During the first Gulf War, several reservists and were activated to fight the Iraqis. Once the soldiers were deployed, they were faced with massive downtime and were restricted to their base due to the travel limitations set by the Saudi government.
The founder of Books for Soldiers (BFS) is a voracious reader. At the beginning of the Gulf War, he had a closet full of paperback books that were not being used. Instead of selling them at the used book store, he packed them up in small care packages and sent them out to all the soldiers, sailors, marines, and airmen that he had addresses for.
Within a few weeks, he ran out of books before he ran out of addresses. Friends and family members began donating their paperback books and in the end, over 1000 books were sent to the Gulf. After the war, they received many thank-you notes from soldiers who got one of their books. Unless it was time for them to fly back home, mail-call days were one of the most anticipated events of deployment.
With the initiation of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, BFS is more active than ever before. Regardless of why the military is deployed, the men and women of our armed services are there for us. They deserve our support. Providing books, magazines, DVD’s, games, and relief supplies to them are ways to make their deployments easier.
To provide more security for our troops, they require their volunteers to fill out a notarized application and mail it in. Once your application is approved, you will be able to send gifts to our troops. You will also have access to their Pen Pal area and Post Card Jamboree.
Currently, BFS is a non-profit corporation, operated as a ministry of a non-denominational church in North Carolina. On average their volunteers fill over 1000 requests a month.
For more information see http://booksforsoldiers.com/.