Afghan Charity Appeal To Help 'Thank A Soldier'

Feb. 5, 2010 - PRLog -- A charity launched by a group of mums of British soldiers killed in Afghanistan is appealing to supermarkets, manufacturers and suppliers to help them fill boxes of home comforts for troops serving on the front line.

The Afghan Heroes registered charity is looking for companies to donate specific goods that will then be sent to the 10,000 troops on Armed Forces Day in June as part of its ‘Thank A Soldier’ initiative.

Launched last September the charity has grown to become one of the country’s most high profile military support groups.

Its initial objectives were to set up a network of support groups for people who have also lost loved ones and to send a box of home comforts to every front line serving troop in Afghanistan.

The boxes are to include items such as socks, deodorant, toothpaste, puzzle books, sweets and lip balm. The charity is now nearing its packing date where specially made boxes will be filled with items that the mum’s sons said they missed when on the front line.

Prince Harry praised the mums’ courage when he met them at The Sun’s ‘Millie’ awards in December. He said: “As far as what you are doing with this courage – sending parcels to every single serviceman and woman in Afghanistan – I can tell you first hand what a difference it makes. It’s not just what’s inside that counts, it’s also the knowledge people are thinking of you back home.”

On the weekend of 6 and 7 March a team of 70 volunteers will help fill the boxes with the assorted goods which will then be shipped to Afghanistan for distribution to the troops later in June.

Denise Harris, founder and trustee of the charity said: “Since we launched the charity the response has been quite phenomenal and I’d like to thank everyone who has so far raised funds by doing events and everybody who has donated money.

“We’re now focusing our efforts towards the Thank a Soldier initiative and want companies to come forward to help us achieve our objective. The boxes have been ordered and will arrive the day before we do the packing.

“The items the boxes will include are things we just take for granted. If by sending these boxes brings a small amount of comfort to the troops I’m sure this will go a long way to help them get through their time in Afghanistan.

“We shall be buying some goods with money donated by supporters so far but if any businesses have goods they can donate then we would like to hear from them.”


Needing 10,000 of each item the charity is appealing for:


Bic Pens
Wolsey Cotton Socks

Lynx Shower Gels
CDs

Lynx Roll On Deodorant 125ml
DVDs

Colgate Tooth paste
Playing Cards

Wisdom Toothbrush
Antibacterial Wipes

Neutrogena Lip Balm
 

Tic Tac Mints
Stress Balls

Wrigley’s Chewing Gum
Tracker Cereal Bar

Travel Puzzles (Sudoku, Chess, Draughts, Scrabble, Dominos)
 

To help please call 01749 830 100 or e-mail: Info@afghanheroes.org.uk


For further information on the charity please visit www.afghanheroes.org.uk


Follow on Twitter www.twitter.com/afghanheroesUK

Connect on Facebook www.facebook.com/afghanheroes

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Afghan Heroes has been launched by a group of mothers with the aim of helping our service personnel directly on the front line; the families of those who have fallen and our returning service personnel who have witnessed these horrific losses of their fellow comrades.

Release by Empica - http://www.empica.co.uk