Posted By:
MAF Blogger Danny
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Update on Move America Forward shipping Operation:

Move America Forward volunteers deserve a huge “THANK YOU” today after helping to ship 2,000 packages to APO and FPO addresses this week as well as helping receive a large shipment of wet wipes and Gatorade for the troops comfort and enjoyment.

Boxes were stacked outside during the day so more volunteers could work inside

Volunteers worked all week long packing up box after box of US Postal Service large flat-rate boxes. People came from all over the San Francisco bay area or the greater Sacramento area to pack care packages for US Troops in Iraq and Afghanistan at Move America Forward’s care package facility in downtown Sacramento at the RetroLodge business park.

As you can see, volunteers FILLED this room with boxes ready to ship

The army of MAF Volunteers tirelessly stuffed wet wipes, fans to keep cool, powdered Gatorade, sticks of deodorant, bags of Jelly Belly jelly beans, Bug Buttons, House of Jerky gourmet beef jerky, sun block, lib balm, coffee and cookies into the 720 cubic inch containers.

Volunteers Jo and Cliff from Davis, CA helped affix customs declarations to care packages

The day before shipping, Tuesday August 5, volunteers like Jo and Cliff here spent hours helping me stick US Customs Declarations onto the tops of boxes, affix the $10.95 stamp, and of course, the recipients name and address in Iraq or Afghanistan. As you can see, the room was practically filled from floor to ceiling with un-processed boxes at the beginning of the day.

It is a painstaking process to fit over 2,000 postal boxes into a single room, let alone take each box in that room, affix three labels to each, and reposition it so that you know which monolithic pile of boxes has been process and which ones still need labels!

Volunteers and MAF staff stayed up late (until 3:30 AM!) to finish the job, but they got the job done! When the post office arrived at 9:30 on Wednesday to drop off 8 large cages for us to fill, it was clear that we were going to need more. It took stops from two MORE postal trucks in order to get the whole shipment out the door.

views from the 2nd floor as the Post Office trucks dropped off and picked up boxes in 11 ton trucks

Then at the same time, MAF Volunteers were helping to receive a large shipment of moist wipes to help keep the troops cool and clean in the hot sun. Also arriving were a shipment of Gatorade and coffee for the troops to enjoy. Altogether we filled up our storage room with 11 pallets of shipped product…all of which are headed for Iraq after MAF Volunteers pack them up this week!

Volunteers breaking down pallets of wet wipes waiting to be squeezed into care packages for our troops!

After it was all over, there was MUCH MORE space in that room, we even fit a couch in it where a tired volunteer takes a nap

Keep checking MOVEAMERICAFORWARD.ORG for more updates and KEEP SUPPORTING OUR TROOPS!