How long does it take, what happens when it gets there, and just who gets these packages?
There are basically two ways to send a box of home. Our team collects individual names and addresses of deployed service members and forwards them to SHFM members or friends who’d like to send an individual box with a personal note to that Airman, Soldier, Sailor, or Marine. There are some forward bases that are reluctant to release the individual names, so we have another avenue that works quite well.
We have connectivity to bases from which deployments originate. We communicate with a point of contact at that base, who then forwards us the name of the point of contact at the forward base and we establish communication with (typically) that senior enlisted person or NCO or Lieutenant who has responsibility for the welfare of the company members. We then have all the packages sent to that person’s attention, and they in turn distribute the care packages or their contents in the fashion that suits them best. Sometimes it’s by use of a community table, and other times care packages are handed out to service members. In all cases, we include a thank you letter to the member, sometimes addressed to ”Dear Airman” or “Dear MP of the 39th Company,” for example.
All of our boxes get mailed from your home post office, to an APO or FPO (Army Post Office or Fleet Post Office) address. The box then travels to Chicago or Dallas to a postal clearing house handling military mail, and they forward to the appropriate military base overseas.
The typical length of time from your home post office to the forward base is about two to three weeks. In the very austere locations, it can take a little longer.
Although we try to concentrate on the younger service members, the 18 to 24 age group, E 2 to E 6, at times we receive names of young NCOs and officers so we include them as well.