New Program: 'Support Our Troops' care packages

At RVA to Go, we are proud supporters of the United States Armed Forces. Growing up with family members reminiscing about their service in World War II, we have always been aware of how hard our servicemen and women work to defend us. As a result, we decided to create a program to give back.

You can now send a specially-designed RVA to Go box to a soldier overseas. We're calling it a "Support Our Troops" box. If you know a soldier posted abroad, order a Support Our Troops box and put in his/her name and address. If you do not know someone but want to send a care package anyway, just write “Any Soldier” in the To line and “Any Soldier Lane” as the shipping address. We’ll take it from there.  ​

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Sending to “Any Soldier”

Like ‘Letters to Santa,’ you used to be able to send a care package to ‘Any Soldier’ by labeling the box as such. The military would disperse the boxes accordingly. However, in 2003, for safety reasons, the Department of Defense released a notice in their postal guide saying:

Mail addressed to "Any Service Member," or similar wording such as "Any Soldier," "Sailor," "Airman," or "Marine"; "Military Mail", etc., is prohibited. Mail must be addressed to an individual or job title such as "Commander," "Commanding Officer," etc.

Bummer! Luckily, hundreds of military unit leaders have agreed to participate in gift-giving! We send the packages directly to them, and they disperse them to the folks in their unit who have not gotten a care package in a while. So, you CAN order one of our Support Our Troops boxes and put “Any Soldier,” and we’ll take care of the rest.

What’s In the Box?

Our ‘Support Our Troops’ boxes are specially designed with the troops in mind. The military and post office have a million rules about what can and cannot be sent; moreover, the troops themselves have provided insights into what they need (and do not need!) Troops often do not have proper kitchens, so the items we send are ready to eat. They also often ask for multiple or batches of the same item since they share with an entire unit, not just one person. Moreover, we have to be careful with snacks that might melt given the temperatures in places like Afghanistan and the Gulf. We selected the items carefully to ensure they include what troops actually want and to ensure they can survive the often long and hot journey. ​

With those restrictions in mind, we have created two options for the Support Our Troops boxes. Our smaller 5-item box includes Carriage House Cheese Straws, Ames' Hot Southern Honey, a Virginia is for Lovers Red Water Bottle, Whitley's "We're Proud of our Troops!" Virginia Peanuts, and Agriberry Agriblend Jam. If you send a 7-item box, we’ll throw in coffee and tea for the whole unit with Rostov's Richmond Blend Tea and Blanchard's RVA Blend Coffee. These items travel well, are heat-tolerant, last a long time, and can be shared with the whole crew.

We’re releasing this program now in honor of  Veterans’ Day, but it is available year-round. Consider joining us to give a little RVA-style support to some of our nation’s most courageous any time you get the inkling.

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Note: We are not a non-profit organization, so Support Our Troops box purchases are not eligible for a tax exemption.