Marines Care Package Project™ List of Items Needed by Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan
 Support our Military! We need items to send in the care packages. If you, your company or organization would like to donate items to support the troops, please use this list as a reference for the types of items to collect for the Care Package Project™. All items must be new and in the original sealed packaging (except recreation items as noted below). Homemade food items cannot be accepted.
NOTE: Food items shipped with toiletry items will taste like deodorant, foot powder, toothpaste, etc. To avoid this, please deliver all food items packaged separately from all toiletry items or separate them in plastic bags.
UPDATED May 9, 2013:
Please consider donating from the "most requested" items list here. Travel-size and single-serving size work best.
(see below for specifics on these most requested items)
- Batteries (AA, AAA, C, and D)
- Boot socks: black, tan, or olive green
- Letters of support (letters from you, from children, or from your business, office, school, or other organization in support of our troops)
- Liquid body wash (no pump dispensers please)
- Pre-sweetened flavored beverage mixes (smaller sizes please)
- Sandwich sized zipper lock baggies
- Single-serving size snacks and non-perishable food items, particularly tuna kits, beef jerky, canned fruit (small containers; pop-top lid), dried fruit, nuts and other healthy snacks
- Undershirts (olive green, short sleeve)
- Please do not send bags of chips. They will not make the transition.
- Beef jerky, beef summer sausage (non-perishable; labeled USDA Beef)
- Canned cheese dips (NO glass please)
- Canned sardines, smoked oysters
- Chicken or tuna lunch kits (includes foil pouch of tuna, crackers, and condiments in each single-serving kit)
- Cookies
- Fruit: single serving size cans
- Gum, Lifesavers®, mints (blister pack gum is best because of the intense heat)
- Hard candy (single-wrapped)
- Jalepeno Velveeta® and crackers
- Nuts, sunflower seeds, peanuts, trail mix, dried fruit
- Pop Tarts®, cereal bars, granola bars
- Popcorn
- Power bars, protein bars, nutritional bars
- Ramen noodles
- Ravioli and other canned ready-to-eat meals (single serving) with pop-top
- Seasoning salts, flavoring salts
- Single-serving bags of snacks, crackers
- Taco Bell® sauce packets
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Do not send glass containers. Pork and pork by-products are not allowed to be shipped to most Middle East combat locations. Please send non-perishable foods only. Single-serving package sizes are preferred; large packages won't stay fresh and are harder to ship. If you can stuff it in your pocket and it's not going to spoil or melt during the summer season, it's a good thing to send!
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- Crystal Light® (or other brand) "On The Go" flavor packets
- Ground coffee
- Hot cocoa mixSocks (bootcut, black)
- Instant coffee
- Lemonade mix, Kool-Aid® mix, Tang®, Iced Tea mix
- Sports drink mix (powdered and tablet only)
- Sugar and creamer packets for coffee (No artificial sweetener)
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Send small containers please. We cannot ship liquids. However, the troops do need flavors to add to the drinking water provided to them. Please send pre-sweetened or sugar-free flavoring mixes in small or single-serving packages. During the colder months, hot beverages are in great demand. Please do not send glass jars.
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- Gently used magazines less than three months old
- Hacky sacks, tennis balls
- Movie DVDs (new or used; original only)
- Portable DVD players (new or used; original only
- New decks of cards
- Small hand-held games
- Soft cover books
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Color of underclothing and socks is not as important as making sure they are 100% cotton. Send fingerless gloves and stocking caps during winter months only. (September-February)
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- Envelopes
- Pens and unsharpened pencils
- Small, blank journals
- Small pads of paper
- Small pocket notebooks (no large spiral notebooks)
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- DO NOT send baby powder
- Anti-fungal treatments
- Band-Aids® (sweat/water resistant)
- Boot liners/insoles
- Lotrimin AF® or Tinactin® for athletes foot (Ointment or cream, no aerosol)
- Medicated Foot Powder, medicated foot swabs (Gold Bond® preferable)
- Moleskin (provides padding on sore feet, you'll find it with Dr. Scholls® type things at WalMart or drug stores)
- Odor Eaters® for boots
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Footcare is critical and the demand for quality products is very high. Be sure that all items are in their original, sealed packages.
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- Eye Drops (to relieve dry eye, not redness)
- Eyeglass wipes
- Insect Repellent
- Lip balm (Blistex®, Chapstick®, Carmex®) in stick-tubes rather than tubs, not tinted
- Pain relievers (Aspirin, Ibuprofen, Tylenol®, Midol®) in small containers
- Saline spray/drops for sensitive nasal passages
- Sunblock (travel size or stick preferable, no aerosol SPF 30+)
- Throat lozenges
- Travel size packages of Q-tips
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Lip balm is in high demand in desert areas. The lipstick-style tubes that you apply directly to your lips are preferred over the "tub" style. Eyedrops are to relieve dry eyes; please avoid sending eyedrops designed to remove redness as those will increase dryness and iritation caused by sand and storms in a desert climate.
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- Baby wipes for personal hygiene (alcohol-free)
- Disposable hand sanitizing wipes
- Liquid hand sanitizers (no pump-style dispensers)
- Women's feminine wipes
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Please do not send pump dispenser style bottles for any items. When the troops are out in the field, facilities for showering and taking care of personal hygiene are infrequent and in many locations non-existent. Portable-sized packages of non-alcohol based baby wipes are also in high demand for these troops.
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Toiletries are not in as high a demand as they once were; however, we do have units at forward operating bases that still need the toiletries listed below:
- Dental Floss
- Disposable multi-blade razors (no single-blade razors please)
- Kleenex (travel-size packets)
- Liquid bodywash soap, liquid anti-bacterial soap (no bar soap or pump-style dispensers)
- Lotion, unscented, for dry skin (no pump-style dispensers)
- Men's and women's deodorant
- Nail clippers
- Oral B Brush-Ups™
- Razors and replacement blades
- Shampoo
- Toothbrushes
- Toothpaste (in hard-side tubes rather than traditional tubes)
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Please purchase small or travel-size items for personal care. We try to send a new toothbrush and razors in every package, so the demand is very high for these items. Toothpaste tubes get messy; the plastic "bottles" of toothpaste stand up better to the conditions of combat zones. The new "Brush-Ups®" are very popular and useful for the troops.
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WE CANNOT SEND THESE ITEMS:
- Used food or hygiene items
- Aerosol cans
- Anything glass
- Bars of soap
- Chocolate during summer months (March-October)
- Clothing items of color other black, white, and olive green
- Hardcover books, children's books
- Homemade food items
- Kids toys or stuffed animals
- Large games
- Large sporting balls
- Pork or pork by-products
- Pump dispenser style bottles
- Used food or hygiene items
- Waterguns
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