San Diego, California Talk Radio Station - 760 KFMB AM - 760kfmbJoin Mike in packing care packages for our troops!

On Friday, September 23^rd, 2011 NBC 7 San Diego is partnering with Operation Caregiver to hold a donation drive at Horton Plaza, behind the NBC building at 255 Broadway, downtown San Diego.  We are inviting the community to help send a bit of comfort to the service men and women who are stationed "in harm's way" in the war zones of Afghanistan.

Operation Caregiver is a fantastic grassroots organization, established in 2004 and native to San Diego.  OC provides care packages, called "Caregiver Kits™" that consist of 15 items of basic hygiene and comfort, to U.S. troops that are "far from the flagpole" and at the "tip of the spear" in Afghanistan. 

NBC 7 San Diego will be helping to promote this event on newscasts in the weeks preceding the event, encouraging the public to drive to the NBC/Horton Plaza, to drop off, one or more, of 3 selected items from our Caregiver Kits™:  The items are:  1) Gold Bond Medicated Powder 10oz., 2)  SPF 50 Sun block 8oz.,  3)  OFF! Insect Repellent 6oz. Scent free.   (No Aerosols!)

It will be an exciting daylong event, starting at 6:00 a.m. and continuing until 6:00 p.m.  The USMC will have 2 Humvees set up on the square along with a mock-FOB (Forward Operating Base) manned by 12 Marines from the 4^th Tank Battalion.  There will also be about a dozen Marines from the Wounded Warrior Battalion to lend their support.  A USMC Color Guard will be presenting the Colors at 8:00 a.m.  At noon (tentatively,) City Councilman, Kevin Faulconer, will be presenting OC with a Proclamation declaring 9/23 as "Operation Caregiver Day, " and Congressman Duncan Hunter's office will be presenting a certificate declaring the same at 8:00am.  Bare Back Grill will be providing a full lunch spread for the Marines and volunteers…ok, and Mike.  We will also have an Irish Pipes and Drums band stop by to join us in the fun and play from 5pm to 6pm.   We will have tables set up where kids can draw pictures and anyone can write short, letters of encouragement, that will be included in the Caregiver Kits that we will be shipping out in October.  (We are scheduled to pack up 1,250 kits on Saturday, October 29^th at the USMC 4^th Tank Battalion in Miramar at about 9:00am.  Please extend an my invitation to Mike to attend this truly fantastic, heart-warming event.  It is always a blast!)  Additionally, we will have enough product set up on tables to pack 50 Full Caregiver Kits (15 items in each.) Mike is welcome to walk along this "packing procession" and pack up a Kit to send to a soldier.  With the Humvees and mock-FOB in the background, it will make for a good photo op.   A lane of Broadway Circle will be shut down for the community to drop off donations and learn more about this organization.

We have a humble beginning.  It started when we asked a Marine Sergeant Major friend of ours that was deploying to Iraq in 2004, "what can we send you?"  And he replied, some home-baked cookies would be nice……….long pause…….(we're thinking, no problem)……..then he finishes….."for 250 of my Marines!"  There began Operation Caregiver.

Most Americans don't realize that soldiers are responsible for the purchase of all of their own personal hygiene products, including toothbrushes, toothpaste, sunscreen, bug spray, ointments, chap stick, etc.  The military basically provides them with food, water, guns, ammo and a paycheck.  The soldiers at forward bases and outposts rely on "mobile pharmacies" (Mobile Px's,) run by independent contractors, to re-supply them.   Unfortunately many of these forward bases and outposts are too dangerous for Mobile Px's to safely reach, and soldiers run out of these basic hygiene items before re-supply is possible.  That is where Operation Caregiver comes in; we deliver our Caregiver Kits™ via U.S. Mail to a command level Sergeants Major who then distributes the Kits to the troops who need it most.

Thank you for helping to serve these brave warriors!

Web links with promo's to the 9/23 Event can be found at:  http://www.operationcaregiver.org/

And:  http://www.nbcsandiego.com/on-air/community/Operation-Caregiver.html

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