United States.

In previous years, the military delivered unsolicited cards and care packages addressed to "Any Service Member" to random troops overseas. The government suspended the program this year because of security concerns.

But there are alternatives.

In Indianapolis, Quality Connection, a partnership between electrical contractors and Local 481 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, has launched a program called Thank the Troops to collect cards and letters that express gratitude to service members.

Quality Connection is collecting the cards through Dec. 27 in the lobby of WIBC-AM (1070) on Monument Circle.

The cards will be given to an organization that has permission from the military to send cards to random troops overseas, said Nanci Fields, executive director of Quality Connection. Most of the cards will be delivered in January.

"I don't think we can do enough for the folks there," Fields said.

So far, Hoosiers seem to agree. Fields had set a goal of 25,000 cards, but the group has distributed 75,000 blank cards, many at the request of schools, nursing homes and the public.

The group also accepts letters at the drop-off point on Monument Circle.

Other organizations, such as the USO, also have arrangements with the government to send care packages and other items to unspecified troops.

Call Star reporter Jon Murray at (317) 444-2710.











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