In September of 2012, Emily Spencer, the founder of Heartillery Group, wed the love of her life, Captain Scott Spencer, knowing that in just 3 short months, her new husband would be deploying to Afghanistan. As Emily watched on as her husband boarded the plane to Afghanistan, she knew she wanted to do something to give back to these fearless men and women who bravely boarded the plane with her husband that day. With the upcoming holidays quickly approaching, she started a small and heartfelt campaign, to send 1,000 holiday cards to our troops overseas in hopes that it would spread some holiday cheer. She asked friends, family, and local community members to assist her in her goal, and it spiraled into receiving thousands of cards pouring in from all over. The Heartillery Group, and Mission Holiday Cards was born.
Heartillery Group is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization and its mission is to ensure that no Service Member or Veteran feels alone or under appreciated. To date, Emily and her team have sent over 4 million cards, and 6,000 care packages to service members overseas.
Mission Holiday Cards has been responsible for sending hundreds of thousands of cards each year since. Throughout each project, Emily and her team carefully read through each card, with tearful eyes, knowing how much these cards will impact the service members who aren’t able to be home for the holidays, or don’t have support back home. Cards pour in each year from all 50 states, and 3 different countries, from people of all ages, all with one goal in mind, to keep those away from home during the holidays in their hearts.
This year marks the 8th year for Mission Holiday Cards. Their goal is to send over 500,000 cards and raise $80,000 to assist with shipping costs by December 15, 2020. The Heartillery Group is looking for community members from all over the country to get involved, get creative and make some holiday cards this year. The guidelines are fairly simple, you can make your own cards, or buy generic store-bought cards, write a heartfelt note in the inside and sign your name.
Sending the cards overseas is costly, each box, containing 315 cards, costs $18.45 to ship overseas. If you would like to make a contribution towards shipping costs, or send some cards to our service members this year, please mail to Heartillery Group, PO BOX 2649, Ponte Verda, FL 32004.
To get involved, and for more guidelines and details, please visit www.heartillerygroup.org, or visit our Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/heartillerygroup for more information.
