Each year, The Stano Foundation sends care packages to our troops all over the world. These care packages offer them some love and comfort from home.
This year, the foundation wants to send our troops Christmas in a box.
“We send care packages out every quarter, but for the holiday care packages we wanted to be able to send our heroes overseas Christmas in a box,” said the foundation’s president, Paula Stano. “These military members are not able to celebrate with their families or friends, so we wanted to let them know they were not forgotten and give them a reason to celebrate. For our holiday packages we are wrapping the inside with Christmas wrapping paper and adding in items like Santa hats, ornaments, hot chocolate, candy canes and Christmas lights. Each box will still have the normal 40 to 45 items we send and lots of snacks.”
The Stano Foundation is a nonprofit organization that was founded in June 2015 with the mission to support our Armed Forces, veterans and their families through program-based initiatives focused on enhancing their comfort and quality of life by providing them with a piece of home.
The COVID-19 pandemic hindered the foundation’s ability to fundraise in 2020.
“Since the pandemic, we have not been able to hold many of our fundraisers as most of them were in partnership with event companies held outside and with large crowds,” Stano said. “We have had to find other ways to raise funds, which has not been easy as everyone’s finances have been affected by COVID.”
The Stano Foundation is looking for sponsors from the Brandon community to help it send Christmas in a box to our troops for the upcoming holidays.
“We need items like Santa hats, USB lights, small acrylic paint sets and normal snacks we send, like protein bars, beef jerky, microwaveable mac and cheese cups and cup-o-noodles,” Paula said. “The community can assist by purchasing items from our Amazon Wish List, which can be found at https://stano.org/getinvolved/#supplylist. There is a ‘Supplies Needed’ section and a link to see our supply list on Amazon. If someone would like to purchase an item, we are more than happy to do pickups as well. We can also always use thank-you letters or cards, as these are an item our military members love to receive in their care packages.”
To learn more about The Stano Foundation or to make a monetary donation towards Christmas in a box, visit www.stano.org or email Stano at pstano@stano.org.
