Due to the quantity of photographs our Photo Album has been divided into several files. These photos have been selected to illustrate the complete cycle of the Fan Mail program, from beginning to end:

1. A group of Special Ed students who wrote Christmas fan mail, which was packaged up and sent via priority mail at the U.S. Post Office to Friends of Our Troops;
2. Sorting/mixing all that fanmail in the Friends of Our Troops facility;
3. One of the many loads of priority mail packages taken by Friends of Our Troops to the post office for mailing far and wide to be
4. Distributed to the men and women in every branch of our military--Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard, both in the U.S. and overseas;
5. The same group of Special Ed students with some of the responses they received from all across the U.S. and around the world.

1. Fan mail is written all across the country, by individuals, families, schools, churches, and all sorts of groups, are sent to Friends of Our Troops...

Special Education students who  wrote fan mail.  PTA photo by Sherry Hutchinson

Their school's Christmas fan mail was sent to the Friends of Our Troops Committee to be combined with that written by thousands of others from every part of the U.S.

2. The fan mail is thoroughly inter-mixed (the "sorting & mixing" process) in the Friends of Our Troops facility...

This is how the fan mail was  sorted  in the beginning! (Those grocery bags were easy to fold and store away!)  Terry...

...and Howard, both USN, help  sort the fan mail in a room the Armed Services YMCA affiliate  made  available for work on  that  year's  Christmas mail.

This is how the fan mail is now  sorted/mixed. An Army Family  Member helps.

A table of fan mail all mixed  together and half-way ready to be made  up into outgoing packages.

A group of soldiers who helped  with the sorting in a room the  USO affiliate made available  for that year's Christmas work.  Friends of Our Troops staff photos.

3. Military Mail then sends the Christmas fan mail to more than 1,000 units, bases, hospitals, ships, Armed Services YMCAs, etc...

One outgoing load of fan mail transported on a December Monday morning to the U.S. Post  Office for  mailing.  Friends of Our Troops staff photo.

Once we get started sending out packages in December, loads of mail are taken to the post office daily as we work toward our goal of 1,000+ packages of fan mail.

4. Fan mail is distributed by chaplains, NCOs, and others, to every branch of our military, both in the U.S. and overseas...

5. Some of the service men and women answer the fan mail they receive...

Here again are those terrific Special   Ed students who wrote Christmas fan mail with their school!  PTA photo by Sherry Hutchinson

On the bulletin board is a world map on which the students marked with map tacks the locations in the U.S. and around the world from which responses came. Surrounding the map are copies of some of the thousands of responses received by the school's students.

Recap

To recap, our Photo Album illustrates the complete cycle of the Fan Mail program from beginning to end:

1. Some of the Special Ed students who wrote fan mail;
2. Sorting/mixing of the fan mail by the Friends of Our Troops Committee;
3. Sending out all the resulting packages of fan mail;
4. The wide range of locations to which the fan mail is sent for Christmas (more than 1,000 places across the U.S. and around the world); and, finally--
5. Some of the responses the students received from all those service men and women in all those places.

Yes, some actually do reply to your cards and letters! Each year our office receives many heart-warming letters from our members, telling of the wonderful responses they have received. Reports have been received of long-term pen pal relationships and friendships which have developed. And--though this is not a matchmaking service--we occasionally receive word that a wedding has taken place!

YOUR CARDS AND LETTERS COULD BE SCATTERED THROUGHOUT THOSE 1,000+ PACKAGES OF FAN MAIL FOR THE TROOPS.
CLICK HERE!

 (Please note: All photographs in our Photo Album were either provided by the agency / organization / military service credited, or were taken by Friends of Our Troops staff, specifically in connection with this program. Photos credited to non-governmental agencies originated at the affiliate-level---not from a corporate headquarters. None of the other organizations referenced is affiliated with Fan Mail / Friends of Our Troops; nor is Fan Mail / Friends of Our Troops a part of or subsidized by the taxpayers through any instrumentality of government, at any level.)

Thanks to "Texastwister" Linda for the Military Mail logo with the Christmas motif!

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Cool Christmas Webring site owned by Friends of Our Troops. [Previous] [Next] [Random] [Next 5] [List Sites] Join the Cool Christmas Webring.

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This Santa's Christmas Webring site owned by Friends of Our Troops. Click for the [Previous 5] [Skip Previous] [Previous] [Next] [Next 5] [Random Site] [List Sites] Click here for info on how to join The Santa's Christmas Webring.

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This American Pride site is owned by Friends of Our Troops. Click for the: [ Next | Prev | Skip It ] [ Next 5 | Random | Ring Stats ] Want to join the ring? Click here for info.

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THANK YOU!

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