Tag: military care package

We Salute You on the National Day of the Deployed

Jenifer Calandra

Observe the Day by Sending a Military Care Package

On October 26, the military acknowledges the National Day of the Deployed, a day to thank all military serving outside the U.S., and their families who hold down the fort back home.

Soldiers don’t get to choose their deployment locations or durations. They sacrifice their own freedoms as they work to defend the United States and its allies overseas – which is why we think deployed troops are pretty deserving of recognition on this day, and all the rest.

How the Day Got Its Start

The first National Day of the Deployed was acknowledged in 2006. Shelle Michaels Aberle approached John Hoeven, governor of her state of North Dakota, to request a proclamation for a day to honor the military members actively serving outside the confines of the country. Hoeven thought it was a great idea, so he issued a formal proclamation to declare October 26 as National Day of the Deployed. The date is special; it was the birthday of Aberle’s cousin, who was actively serving in Iraq when the idea came to her.

In 2011, Hoeven was elected a state senator and sponsored a resolution to designate the day across the country. The resolution passed unanimously, and today, all 50 states observe the holiday. Although it isn’t a federal holiday, in which banks and schools close, it is still an important one to us at My Hero Crate. Why? It’s literally our job to make sure America’s troops get the thanks they deserve!

How You Can Celebrate

The National Day of the Deployed is more of a symbolic holiday than one that calls for elaborate celebration and camaraderie – although if you want to celebrate it like that, we’d love to be invited! Simpler ways you can join in on acknowledging the importance of the day include:

-Posting on social media, thanking our deployed troops for their service, and explaining the importance of the day. If you have a loved one who is deployed, include their photo in your post so your friends and followers can put a face to the day. This will help create an emotional connection, which may encourage others to celebrate the day, too, even if they don’t know anyone currently deployed.

-Volunteer with an organization that benefits deployed soldiers. There’s always something you can do to brighten the days of our soldiers working and living abroad. Some nonprofit agencies assemble care packages to send to deployed troops, while others organize letter-writing campaigns to send them well-wishes. If either of these sound like fun to you, do a bit of quick internet research to find an organization near you.

–Send your deployed military hero a care package or two. They can keep the treats for themselves, or share with the rest of their unit. Because shipping from My Hero Crate is always free to DPO, FPO, and APO addresses, even those overseas, it’s an affordable way to connect with your loved ones without having to find the contents of a snack box or gift box on your own. Also, all our snacks are from American distributors, and we’re an American company, based in Ohio. Our dedication to our country is obvious – and we want to help you celebrate your favorite hero.

How to Order a Military Care Package

My Hero Crate makes it easy to send a gift to your deployed soldier overseas. Follow these simple steps:

1. Visit MyHeroCrate.com. Click “Shop” in the top menu.

2. Choose the care package you think your deployed soldier will love the most. We even have snack boxes for special dietary needs, and gift boxes designed to inspire relaxation in our deployed heroes.

3. Once you find the package you like, select whether you’d like to send a one-time gift, or keep ‘em coming month after month by subscribing. Your soldier will get a brand-new snack box, thanks to AutoPay, so you never have to remember to schedule a delivery.

4. Check out! Just like you’d check out on any website, My Hero Crate makes it easy to pay, and to tell us exactly where to send your special gift. You can even include a custom gift message to send well-wishes to your love done.

It really is as easy as that! Start shopping today, so your gift arrives by the National Day of the Deployed on October 26.

Editor’s Note: This post has been updated for accuracy. It was originally published on October 21, 2020.

How to Celebrate July 4th While Deployed

Jenifer Calandra

Start Dropping Hints to Your Family to Send a Military Care Package from My Hero Crate

Independence Day is the penultimate American holiday and celebration of our freedoms. But when you’re deployed over July 4th, you and your buddies have to find unique ways to celebrate outside the United States.

If your station doesn’t have something planned for you, like a USO show, or special meal, make it your personal mission to turn what would be an average day into an exciting one, full of all-American treats and pastimes.

Consider these ideas to kick off your brainstorm.

Make a Playlist of Patriotic Songs

You have the technology, so put it to work. Create a playlist full of classic American favorites and let them play on shuffle on July 4. Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA,” the iconic “Stars and Stripes Forever” march, and “America the Beautiful” are three tunes that come to mind.

Not sure which songs to include? Gather a few buddies to build out the playlist. Their input could help you put together the soundtrack to a memorable Independence Day.

Play a Pick-up Game of Your Favorite American Sport

There’s nothing more American than football or baseball. Pay tribute to the United States with an exciting game of two-hand touch football or go six innings of baseball with your unit.

Pick team captains to select their teams, map out your playing field, and recruit someone to serve as the umpire or referee. Assemble a trophy out of odds and ends and present it to the winning team during an elaborate ceremony at the end of the game.

Host a Patriotic Open Mic Night

While you might not have a microphone on hand, gather your unit and ask people to share their favorite song or poem, or put together skits to celebrate July 4.

Recite the preamble to the Constitution. Play acoustic guitar and have everyone sing along to American music hits. When everyone is involved, no one ends up in the spotlight, and you can all share a beautiful holiday together.

Reminisce

If you are unable to help put together an activity to celebrate Independence Day while deployed, take a moment during down time to ask your buddies about their favorite July 4th memories. Maybe they used to attend a fireworks show with their family, or the aunt always brought a tasty potato salad to the cookout.

Sharing these memories can help you feel closer to your loved ones when they’re so far away.

Write a Letter

If you’re going to be away from your loved ones over July 4th, sit down to write a letter to them and mail it in advance of the holiday. In your letter, describe your plans for the day, or talk about times you’ll always remember from past Independence Day celebrations.

If you have kids, send them a drawing for once. Sketch out your family spending time together for the holiday, complete with fireworks, BBQ, and hugs. Your artwork will become something they treasure until they get to see you again.

Share Your Military Care Package

Did your family send you an armed forces monthly care package for July? Share your spoils with a few friends to make the day special. Sit down for a board game, munch on tasty snacks together, and generally spread joy. 

We Deliver Monthly Military Care Packages Around the World!

If you’re a lucky military member who gets hero care packages from My Hero Crate, or if you’re the thoughtful family member who sends them, then take the opportunity to spread the word about us to other families with soldiers and other military members who are deployed around the world.

Standard shipping is always free to APO, DPO, and FPO mailing addresses, and we make sure our monthly subscription boxes contain new and unique items to help pass the time and enrich the days. It’s like sending your love in our signature green box. 

Share this link with other loved ones in the military to help them spread joy with conveniently pre-packaged gift boxes for their heroes.

Five Reasons Our New Spicy Snack Box is the Perfect Father’s Day Gift

Jenifer Calandra

Salute Your Military Dad with One of Our Gift Ideas for Service Members

Our newest snack box is forged in fire and will make your dad sweat bullets this Father’s Day! Spice up gift-giving for your Army, Navy, or Air Force dad with our Spicy Snack Box, now available at My Hero Crate!

All of dad’s favorite snacks are in this fire-breathing military care package, including Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, Taki’s Fuego, Lay’s Flamin’ Hot, Spicy Doritos, Planter’s Heat Peanuts, two bottles of Pepper Nectar Hot Sauce, and more. A total of 17 items will set your dad’s mouth ablaze — while My Hero Crate makes Father’s Day gift ideas no sweat! 

Here are five really great reasons our new Spicy Snack Box is the perfect Father’s Day gift!

The price of our Spicy Snack Box includes shipping.

Have you ever put tons of items in your cart on a small-business website only to realize that you’re being asked to pay a prohibitively-expensive shipping fee? That’s not the case at My Hero Crate. The prices of each of our military gift boxes include standard shipping, even to FPO, DPO, and APO addresses worldwide.

When you add our Spicy Snack Box to your cart, you know exactly how much your dad’s gift will cost you — and really, he’s worth it! 

The flavors in our new snack box are WILD!

You could give a bland gift this Father’s Day, like yet another tie or a #1 Dad coffee mug. Or, you could give a gift with some flavor and pizzazz. Our Spicy Snack Box has both, and comes packaged in our signature camo gift box, which is perfect on its own, or you can add your own wrapping paper. 

It’s a Father’s Day gift like none other.

We’re betting your dad has never received a box of impossibly spicy snacks as a Father’s Day gift before. In fact, we’d wager that he doesn’t know any other dads in his military unit who have received such a gift, either!

My Hero Crate specializes in unique gift ideas and simple gift-giving for military members, and our new Spicy Snack Box is no exception. Dad not into spicy stuff? Choose from our selection of other great Father’s Day gift ideas instead, like our Men’s R&R Gift Box or our Movie Night Snack Box. 

Our military snack boxes are useful and usable.

Sure, you could send Dad a gift during deployment that he has to haul around or set aside for safekeeping among his personal effects. Here’s hoping he has room! Or, you could send your dad a consumable gift that he’ll love and can share with his colleagues at his duty station. Our snack boxes, especially our Spicy Snack Box, are like that!

Your military dad’s gift is fully edible, meaning there’s nothing left to carry home at the end of deployment, and he can use it to make friends and bolster his meals, too.

Our snack boxes also are perfect for the dad who has everything. You’re never sure what to get him because he definitely already owns anything you’ve ever thought of to get him as a gift. Well, he may have eaten spicy snacks before, but no one can say no to more taste-bud blazin’ treats!

For every Spicy Snack Box you buy for your dad, we’ll donate to a veteran-backed non-profit organization.

Part of our mission at My Hero Crate is to make people smile and feel loved and happy. One way we do that is by donating a portion of the proceeds for every military care package we sell to a veteran organization. It’s our way of giving back to important people who protect our freedoms.

Send a Father’s Day Gift from My Hero Crate

Show dad how much you love him, whether he’s at home or deployed, by sending him our Spicy Snack Box. It’s easy to place your order. Just tell us where to send it — anywhere in the world — and we’ll make sure he gets it by Father’s Day. 

Working In The Winter

Michael Kidd

A Life Outside

Most people only have a vague idea of what servicemembers actually do day in and day out. Images of the men and women of the US armed forces tend to be centered around battles, boot camp, and maybe even a half-remembered episode of JAG. And although all of those things do happen, aside from JAG officers who look like Catherine Bell and David Elliot, they only tell a small part of the story. In order for any of the exciting heroics people associate with the military to happen, a lot of preparation must come first. And most of that preparation happens outside.

Train as You Fight

To begin with, it’s important to remember that the military is basically always training. They train with firearms. They do physical fitness training. They run obstacle courses. They conduct drills, field ops, and all manner of training exercises to ensure their bodies are ready when they’re needed. On my scariest day in Afghanistan, I could tell you almost word for word my entire panicky inner monologue. I was in the kind of situation where people freak out, and I was freaking out. Without proper training, I would have been a liability. I would have gotten myself hurt or killed at best, somebody else hurt or killed at worst. But because of the constant training, my body was able to act independently of my panicking brain. I didn’t need to think about what I needed to do. I just did it automatically while I was losing it.

Command Maintenance

The only thing that might be more important than constantly training is constantly maintaining equipment. A panicking soldier can drive away from a firefight. A broken vehicle can not. Every day, the military is inspecting, maintaining, and repairing equipment. Everyone from the official mechanics to the desk sergeant of the S-1 has had to do their part in maintaining the equipment that has been assigned to them. 

Wintertime

Almost all of this work is done outdoors, regardless of the weather. A common NCO joke is that “if it ain’t raining, we ain’t training,” meaning that unless training is happening in a torrential downpour, then it doesn’t really count as true training. During the winter, that means soldiers are out all day in the cold. Military-issued fleece caps and jackets, as well as long underwear, help to keep service members warm as they work. There are two major challenges this causes though. 

Limits of Protective Gear

First of all, not all of the work is conducive to protective winter gear. Some nuts, bolts, and screws need to be screwed into hard to locate places soldiers have to find by feel. That means no gloves. And if it is wet at all where a soldier is, whether by snow, ice, or rain, the protective gear becomes useless quickly.

Cold Weather, Hot Work

The other challenge is that the gear that keeps a service member warm can cause them to overheat when doing physical labor. If it isn’t safe to remove a jacket due to it being below freezing, a soldier has to deal with all the problems of hot weather and cold weather all at once.

Helping Our Heroes

Winter is a tough time for our men and women in uniform. They will have to work in the cold, all season long. Sending them a nice gift of tea or coffee could go a long way towards helping them get warm after a long day’s work. And a nice soothing bath can warm them up and let them fix any of the skincare issues the cold causes. Our heroes are working hard this winter. Help them take care of themselves with My Hero Crate.

How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work?

Jenifer Calandra

Try It Out the Next Time You Receive an Armed Forces Gift Box

Mindfulness is rooted in a Buddhist concept from about 2,600 years ago and has only recently found popularity in today’s psychotherapy world. While very few studies strongly support the benefits of mindfulness, those who practice it say it has helped their tolerance, concentration, mental clarity, and kindness toward oneself.

Proponents of mindfulness say that its related meditation technique can help former military members cope with the emotional and mental health ramifications of enlistment, deployment, and war. It’s easy to practice, with no requirements for equipment. You truly need only your mind.

What is Mindfulness?

The American Psychological Association defines mindfulness as “a psychological state of awareness,” but more specifically, “a moment-to-moment awareness of one’s experience without judgment.”

In simplest terms, when you practice mindfulness, you simply focus your awareness on what you’re sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpreting or judging. During mindfulness, you can practice relaxing breathing techniques or use guided imagery. Researchers believe that mindfulness meditation can help practitioners decrease rumination — dwelling on negative thoughts or ideas — help regulate emotions, and reduce stress. 

How Can I Practice Mindfulness?

Mindfulness practitioners use a variety of methods, the easiest of which you can do during normal daily activities!

Start by simply paying attention. Slow down and notice things with all five of your senses. Focusing on your breathing also can help you process negative thoughts and relax.

Try practicing mindfulness while eating a snack from your military care package from My Hero Crate. Open your favorite treat, and take your first bite. Hold the bite in your mouth and pay attention first to how it tastes. Focus all your attention on it.

Then, start to notice the texture. Move your tongue over it.

Bite into it. How does the crunch or other sensation feel against your teeth? Notice whether the texture changes. Feel the temperature of the food.

Return to focusing on the flavor. Don’t try to identify what the flavor is; simply notice it.

Repeat the process with each bite, for as long as you’d like.

How Often Should I Practice Mindfulness?

You can practice mindfulness any time, anywhere you wish, especially simple types of meditation like mindfully eating.

The more often you practice mindfulness, the more naturally it will come to you. Set aside time every day. It’s a valid form of self care that takes little resources, so it’s a great addition to your mental health care program. 

Try Mindfulness Techniques As You Open Your Monthly Military Gift Box Subscription

Now that you know how to practice mindful eating, you can apply mindfulness techniques to other activities. As you open your monthly military care package subscription, find ways to practice mindfulness with each item.

Over time, you just might notice a change in how you feel — hopefully for the better.

Learn more about our monthly care package subscription, and be sure to thank your loved one who sends you these military gifts!

Our Military Care Package Company’s Donations to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank

Jenifer Calandra

We Also Donate to Veteran-Backed Organizations Every Month!

My Hero Crate was founded to help military families share love and care with their loved ones stationed far from home. We wanted to find unique ways to bring joy, simply because we care about other people.

One way we do this every month is to donate a portion of our proceeds to a veteran-backed organization each month. But we’ve found that, as a care package company, we can do even more to help local families. Part of our mission of caring is to do great work in our local community of Cleveland, Ohio, and beyond. We want to help our city and surrounding areas as best as we can with what we have.

Although our founders and team may not personally experience food insecurity, we learned that many people worldwide do, and don’t know where their next meal may come from. In the area that the Greater Cleveland Food Bank serves, 1 in 5 people experience food insecurity. Last year alone, the food bank served 404,000 people in northeast Ohio, providing almost 57 million pounds of food.

We realized we, too, could help provide relief to those who were struggling by supporting our local food bank here in Cleveland and other nonprofits on similar missions. That’s why we choose to donate time, money, and food as often as we can.

2021 Donations of Our Armed Forces Care Packages and Military Snack Boxes

So far this year, we’ve donated time, money, and food to our philanthropy beneficiaries. Most notably, we’ve assembled and given away military snack boxes to those in need, including to civilians in our local area.

In total, My Hero Crate. has donated the equivalent of 76 food care packages and gift sets to a variety of organizations, like the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. Across all three of our sister organizations, we’ve donated a total of 337 snack boxes and care packages.

For My Hero Crate, our most-often donated care package was the Military Microwave Care Package, which contains quick, nonperishable entree options for all three meals of the day, which could be easily supplemented with fresh, nutritious produce from the local food bank. This care package also contains delicious snack items, because everyone deserves an indulgence, too! 

What Comes Next for Military Care Package Donations?

The year isn’t done yet, and we can’t wait to see the unique opportunities we’ll have to continue our mission of helping those in need, both military members and civilians alike.

What is the Difference Between Memorial Day and Veterans Day?

Jenifer Calandra

They Both Honor Military Members, But for Different Reasons

There are so many American holidays centered around patriotism and ways to thank military members for their service. Two of these days, Memorial Day and Veterans Day, are often easily confused or misunderstood altogether.

Both are Federal holidays. Both honor the military. But they’re actually quite different. You’ll want to understand the nuances of both before wishing your military hero a “Happy Memorial Day” or “Happy Veterans Day,” interchangeably. 

Memorial Day – the Last Monday in May – Honors Those Who Died During Their Military Service

Memorial Day got its start just after the Civil War, when people would leave floral arrangements on the graves of fallen soldiers. In 1866, Waterloo, New York, made this a formal ritual called “Decoration Day,”  because of its focus on decorating graves of soldiers.

In 1868, the first ever National Decoration Day took place at Arlington National Cemetery. By the late 1800s, people across the country were acknowledging the day. The holiday was renamed Memorial Day, because it is a day in memory of fallen military service members.

You can, of course, celebrate Memorial Day any way that you’d like, but it’s best to use the day to pay respects to our country’s heroes who lost their lives during their service. It may not be the best idea to give gifts for veterans or living military members on this day, however, as it is meant to honor past heroes.

Veterans Day – on November 11 – Honors All Military Members

Veterans Day is another Federal holiday focused on military members. Unlike Memorial Day, though, Veterans Day is a day to celebrate and be thankful for anyone who has served in the U.S. military. 

First observed in 1919 as Armistice Day – the first anniversary of the end of World War I – Congress made it a Federal holiday in 1938. President Eisenhower changed the name of the holiday to Veterans Day in 1954.

Veterans Day is the best holiday to send a gift for military members and veterans to thank them for their service. 

Gifts for Veterans and Military Members

To help your loved one celebrate Veterans Day, send them a military care package from My Hero Crate! Our one-time snack boxes or monthly subscription boxes are ideal gifts to bring good cheer and motivation to your loved one serving away from home. 

They’re also great gifts for veterans, who will remember the happiness and contentment they felt when they received care packages from home while they were deployed.

Order your military member gifts from My Hero Crate, and get free shipping anywhere in the U.S., and to any APO, FPO, or DPO mail box in the world. Best of all, we’ll make a donation to a non-profit, veteran-backed organization for each care package purchased!

Shop today to find the perfect military gift box for your hero, or sign them up for a monthly subscription box for armed forces members. 

Put Your Best Foot Forward with These Foot Care Tips

Jenifer Calandra

Our Military Care Packages Help Your Loved One Keep Going

At My Hero Crate, we’re big believers in efforts that promote overall health and wellness. And because our feet are the foundation of our bodies — quite literally — we think it’s important to help your loved ones in the military take care of theirs.

Make sure they have the tools to take care of their feet by sending them one of our care packages with foot care necessities inside and encourage them to seek help with foot care while they’re deployed, on base, and away from home.

Here’s our not-so-comprehensive but important, basic advice on taking care of your feet. It’s easy, and doesn’t really require any special tools.

Basic Foot Care

For general foot care, follow these tips to help prevent injury, infection, pain, or skin issues. Of course, ask your doctor about your feet if you need medical advice.

-Rucks and other physical activity can leave your feet with cuts, sores, swelling, or even infected toenails. Check your feet every day for signs of injury or infection, especially after performing activities that stress them.

-Clean and moisturize your feet. You don’t need to soak your feet or apply moisturizer between your toes, however, which will dry them out or cause an infection, respectively. Lotion, cream, or even petroleum jelly are all acceptable moisturizers for your feet.

-Keep your toenails trimmed. As your toenails grow, your shoes can apply pressure on them, which makes your feet sore. Trim your nails straight across using a nail clipper. Then, file the corners to prevent ingrowns or pressure on your skin.

-Make sure your boots fit properly. Tight-fitting or even too-loose boots can cause problems, like blisters or chafing.

-Avoid wearing unsupportive shoes, like flip-flops, during your down time. They don’t provide the arch support or stability, and you could risk a strain or other injury. 

Dealing with Corns or Calluses

Corns and calluses are common problems, but they can make walking, marching, and running painful. These hard, thick patches of skin can be caused by your shoes rubbing, pressure from ill-fitting shoes, or from being on your feet for a long period of time. Military members, of course, are prone to these thanks to the nature of their work.

Corns usually form on the top of the foot or on a toe, while calluses are usually on the bottom of your foot. Mild ones don’t require treatment and may heal on their own, especially if you file them gently with a pumice stone while you bathe, apply salicylic acid or corn pads to help dissolve them, and wear thick socks to protect your feet.

If corns or calluses become painful and affect your gait and performance, you should see a physician for treatment. 

Preventing Athlete’s Foot

This condition’s name is a bit of a misnomer, because you don't have to be an athlete to develop it. Athlete’s foot is actually a fungus that loves warm, dark, humid environments, like shared locker room areas. Your feet come in contact with the fungus, and it causes dry skin, itching and burning, inflammation, cracking, scaling, and even blisters. It’s easily spread, and can move to other areas of your body after you scratch your feet, or even via your bedding.

To treat athlete’s foot, you can soak your feet in Epsom salts, or use an over-the-counter anti-fungal cream or powder. Your physician can even prescribe antifungal pills to nip a more stubborn case in the bud.

Because athlete’s foot is so easily spread, you should do your due diligence to prevent yourself from getting it in the first place. Not only should you be washing your feet with soap and water every day, but you should also be certain the areas between your toes are dry before you put on socks and shoes. Never walk barefoot in public places, and choose socks that wick moisture away from the skin. 

Send Your Hero a Pre-Made Military Care Package to Help Them Take Care of Themselves

When your loved one enlisted in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, or National Guard, you probably thought about the types of mail and gifts you would send to them while they were away from home after boot camp. 

Most families soon realize that putting together a really high-quality care package for military members can be tiring, as you tend to have to go from store-to-store to find the items they request or would like. 

My Hero Crate makes it easy with our military-approved care packages that you can order straight from us, with free shipping to your loved one anywhere in the world, including overseas at FPO, DPO, and APO addresses. And you won’t want to miss our monthly care package subscription service, which sends your military hero an all-new care package every month. 

Your gifts help them prioritize self care and remind them of all the people who love them back home. Learn more about our care package subscription service for the military, and place your order today. 

Handling Military-Related Homesickness

Jenifer Calandra

Send an Armed Forces Care Package to Help Cure Your Hero

Military members, their spouses, and their children all end up dealing with feelings of homesickness at some point. Moving from duty station to duty station, traveling for deployment, or simply being assigned to a base far from home or loved ones sparks this sense of loss and distance.

After you’ve been tied to the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps after a while, you learn how to keep homesickness and its related emotions at bay, until they go away. How you cope with homesickness is dependent upon who you are and your situation — and everyone is different. The feeling is totally normal, and your strategy for dealing with it should be creative and a perfect fit for you. Here are a few methods you can use to help quell the homesick blues.

Meet New People Near You

Building friendships and a support system — even a small one — where you live can help you feel less homesick. This includes if you’re a military spouse, in basic training, or are a deployed military member. Bonding with your unit or other military spouses means you will eventually have plenty of activities to take your mind off the distance between you and where you’re from.

You can meet new friends by attending social events for military members and their families, for starters. Base facilities like the gym can also be a great place to meet people. If you have children and you take them to play on the playground, you may even find like-minded parents looking for friends, too. 

Just remember: you aren’t the only one far from home. Others will be looking to make friends with you, so half the work is already done for you! 

Take Leave If You Can

Enlisted military personnel can take leave, if permissible, to visit family members and enjoy a break from work. You can take a short vacation with your family, or spend time at home doing absolutely nothing.

If you take leave to see your family back home, be sure to let everyone know when you’re coming, so you can plan your visits accordingly. You don’t want to use up your leave time only to find out that beloved family members were out of town when you came to see them.

Call, Write, and Send Military Care Packages

While meeting new people can distract you from your feelings of homesickness, it’s OK to think about who’s back home waiting for you. That’s why it’s important to stay connected with those folks who are far away.

Writing letters and making phone calls when possible are two easy ways you can stay in touch with friends and family members you left in your hometown, or back in the States while you’re deployed. You don’t have to have anything specific to talk about; just have a conversation and enjoy hearing each other’s voices.

Writing letters also gives you and your loved ones something to hold onto to get through bouts of homesickness. You can always reread letters when you’re missing your spouse, children, parents, or friends. It’s much harder to replay a phone call.

If your enlisted loved one is sent far from home, sending a care package is a wonderful way not only to show that you care, but also to make sure your hero has everything they need or want. Simple care packages full of snacks or a monthly military subscription box can mean the difference between having a crummy day and having the best day while enlisted so far. My Hero Crate makes it easy to send armed forces care packages; shipping is always free to DPO, FPO, and APO mailing addresses, too. 

Find a New Hobby

Filling your time with something that interests you is a prime way to deal with homesickness. If you’re having fun doing a new activity, you won’t be distracted by how homesick you feel. Eventually, that gnawing feeling will ease up or go away.

If you aren’t sure what hobbies interest you, do a quick internet search for ideas, or talk to people you know about what they like to do in their spare time. Painting, knitting, running, woodworking, or board games all help you pass the time and keep you feeling happy.

We’re More than Military Care Package Experts

At My Hero Crate, we know a thing or two about curating, assembling, and shipping really awesome care packages that you can send to your loved ones. But we also think we give really great advice! For more ideas for issues you face while living on base, while your loved one is deployed, and more, be sure to check out the rest of our blog.

And when you need to send the perfect gift for someone in the military, we’ve got your back!  Browse our full selection of Marine Corps, Army, Navy, or Air Force care packages on our website.

Sustainability and Eco-Friendly Practices at My Hero Crate

Jenifer Calandra

Plus, Learn How Your Hero Can Reuse Our Military Care Package Boxes!

Although it isn’t a federal holiday and it doesn’t get much special recognition, one of our favorite days to celebrate is Earth Day. We love it so much, we’ve ensured we’re celebrating it every day at My Hero Crate, while we carefully design, assemble, and send care packages for service members all over the world.

Within the last year, we’ve made important business decisions to ensure our daily operations align with our belief in the importance of protecting our planet and adopting sustainable practices. Your military hero can, too, by recycling their olive-drab care package box and its tissue paper, or by repurposing them for something awesome.

Armed Forces Care Packages Are Kind to the Planet

In early 2020, we transitioned to sustainable packaging for all our care package packing materials, including stickers, which are printed with soy-based ink, and tissue paper.

We source these materials from a company called no.issue, who produces fully-recyclable packaging certified by the Eco-Alliance and plants trees each time customers place an order for their packaging. Our boxes also are certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, which promotes sustainability and restorative practices for forests everywhere. 

Care Package Recipients Can Help Us

When you send a military care package to your loved one in the Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, National Guard, or Coast Guard, remind them to recycle the box and tissue paper when they’re done enjoying the contents of their gift.

Or, you can give them ideas for how they might repurpose our sturdy care package boxes in their living quarters on or off base. For example, they might use them to:

-Store a first aid kit in their linen closet. Your hero is likely to need bandages for blisters from going on lengthy rucks in their boots. Having a convenient place to keep the necessities makes it easier to start the healing process. Our sturdy camo boxes are perfect for that.

-Keep letters and photographs from home all in one place, inside their footlocker or other dedicated personal storage space.

-Organize their underwear or sock drawer in their bedroom, by using the box to create a divided area for these small clothing items, like Marie Kondo told you to.

-Sort important paperwork, if they have a desk job. Perhaps they’re working on a special project, and they don’t want documents to get lost or end up with a coffee mug ring on them. Our boxes can get the job done.

-Stow away small personal effects so they don’t get lost, like pencils, envelopes, spare eating utensils from MREs, and other mementos.

With a few buddies and some downtime, devise a new game and use the cardboard from the box to create the game board.

Sustainability Efforts at My Hero Crate

Since the birth of our company, our leaders have worked diligently to ensure that all areas of the business adopt sustainable practices to protect the environment, starting with our ordering system, and moving all the way to our behind-the-scenes team members. We’re fully paperless, which means we don’t use tree-based products in our daily office work.

Every time you send a care package to your military member at home or overseas, you’re supporting our efforts to create a healthier Earth. Thank you for doing your part.

Learn More

For more information on green ideas and our Eco-Alliance packaging, visit www.noissue.co, or contact our customer service team if you have any questions. 

© 2020 MY HERO CRATE