Marines Care Package Project™
List of Items Needed by Marines in Iraq and Afghanistan
 Support our Marines! We need items to send in the care packages. If you, your company or organization would like to donate items to support the Marines, 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 and toothpaste. To avoid this, please deliver all food items packaged separately from all toiletry items or separate them in plastic bags.
UPDATED January 6, 2011:
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)
- Single-serving size snacks and non-perishable food items, particularly tuna kits, beef jerky, canned fruit (small containers with pop-top lid), dried fruit, nuts and other healthy snacks
- Pre-sweetened flavored beverage mixes (smaller sizes please)
- Toothbrushes
- Liquid body wash (no pump dispensers please)
- Undershirts (olive green, short sleeve)
- Socks (bootcut, black)
- AA and AAA Batteries
- Letters of support
(letters from you, from children, or from your business, office, school, or other organization in support of our troops click here for more information!)
- Gum, Lifesavers, Mints (blister pack gum is best because of the intense heat)
- Fruit: single serving size cans
- Nuts, sunflower seeds, peanuts, trail mix, dried fruit
- Power bars, protein bars, nutritional bars
- Beef jerky, beef summer sausage (non-perishable; labeled USDA Beef)
- Single-serving bags of snacks, crackers
- Pop Tarts, cereal bars, granola bars
- Ramen Noodles
- Ravioli and other canned ready-to-eat meals (single serving) with pop-top
- Chicken or Tuna lunch kits (includes foil pouch of tuna, crackers, and condiments in each single-serving kit)
- Canned sardines, smoked oysters
- Jalepeno Velveeta® and crackers
- Taco Bell® Sauce Packets
- Seasoning salts, flavoring salts
- Popcorn
- Hard candy (single-wrapped)
- Cookies
- Canned cheese dips (NO glass please)
- Please do not send bags of chips. They will not make the transition.
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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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- Instant coffee
- Ground coffee
- Hot cocoa mix
- Lemonade mix, Kool-Aid® mix, Tang®, Iced Tea mix
- Gatorade® mix (powdered only)
- Crystal Light® (or other brand) "On The Go" flavor packets
(these come in a box of several sleeves of flavoring that can be added to a 16-20 oz. water bottle; see photo to the right)
- Sugar and creamer packets for coffee (No artificial sweetener)
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Send small containers please. We cannot ship liquids. However, the Marines 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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- Hacky sacks, tennis balls
- Small hand-held games
- Movie DVDs (new or used; original only)
- Music CDs (new or used; original only)
- New decks of cards
- Soft cover books
- Gently used magazines less than three months old
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- Long underwear during winter months
- Fingerless gloves
- Stocking caps (plain, gray, black or olive green)
- Black, white or olive green cotton boot socks
- T-shirts (olive green or white)
- Men and women's underwear
(try military surplus stores)
- Sunglasses
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The 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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- Disposable cameras
- Envelopes
- Small pads of paper
- Pens and unsharpened pencils
- Small, blank journals
- Small pocket notebooks (no large spiral notebooks)
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- Batteries (AA are most requested, then AAA)
- Cigars
- Tactical Duct tape: military green, tan or black
- Electrical tape
- Super glue
- 72" Bootlaces (brown or tan preferred)
- Snack, Sandwich, Quart-size Ziploc plastic bags
- Disposable, instant hand warmers
(during the winter months only)
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- Anti-fungal treatments
- Boot liners/insoles
- Odor eaters for boots
- Lotrimin AF or Tinactin for athletes foot (Ointment or cream, no aerosol)
- Medicated Foot Powder, medicated foot swabs (Gold Bond Preferable)
- Moleskin
(for pads on sore feet, you'll find it with Dr. Scholls type things at WalMart or drug stores)
- Band-Aids (sweat/water resistant)
- DO NOT send baby powder
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Footcare is critical and the demand for quality products is very high. Be sure that all items are in the original, sealed packages.
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- Sunblock (travel size or stick preferable, SPF 30+)
- Throat lozenges
- Eye Drops (to relieve dry eye, not redness)
- Blistex, Chapstick (in stick-tubes rather than tubs, not tinted)
- Aspirin, Motrin, Tylenol, Midol, pain relievers (small containers)
- Saline spray/drops for sensitive nasal passages
- Travel size packages of Q-tips
- Eyeglass wipes
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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)
- Women's feminine wipes
- Liquid hand sanitizers
(no pump-style dispensers)
- Disposable hand sanitizing wipes
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Please do not send pump dispenser style bottles for any items. When the Marines 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 Marines.
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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:
- Toothpaste (in hard-side tubes rather than traditional tubes)
- Toothbrushes
- Nail clippers
- Shampoo
- Men's and women's deodorant
- Liquid bodywash soap, liquid anti-bacterial soap (no bar soap or pump-style dispensers)
- Lotion, unscented, for dry skin
(no pump-style dispensers)
- Disposable multi-blade razors
(no single-blade razors please)
- Razors and replacement blades
- Kleenex (travel-size packets)
- Oral B Brush-Ups™
- Kleenex (travel-size packets)
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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 Marines.
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WE CANNOT SEND THESE ITEMS:
- Used food or hygiene items
- Kids toys or stuffed animals
- Bars of soap
- Large games
- Aerosol cans
- Clothing items of color other black, white, and olive green
- Pork or pork by-products
- Anything Glass
- Homemade food items
- Pump dispenser style bottles
- Hardcover books, children's books
- Waterguns
- Large sporting balls
- Chocolate during summer months (March-October)
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For additional information or support, please contact the MarineParents.com corporate office at 573-449-2003.
Visit the web sites online at: www.MarineParents.com ~ www.TheCarePackageProject.com
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