For the price of a first-class stamp, and a spare moment and an extra greeting card, you can brighten a current or former service member's holiday.  (If you don't have a card, you can even download a free one).  Groups or families can also send multiple cards in one package.

The Holiday Mail For Heroes campaign is a joint effort sponsored by the American Red Cross and Pitney Bowes, with the goal of distributing one million holiday cards to service members, veterans and family members in the U.S. and overseas. 

  The Red Cross began this program in 2007, at the request of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, to handle the overwhelming number of cards sent to wounded service members.  This year, the scope has been expanded to include military personnel serving in harm's way, veterans and families. 

Security measures are much tighter these days, so Pitney Bowes screens each card for hazardous materials, and then Red Cross volunteers review, sort, and forward each card, so it's imperative that all cards be postmarked by December 10th to allow processing time.   

While there are still well-meaning emails circulating suggesting cards be sent to "A Recovering U.S. Soldier" care of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the hospital is not accepting these cards (we went to Walter Reed's site to verify this.)

Please ensure all cards are postmarked by December 10th; cards postmarked later will be returned to the sender (and we don't want to see your efforts wasted).   For the mailing address and specific guidelines, please visit the Holiday Mail For Heroes' web page.  (If you're also interested in purchasing care packages or gift or phone cards, you'll find links there, too, as these items can't be included in the holiday cards).   

Ken and Sandy Wickham are seasoned Realtors in beautiful Colorado Springs, CO.  To contact them, call 719-534-7919 or 899-699-8500 ext. 1120. 

www.wickhome.com