see the original thread here:

http://www.cigarbid.com/auction/forum/forum.cfm?action=list&forumID=9&messageDisplay=0000000021835 

OPERATION "FROM THE HEART" NEEDS YOUR HELP

WE NEED LETTERS, LETTERS AND MORE LETTERS!

SUPPLIES, CIGARS, MAGAZINES, FOOD ITEMS ALSO WELCOME!

a cbid bro, 1stSgtSmoke, and his guys in the USMC are over in fallujah -- not a great place to be. he is in charge of many "young marines" and Operation From The Heart is an effort to send them as much "love from home" as possible.

mrs. 1stSgtSmoke wrote to say that "they are desperate for some love from home."

we're collecting "stuff" to send over (cigars, eye drops, bandanas, etc.), and any and all donations are greatly appreciated. the goal for now is to get at least one big box sent over per month until they come home.

however, the BIGGEST part of this effort is in the human connection -- we need LETTERS, CARDS, NOTES to send over to distribute to these guys.

please contact me for more info: BBELTRISI at ec.rr.com
or contact Schmitty or gadog (guys, can you post your email addys?)

we gratefully will ship over any and all donations of supplies, cigars, magazines, food items, etc. but PLEASE also include at least one letter, card or note addressed "to our marine" to go as well.

if you can, get others involved in writing letters as well -- sit your family down one evening and write a couple letters. ask your colleagues and co-workers to write letters. everything counts and is needed and appreciated.

i know there are a lot of "for the troops" collections going on. each and every one of them is very valuable, and i encourage everyone to give something to at least one of them -- doesn't matter which one.

but even if you don't have material "stuff" to send, PLEASE at least write a letter to go out with the OpFTH packages. if nothing else, email your message to me, and i will reformat it as a letter, envelope it individually and send it along with the outgoing packages.

thanks to those who are already taking part in this, and here's hoping more will join us in this effort.

SEMPER FI!

just set up a web page for quick info access:

www.geocities.com/tbeltrisi

great job. I can be contacted at smitty0128forums-cigars at yahoo.com

hey guys...i work in the residence halls at the university of tennessee. beginning monday i am going ask my residents(700) and staff to write letters/cards for these marines. it will probably take me about two weeks to get all the letters in. who should i send them to?

i'm optimistic about the response and have already received a few through word of mouth. thanks for heading this up. feel free to e-mail me.

jim

jrc9414
aol
dot
com

you can send to me or cav .. I have a box going out monday and then will start re-stocking future shipments (about a month apart) so can send to me anytime and I will add it to whatever box is going.

jim: that is GREAT!!! thank you so much, bro!

schmitty (the wonder bro!) 🙂 and i are coordinating stuff right now and will have an update soon, a kind of "schedule" for when things are going out. on my end, i'll be sending out one box per month on the first of every month.

you get those letters, though, and we'll let you know who has the next outgoing shipment. good job!!

okay -- this is the schedule for now:

i'll be sending out a box on the **1st** of every month.

bill (schmitty) will send out a box on the **15th** of every month.

ALL donations are welcome -- send 'em either to me or to schmitty -- OR get in touch with either of us if you have a bigger package of your own that you want to just send overseas directly.

to get addresses or info:
Cavallo: bbeltrisi at hotmail.com or BBELTRISI at ec.rr.com
Schmitty22: [email protected]

schmitty's huge from-the-heart bomb's headed out tomorrow. the stuff sent here will go out on 1 MAY. schmitty's next will go on the 15th of may and so on.

if you're sending letters, donations, anything at all, please send it to the guy who has the next up outgoing package. if it will reach me by the first, send it to me. if it will reach him by the 15th, send it to schmitty, etc.

thanks again, everyone, for making this a GO!

Roger that! 🙂

Cav,

I've emailed you with the details about a package going direct tomorrow. More (packages) will follow.

Thanks for getting this going.

"Semper Fi"

RD

BOX #1: Went out today: (was actually 2 boxes)

contents:

20- Cigars (about 20)
3 – tins of Mini Cigars 30 total (honeys, hobos, Kahluas)
4 - Visine
12 - bandanas
8 – Magazines (sports etc)
4 - containers of hand cream
1 - package of Pens
4 - pairs of sunglasses
14 - lip balms
67 - disposable razors
3 - large packages of Jerky
7- letters
1 - letter (from CBID BOTL)
1 - Letters to 1sgt
2 - Newspapers (local current events from here)
5- Deodorent
1 – Hair Tonic
1 – Baseball hat
1 – envelope of email JOKES
2 – Cigar Cutter
6 – baby wipes
1 – Shave cream
1- 2lb bag peanuts
1 – 2lb bag of sunflower seeds
1 – 6 pk of Gum

My family has a box ready to go in the mail tomorrow. It contains five individual care packages with a note to Mike to distribute the packages to some junior Marines that aren't getting enough love from home.

We packed each "care package" in a clear two gallon freezer bag. I thought the clear bags would be helpful for security because anyone can easily see what's inside without having to open a bunch of boxes.

Each package contains one or one package of the
following in it's original packaging:
Wet Wipes
Shaving Cream
Disposable Razors
Deodorant
Toothpaste
Toothbrush
Dental Floss
Lip Balm
Hand Sanitizer
Chewing Gum
Hard Candy
A letter from me
A letter from my 7-yr-old son, Alex
A self addressed envelope if they want to write back

I didn't include postage on the return envelope because I think they get free postage from a combat zone.

excellent, excellent work, gentlemen!!

i updated the web site, and there's now a link on it to the combo letter/picture from RD's son. it may take awhile to load (or that might just be my computer), but it's worth it.

www.geocities.com/tbeltrisi is the OpFTH site.

this is a GREAT start, and i can't think you guys enough for the time and effort you've already put into these packages.

we need MORE though! we need LETTERS, LETTERS and more LETTERS! i know folks are getting a little "compassion fatigue" going on with all the various "give to the troops" projects going on.

but even if you can't send cigars or supplies for OpFTH -- that's OKAY! it doesn't take but a few minutes to sit down and write a letter or fill out a post card or greeting card and send it to us for inclusion.

a few people have given incredibly generously, but there are SO many people on here... and this isn't some anonymous thing; this is going directly to a CBID BROTHER and the young marines with him in fallujah.

come on, folks!

again, if you can't write a letter and mail it to OpFTH, then type up a message in an EMAIL, f'crying out loud. hit send, and i'll take it from there and format it into a letter to go in an envelope that will go from here into the hands of the guys who are busting their butts over there.

these marines are DESPERATE for some love from home!

if every single person who reads this could spare just five minutes to email a note... it's such a small, small thing for us to do, but it is HUGE to the guys who receive your messages.

don't put it off -- get in touch with me or schmitty22, and let's ALL DO SOMETHING to let these guys know that we give a damn about them! anyone with a computer and email can get involved. LET'S DO THIS THING!

^

if anyone has pics of the packages they're sending over, email 'em to me, and i'll put them up on the site. also, if anyone has COMMENTARY, INPUT, SUGGESTIONS for the site, get in touch with me.

PLEASE pass this site around: www.geocities.com/tbeltrisi for information on OpFTH.

a few have done tremendous work here, and i applaud you gentlemen for all your effort and time on this. there is much, though, that remains to be done.

i know folks get tired of "give to the troops" messages. i imagine it's pretty tiring for them to be sweating their butts off getting shot at in a war zone, too. i'm not to try and guilt you into writing a letter but... okay, so i AM trying to guilt you into writing a letter. 🙂 whatever it takes, because these men DESERVE it.

you don't have to spend a lot of time OR money to help out. if you have suggestions on how we can make it easier, TELL US. for now, here are the options:

- send your letters and/or donations (cigars, hygiene and recreational items, etc.) to me or to schmitty. we are sending out boxes on the first of the month (me) and the 15th of the month (schmitty) -- until they come home.

- send your letters and/or donations to FirstSgtSmoke directly (contact me or schmitty for the address)

- write an email to a marine, send it to me, and i will put it into an enveloped letter format to send to fallujah

- get your friends, family and colleagues involved and ask them to write letters and/or send donations

we're trying to make it absolutely EASY to get some "love from home" over to our guys in the hot spot.

PLEASE HELP!

to those who have emailed with inquiries, replies are going out today.

^eternal toppage (or at least until they come home)

We got a horde of gars for my next box from the cigarfest. many from our group are contributing some of their take. Mainly cause we have run out of storage locations 🙂

anyone else wish to contribute shoot them over to me and I will add them to the may 15th box 🙂

way to go, schmitty!! i really cannot salute you enough for all you've done here, sir. thank you so much -- both for all you've sent over and for the herculean effort you've put into this project.

i hope you guys all had a blast at cigarfest. god willing, i'm gonna be there next year. 🙂

okay...

UPDATES:

1. earlier, i sent over notice to FirstSgtSmoke -- just a heads up to let him know what was going on. i also got an info site set up for Operation FTH: www.geocities.com/tbeltrisi

2. most recently i sent out the 1 May package. sadly, it wasn't much -- letters i'd written, postcards, about a dozen cigars and five cutters, a few mens' magazines (field and stream, men's journal), 5 desert cammie bandanas, and a few baby wipes packets -- that's all my wife and i could get on our own, and that's what went.

i'll continue to write letters and get what i can "stuff"-wise and cigar-wise, but i have to ask others to PLEASE help out here -- to write letters and/or donate other items on the list (see the web site) -- but most IMPORTANT to this effort is the letters. it takes just a few minutes to jot down a note and send it off. folks can even EMAIL notes to me, and i will make sure they go out in individual envelopes and in letter format.

+++ OPFTH PACKAGES GO OUT ON THE 1st AND 15th OF THE MONTH! +++

3. if you have asked for and received the direct address and if you've sent something over, please let schmitty or i know so we can include it in an update.

4. there is one cbid brother who is taking this to his local VFW to see if they can put something together to send directly-- that's EXCELLENT! i hope to hear back from him soon with an update.

also RD's family put together a SPECTACULAR package earlier on. THANK YOU for that, RD, and your son's picture/letter is definitely going to put some moisture in the eyes of those tough marines over there. in a GOOD way. : )



it doesn't matter how it gets there:
- send it to me to go out on the 1st of each month
- send it to schmitty for the 15th of each month
- send it over directly

...but please help us keep this going. i know folks get burnt out with "compassion fatigue" -- and many of you have already given cigars or supplies to the troops through others. kudos to you for doing so. but if you can spare just a few minutes, just jot down a letter or fill out a postcard -- every bit of this is going directly to a cbid brother to distribute to his marines. we all have it pretty good over here; the sacrifices those guys are making are HUGE.

until they come home, OpFTH will keep doing whatever we can to make sure that they know that people back home genuinely care about them, appreciate them and want them to be as comfortable as possible until they finally get to come back to the USA.

THANK YOU to the few (but mighty!) who have given so much in this effort. your contributions will make a huge difference in the lives of those men -- and that's what this is all about.

^

my Next box going out soon. If anyone has any letters or wants to forward an email letter to me to include - do it now 🙂

If you came home from cigarfest and realized you have to many sticks of things your will not smoke? Send them to me I i will include in the package to the marines. If you just cant fit all your cigarfest gars in your humi's (like me) send me the ones to forward to the marines they will be greatful.

Other then the above, if you can forward me some items from the lists that would be great too.

Thanks again