Philanthropy Today
Philanthropy Today
Packages for Warriors on the GMCF Community Hour Show Episode - 231
Amy Payton shares the mission of Packages for Warriors, a nonprofit offering free shipping of medium flat-rate care packages to deployed service members through their partnership with Box and Ship in Junction City. Started as a grassroots effort after 9/11 and eventually becoming a nonprofit in 2006, the organization helps civilians support military personnel with comfort items from home.
• Service available to anyone sending packages to military members with APO/FPO addresses, regardless of branch
• Operates with zero payroll staff, functioning entirely through volunteers
• Featured on Trace Atkins' "Great American Heroes" TV show in 2012
• Each package costs approximately $20 to ship; every $1,000 donated funds 50 packages
• Participates in Combined Federal Campaign and local community foundations like the Armed Forces Community Foundation
• Hosting upcoming Pumpkin and Spice Holiday Bazaar fundraiser on October 24-25 in Salina
• To date, they have never had to turn anyone away from their services
Contact Packages for Warriors at 844-785-4404 or info@packagesforwarriors.org. Learn more at packagesforwarriors.org.
Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. In this episode we feature a recently broadcast segment of the GMCF Community Hour as heard on NewsRadio KMAN. We are back. This is the GMCF Community Hour on NewsRadio KMAN. We have an organization and I know Amy. You were here about a year ago. I don't have the exact calendar date, but it's nice to have you back. Amy Payton is her name and she is here on behalf of Packages for Warriors. I think I have an idea just in the title, which means you did a really good job of picking out a name for your organization.
Speaker 2:Thank you.
Speaker 1:But for those of us that may not necessarily connect all those dots, tell us what you do.
Speaker 2:So what we do is that we do fundraising and then turn around. Basically, in a nutshell, we recirculate the funds back to the communities that we raise the funds in, and so, in essence, what we do is that we offer the community the ability to ship their own median flat rate package free of charge at Box and Ship here in Junction City.
Speaker 1:Okay, so how many people do you work with and how many of these packages do you get sent out?
Speaker 2:Well, it goes in waves. Of course, you know the service is open to anyone, whether it's a military family or grandpa and grandma, a friend that might be deployed, and it's just not exclusive to Army. It's open to anyone in the public that has a family member deployed, regardless what branch. The key is that it must be an APO or FPO address, and so how it works is that anyone can go to the regular post office and pick up a medium flat rate box. We are a partnership with a box and ship, and so that is our location for the free medium flat rate shipping.
Speaker 2:And how it works is that you put your own product in that is permissible with the United States Postal Service guidelines. We do encourage everyone to go to our site and look at the restrictions, or you can go directly to the United States Postal Service to see what's prohibited restrictions. But basically you just put your contents in there, you assist by providing the sender's name and address and also the recipient, and again, it has to be an APO or FPO address. How'd this get started? Well, 9-11.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:At the time I worked.
Speaker 1:You know that's been 20, what 24 years now.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir. Goodness 9-11 happened and at the time I was a histologist in Salina Histologist.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, I basically received human tissue samples and we would prepare prepare microscopic slides for the pathologist to be able to diagnose for any abnormalities. But what I realized when 9-11 happened was that I knew I didn't have any immediate family members in the service at the time time, and what I noticed was that many of my coworkers they were wanting to support military and their families but just didn't quite know how, if that makes any sense. Being a civilian, we want to support the military, but sometimes you just don't know how to go about it. And so what we did was we just started out small, as any other nonprofit does. It was prematurely. Back in 2006 is when the ball started kind of rolling, and so, in essence, we just started with people we knew it just started through word of mouth. We started with anybody that had a family member deployed. We just assembled simple things such as sundries like snacks, cookies, simple little things Little treats, treats.
Speaker 1:They don't have those over there, do they?
Speaker 2:In some areas, no, especially if it's not established just yet. But that's how it got started. And then I got overwhelmed with a request and need some help. And I went to AMBEX meeting, which is in Salina, American Businessmen, and they all came together and they say we want to see this go non-profit. You know, we just we want to see this go farther than just a project, you know. And so here we are today. Participants of the Combined Federal Campaign have been for many years now, which entails reapplying each year. So just because you submit your application, it's not a one and done, it's every year. And then we also are participants in local community foundations, such as the Armed Forces Community Foundation.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, we talked about that off mic before the program started, about the foundations that you are involved in here at GMCF Gary County.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir.
Speaker 1:And you also talked about Armed Forces Community Foundation, because they're match day and we're going to put a plug in for that. That's always on Veterans Day, november 11. And how does that help you?
Speaker 2:Oh, it's an excellent opportunity actually, because that's where we really encourage any sponsors or individuals that want to contribute to help cover the cost of these care packages, individuals that want to contribute to help cover the cost of these care packages. That's where we get more bang for our buck per se because of the match.
Speaker 1:They match funds, and so that's really an excellent opportunity for all non-profits to really gain yeah, yeah, well, um, that is something that we're proud to be a part of here and have originated some of that and seeing how that's also impacted other organizations and, you know, with the Armed Forces Foundation, you know, and it's not just Fort Riley. Right, you know it covers all the bases here, you know, including Guard and all kinds of other things Absolutely so they do a lot of great things statewide and we're proud to be able to host that here in Manhattan at the GMCF offices with Christine Binney.
Speaker 2:So I bet you know her. I do. She's a great person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, whatever.
Speaker 2:You are too.
Speaker 1:She's a dear friend. She is. She is absolutely a dear friend, one of my favorites. Now I understand you've gotten some really good publicity over the years for the work that you're doing. Tell us about that.
Speaker 2:We did some really good publicity over the years for the work that you're doing. Tell us about that. We did, like I said, it's been a work in progress. It's a continuous effort in trying to inform the public because we are a very small nonprofit. To kind of give you a little bit of background, I've never had any payroll staff. We have zero payroll, including myself. I don't earn a penny from this effort. We continuously try to get the word out, but it takes many for it to happen. It does take many to make it happen, but we did get some national attention in 2012. I was Trace Atkins' first hero on his TV show called Great American Heroes.
Speaker 1:How about that?
Speaker 2:Yes, one of my biggest singers.
Speaker 1:Has he got the voice, or what?
Speaker 2:He's an amazing person.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and he does a lot of good things, especially for folks in the military. I don't know what his military background is, but he definitely has a heart.
Speaker 2:He does, he's done many USO tours.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and have you ever seen him in concert?
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, I got to acknowledge that he's a big dude. He is, he's very tall.
Speaker 1:He's a big dude. Well, that's cool, that's cool. So what do you do you talked about? You know you have no staff, everything's volunteers. Do you have a number that you have in mind about how many people you have that volunteer on this project every year, or is it just fluctuate because of? Do you include in the volunteers the people that that provide the, the, the, the gift packages?
Speaker 2:right. Well, it as far as volunteers. It fluctuates, you know. Sometimes it's's one time people may be just interested in just volunteering at one event. Other opportunities, you know, come up throughout the year and so it's really at your own pace. I feel like that we have room for anyone of any age per se, to include schools, you know that want to create cards without no identity of the student, of course, but it's something for everyone to get involved.
Speaker 1:Do you have a signature event that you do to help raise money for the purpose?
Speaker 2:We do. We do have one that's coming up in the fall. It's going to be called the Pumpkin and Spice Holiday Bazaar. That's going to take place October 24th and 25th. It is in Salina, but we're looking for vendors right now. The event again is not until October 24th or 25th, but we're looking for some craft vendors or even direct sales or commercial vendors. We're looking for those type of booths. There are 10 by 10 spaces for $50 per booth space and of course, all those proceeds go towards once again shipping the medium flat rate care packages.
Speaker 1:So the proceeds for the booth sales is what you make your money on.
Speaker 2:We do On the vendor spaces. The venue is not donated so we do have that cost.
Speaker 1:That's some expense.
Speaker 2:But where we do after the expenses are paid to host the event itself, we do entry by donation and that's where we get a lot of our proceeds. It's because entry by donation- Is this your first one? It is not. I've hosted it. Actually, this will be my fifth event.
Speaker 1:Fifth event Boy, do we need to keep caught up?
Speaker 2:I know Wow.
Speaker 1:Did we talk about this last year, and I just forgot.
Speaker 2:I've done a couple of different ones named the Springtime Bash and then Wintering Craft and Antique Bazaar, but no, this is going to be our second one for the pumpkin and spice.
Speaker 1:Where in Salina do you have it?
Speaker 2:We have it at the 4-H building at 900 Greeley Avenue and that's in Slina. For those that are familiar with the Slina area, it's by the Tony's Event Center.
Speaker 1:Used to be the.
Speaker 2:Bicentennial Center. I was just there last week. Yes, Did an event there last week. But yeah, we would appreciate. You know any volunteers, anybody that's interested in having a vendor booth with me. You know, just follow up. We do have a phone number that you can call. It's 844-785-4404. Or you can just simply email us and it's really simple Info at packagesforwarriorsorg.
Speaker 1:And that's the website packagesforwarriorsorg. We've's the website packagesforwarriorsorg. We've touched base on a whole lot of things.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes.
Speaker 1:Anything we've left out.
Speaker 2:I think that pretty much sums it up. Other than you know, we have a lot of soldiers that have been deployed throughout the months, you know, and we can really use the support, each package, to kind of pay them perspective. Each median flat rate averages out $20 per package. So for if you say $1,000 for every $1,000 that we receive in donations, that covers 50 median flat rate packages and so that kind of helps pay it in perspective. It takes a lot of money to cover it and I'm happy to say so far today we've never had to turn down anyone. So we'm happy to say, you know, so far today we've never had to turn down anyone. So we'd like to keep that report.
Speaker 1:That's a nice, that's a nice track record there.
Speaker 2:It is so far, so good.
Speaker 1:All right, amy Payton, always a delight to have you in.
Speaker 2:Thanks for joining us here.
Speaker 1:And once again the website packagesforwarriorsorg, and a reminder for the match days in Gary County. Don't have the date on that, but we'll get that for you, you know, when it comes closer. And also the armed forces community foundation, Phil Maddox. Yeah, Thanks for for texting me, you know, Phil.
Speaker 2:I do, I do.
Speaker 1:Sorry about that, but I'm putting in a plug for the armed forces community foundation here through the greater Manhattan Community Foundation. Just always proud to be able to help those that serve our country and it's exciting when you've got a lot of people that do a lot of great things to make them feel like their lives matter.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 1:And their service matters.
Speaker 2:Bringing a piece of home.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there we are. Amy Payton is our guest when we come back from the break. Vern had to take off, so I'm going to bring you some community updates here and talk about some other things that are in the works here at the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation. This is the GMCF Community Hour every Monday in the 10 o'clock time frame here on NewsRadio KMAN.