From January 15 to February 14, Fascinations will be offering a special chocolate box, featuring Lindor truffles, which not only serve as a gift add-on, but a donation to support our military overseas. All proceeds from the sale of the chocolate boxes, decked out in Valentine’s Day finery, will be donated to PFH. Boxes will be sold for $5.00 at all Fascinations retail locations and online at funlove.com. As an added bonus, customers will receive a $5.00 coupon towards their next purchase in store or online.

“We believe very strongly in showing support to our military personnel and the service they perform for our country, so we wanted to give something back,” stated Pat Jagos, Fascinations general manager. “Valentine’s Day is one of our busiest shopping seasons of the year so it seemed the perfect time to launch a partnership to not only raise funds but awareness for the great work PFH does.”

The boxes of chocolate may be purchased online or at one of Fascinations’ ten Arizona locations. Read more for Arizona locations...

Packages From Home would like to thank everyone who considered PFH their charity of choice in 2011! As we move forward to 2012 let's not forget the sacrifice of the men and women who have served this country. Let's all be thankful for those who arrived home safely from Iraq. It is important that we remain committed to the thousands of men and women still currently serving in our United States Armed Forces, in combat zones. Let's commit to continuing our mission and doing it well.

(This letter came to us from a base in Afghanistan after they had received their shipment from Packages From Home.)

Dear Packages from Home friends and supporters. I'm here at COP Garcia in Afghanistan as a DOD Civilian and my friend gave you guys some names of soldiers here. They couldn't release a full roster for OPSEC reasons, but I provided the names of a few I knew. You sent some great packages.

Seventh grader Ryan Thompson of Surprise has chosen his charity! It's Packages from Home, which sends books, toiletries, socks, and a myriad of other items to our troops overseas. "They are sacrificing so much for us, it just seems like a good thing to send them things from home that we take for granted," Ryan says of his reason for volunteering. "My grandma, Vicki Hunt of Peoria, got me and my sister started volunteering around Peoria when I was about 4 years old. Last Christmas she took us to Packages from Home, and that one really stuck with me. I appreciate what the soldiers do for us, but it makes me sad that they have to be so far away from home. That's why I like to send them things."

Ryan will be giving away books for a donation at next Saturday's Woman's Expo and Craft Fair at Old Town Getaway in Peoria. "I love books myself, and have over 1,000 to give away to anyone who loves to read like I do or who wants to turn around and donate them to a different charity. All I ask is a modest donation to Packages from Home."

 Trop Rock Music Association winner Sam Rainwater will perform at a concert from 4:30 to 7:30 PM Saturday, February 11, 2012 at Toby Keith's I Love this Bar and Grill -- 1065 N. Dobson Rd, Mesa AZ. Joining him will be the Fabulous Flaming Tiki Heads, Jesse Chitwood and the Desert Island Band. He also has a new CD release "Dressing for Life". Please join us for a music and fun packed evening!!! $10 at the door as a donation to Packages from Home to help send packages to our brave deployed soldiers.

Congratulations to Jan Johnson and Judy Hayes for being one of the finalists of the Arizona Cardinals Community Quarterback Award!

Out of approximately 60 entries, Jan and Judy tied as the top finalist with another Arizona non-profit. They were honored at the New Year's Day Cardinals game for their hard work and support of Packages From Home in front of over 60,000 fans. In return for their volunteer-ism, the Arizona Cardinals donated $5,500 to Packages From Home. The donation will help send over 400 care packages to our deployed military and touch the lives of over 2,000 service-members.

The Arizona Cardinals Community Quarterback Award recognizes volunteers in the state of Arizona ages 13 and up who exemplify leadership, dedications and commitment to the non-profit which they serve. A panel of community leaders determine the award recipients and award a total of $20,000 to the charitable organizations which the volunteers dedicate their time.

We often hear the question, “Now that the troops are coming home, what are you guys going to do?” The answer to that question is, “Continue to support our service men and women who are in harm’s way.”

The current government plan is to have all troops out of Iraq by the end of the year, but we still have nearly 100,000 troops in Afghanistan, with more arriving each month, so there is still plenty of support to be given. So long as the US has troops either in danger zones or in areas that support those in the danger zones, we’ll continue to show our support by sending packages. So long as the Middle East is in turmoil and our men and women are helping in the fight for freedom, Packages From Home will be here showing our nation cares about our fighting men and women. We will continue to show them support, and hope that you will too!