The Elier Vela Foundation

11/17/2025

I hate to have to do this, but due to my recent breast cancer diagnosis, we will not be doing care packages for Christmas for the first time since the foundation was formed. I am hoping after the first of the year, we will be able to get back to what we do best....send love! THANK YOU ALL FOR THE SUPPORT THIS YEAR!!

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07/04/2025

No better day to spend the afternoon packing care packages!!!! Sending love all around the world!!!

06/08/2025

Elier passed away on June 4th and his birthday is June 13th. It's an emotional beginning of June always for me with my birthday ending the month on the 29th. I don't know if my cousin, Susan Veldman was aware of the dates or just had impeccable timing but all this past week I have been receiving packages from our Amazon wishlist for care packages. Today I received 3 more HUGE boxes!!! She has been a constant support since she found out about the foundation. I started it to get over the grief I was drowning in when he passed & decided to turn that in to something positive I hoped he would be proud of! This coming week I will do the same thing...set aside my emotions of sadness that he is not here and turn them into something I think he would appreciate! I will be working on getting lots of care packages out of here this week!! THANK YOU SO MUCH SUSAN VELDMAN for your unwavering support and PERFECT TIMING!!!

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12/06/2024

Just wanted to give an update! My personal life has certainly changed the past few years while taking care of my parents but I still ship & pack care packages mostly on my own as often as possible. I still love sending them love! This Thanksgiving I missed the big care package event so much that I spent Thanksgiving day packing boxes. I might not have gotten the huge number that we used to do, but I tried to make them all worthwhile. A few days later I received this wonderful note....it's been awhile...."Happy Thanksgiving from USS Theodore Roosevelt Medical Department crew. We are very thankful for the support and care packages you have sent to the whole Medical Team. You have made our 9 months of deployment bearable. You have bright smiles to our faces, excitement and happiness. We appreciate everything that you do to all the military members afloat and ashore based. THANK YOU VERY MUCH." It was wonderful to receive a response!! Thank you to all who help us do what we do!!! Karen

08/21/2024

People often ask if we are still sending care packages and the answer is a big YES!!! Life is crazy at the moment! I am running 3 businesses and taking care of my mom, but missing my dad so much this week! He loved helping me with the care packages and even in his later years, he stayed involved. So tonight in his memory, I packed lots of care packages!!! I don't always get to post everything we are doing & I apologize for that!!! Sending lots of love out tonight to our service members around the world!!! Our most needed supplies right now are men's deodorant, card games, candy & feminine hygiene products. Thanks as always for your love & support!!!

03/31/2024

Lots of care packages packed today & loaded up to go to the post office in the morning! (They are going to hate me! lol) We are now completely out of men's deodorant, toothpaste and getting very low on socks. Our current postage price is $20.15 per package! Today we sent packages to 7 countries and 2 naval ships!!

03/31/2024

Packing care packages for the military today in memory of my daddy & Elier!!! If you know someone deployed overseas who could use some love from America, please private message me their address!

12/10/2023

It is always exciting to come home to find lots of boxes on the porch!!! I know that means we can keep supporting those that are deployed!! Special thanks today to Wendy Howard for your generous gifts!! They will likely be used in the next week or so and I am happy to support those wonderful Americans like your son!!! Please keep her son in your prayers as he is currently deployed!! And any friend of Susan Veldman's is a friend of mine!!

12/02/2023

I have been hard at work most of the evening & am happy to say, lots more packages going out in the morning!! The postal carrier may hate me, but we have lots of love going to several different countries!! Our most needed items at this time is men's deodorant and socks!! I am so happy that thanks to all of the wonderful donations, we have so far been able to fulfill all of their food requests!!! THANK YOU GUYS!!!

11/30/2023

I am blown away by all the packages showing up at my door!! I truly believe with what we have received in the past 2 days we have enough to feed the entire military!! LOL But I know it will go fast!! I have communicated with a couple of different chaplains in the Middle East who distribute care packages to those not receiving any support from home! We will send a bunch to them! It's hard for me still to think about Elier without getting sad or crying, but I focus on this instead! I remember how much the packages I sent to him meant to him & his buddies! I will continue sharing that feeling to those away from home for the holidays and throughout the rest of the year as long as there is breath in me! It humbles me that you share this feeling with me! I love you guys!!!

11/27/2023

Well thanks to Theresa Huff, I am just a crying mess!! You never know who is watching you & standing by cheering you on!!! We have been friends for many, many years and this morning I received a huge box with no note. This afternoon I received 2 more huge boxes with a sweet note from Theresa saying she was so happy I am still doing this! All I can say is, nobody deployed should be low on snacks after we send all of this out!! THERESA, THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!!! I LOVE YOU GIRL!!!

11/22/2023

More care packages went out today!! We have just about used all food items that have been donated so far! That is definitely the most requested item! Thank you for all that have sent packages, they are going in care packages immediately! People usually ask so this year each care package cost $18.48 to mail! It would be more if I went to the post office & paid postage but I have found a 3rd party shipping company that I use for my business & it discounts each box about $2.