A Soldier's Hands

09/21/2026

🎉Thank you, Smarties®!

We learned last week that for the *second* time, Smarties Candy Company is donating a very generous amount of Smarties® candies to A Soldier's Hands to include in our packages for the troops.

One of America's favorite candies going out to our deployed troops!

We are so grateful to Smarties Candy Company!

09/11/2026

Today especially, we remember the lives lost on September 11th, 2001, and we honor the first responders and ordinary citizens who rushed in to help, many at the cost of their own lives. Heroes, all.

09/08/2026

Join us?
Check out The Carry Load website to see if a cemetery near you is participating? You can join the A Soldier’s Hands team from any state.

We need YOUR help.
Our goal is 20,000 volunteers nationwide on the National Day of Service & Remembrance—and every registration brings us one step closer.
Make your commitment today and honor those we lost and serve in their memory.
Register here: https://carrytheload.org/patriot-day/registration/
#9/11

09/03/2026

👋 Hi there!

Just a quick message to let you know that A Soldier's Hands has an email list we'd love you to sign up for. Link in the comments.

I like to keep everyone up-to-date about what we're doing, share some stories, and talk more about opportunities for you to join us in our mission to support our troops.

We do post a lot of that information on Facebook, but we don't control whether or not you see it, so please come join us in email! 📨

Meanwhile, here is a quote from a letter of thanks we received from a grateful service member some years ago. Your support means everything.

--Trish

08/30/2026

Coming to you from Japan by way of Illinois!

🤝For four years, I've had the pleasure of visiting The Suter Company, Inc. in Sycamore, IL, to write letters for the troops with the wonderful employees there.

This year, I learned that one of those employees, Javier Gonzalez, has a son-in-law (Jose Jimenez-Sanchez) serving abroad with the USAF in Japan.


It made my heart glad to connect with and support a "family member" of the Suter Company -- where service is part of their DNA.

🍕🖊️💌 We were so happy, too, that a few members from Altrusa of Dekalb County and the 10+10+10 Club were able to join us for pizza and letter writing. It was wonderful to see members of these clubs in person and share a meal and some laughter together.

I was grateful to be able to support a unit directly connected to this amazing company, and I'm happy to share some unit pictures with you below! 📷💙

--Trish

08/28/2026

TODAY, thanks to our donors and volunteers, A Soldier's Hands served the following units with care packages:

** A beharioral Health Crisit Unit serving in the Middle East. We adopted the unit and added an additional 150 gifts. These extra care packages will offered to those troops seeking care. GRATEFUL to be able support.

** The medical team on the USS George HW Bush

** A blackhawk unit of 45.

Thanks to everyone who contributed in whatever way. We are grateful and honored to be able to serve those that are serving us.

08/19/2026

I have so many stories to share about the amazing and talented crafters from...

🎨✂️Crafting with a Purpose🧵🧶

that you can look forward to seeing lots of great pictures of the beautiful work this group creates for us to include in our care packages. Here's a sneak peek.

🤝 How We Met:

We met thanks to another of our partners, Ship Thrifty. When Crafting with a Purpose reached out to Ship Thrifty in search of groups to support, I raised ASH's hand... and the rest is history.

ASH has received so many beautiful cards, pocket hugs, puzzle pages and so much more from this creative and giving group; we are so grateful for their generosity.

💌 What They Do:

Below are some pictures - creator names in the caption.

Some of these are blank cards for deployed service members to send home, and others are beautiful cards our volunteers use to write letters of thanks and support to the units we serve.

👉 Are You a Crafter?

If you'd like to know more about 🎨 Crafting with a Purpose ✂️, please see the link in the comments and request to join their Facebook group.

Enjoy the pictures!

08/16/2026

Delighted to share a couple of photos from a candy-bagging session last week.

Thank you to our volunteers from OLLI -- the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Penn State. We are so honored to work with this fantastic group of volunteers.

So, now I have a question for you...

🙋‍♀️ How would you do it?

With the new customs rule that our candy bags must weigh *exactly 2.0 oz*, I've noticed two different approaches when our wonderful packaging volunteers get going:

🍬 Team Set-it & Go:

Weigh one perfect 2‑oz bag and repeat that combo for every
bag until the exact mix runs out.

🍬 Team Freestyle:

Weigh each bag individually and make a fresh candy mix every time.

Which team are you on? Inquiring minds want to know! Let me know in the comments.

--Trish

08/12/2026

😊 In follow-up to yesterday's post, we'd like to draw your attention to a close-up of this sailor from the group shot -- big shout out for holding a letter in one hand, a star from a retired flag in another, and a lip balm with the teeth.

We appreciate the effort to showcase items from your care package, sir! 👏