¶ Introduction to Packages for Warriors
Philanthropy Today is brought to you by the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation . In this episode we feature a recently broadcast segment of the GMCF Community Hour as heard on NewsRadio KMAN . We are back . This is the GMCF Community Hour on NewsRadio KMAN . We have an organization and I know Amy . You were here about a year ago .
I don't have the exact calendar date , but it's nice to have you back . Amy Payton is her name and she is here on behalf of Packages for Warriors . I think I have an idea just in the title , which means you did a really good job of picking out a name for your organization .
Thank you .
But for those of us that may not necessarily connect all those dots , tell us what you do .
So what we do is that we do fundraising and then turn around . Basically , in a nutshell , we recirculate the funds back to the communities that we raise the funds in , and so , in essence , what we do is that we offer the community the ability to ship their own median flat rate package free of charge at Box and Ship here in Junction City .
Okay , so how many people do you work with and how many of these packages do you get sent out ?
Well , it goes in waves . Of course , you know the service is open to anyone , whether it's a military family or grandpa and grandma , a friend that might be deployed , and it's just not exclusive to Army . It's open to anyone in the public that has a family member deployed , regardless what branch .
The key is that it must be an APO or FPO address , and so how it works is that anyone can go to the regular post office and pick up a medium flat rate box . We are a partnership with a box and ship , and so that is our location for the free medium flat rate shipping .
And how it works is that you put your own product in that is permissible with the United States Postal Service guidelines . We do encourage everyone to go to our site and look at the restrictions , or you can go directly to the United States Postal Service to see what's prohibited restrictions .
But basically you just put your contents in there , you assist by providing the sender's name and address and also the recipient , and again , it has to be an APO or FPO address . How'd this get started ? Well , 9-11 .
Really .
At the time I worked .
You know that's been 20 ,
¶ Amy's 9/11 Inspiration Story
what 24 years now .
Yes , sir . Goodness 9-11 happened and at the time I was a histologist in Salina Histologist . Yes , sir , I basically received human tissue samples and we would prepare prepare microscopic slides for the pathologist to be able to diagnose for any abnormalities .
But what I realized when 9-11 happened was that I knew I didn't have any immediate family members in the service at the time time , and what I noticed was that many of my coworkers they were wanting to support military and their families but just didn't quite know how , if that makes any sense .
Being a civilian , we want to support the military , but sometimes you just don't know how to go about it . And so what we did was we just started out small , as any other nonprofit does . It was prematurely . Back in 2006 is when the ball started kind of rolling , and so , in essence , we just started with people we knew it just started through word of mouth .
We started with anybody that had a family member deployed . We just assembled simple things such as sundries like snacks , cookies , simple little things Little treats , treats .
They don't have those over there , do they ?
In some areas , no , especially if it's not established just yet . But that's how it got started . And then I got overwhelmed with a request and need some help . And I went to AMBEX meeting , which is in Salina , American Businessmen , and they all came together and they say we want to see this go non-profit .
You know , we just we want to see this go farther than just a project , you know . And so here we are today . Participants of the Combined Federal Campaign have been for many years now , which entails reapplying each year . So just because you submit your application , it's not a one and done , it's every year .
And then we also are participants in local community foundations , such as the Armed Forces Community Foundation .
Okay ,
¶ National Recognition and Volunteer Structure
well , we talked about that off mic before the program started , about the foundations that you are involved in here at GMCF Gary County .
Yes , sir .
And you also talked about Armed Forces Community Foundation , because they're match day and we're going to put a plug in for that . That's always on Veterans Day , november 11 . And how does that help you ?
Oh , it's an excellent opportunity actually , because that's where we really encourage any sponsors or individuals that want to contribute to help cover the cost of these care packages , individuals that want to contribute to help cover the cost of these care packages . That's where we get more bang for our buck per se because of the match .
They match funds , and so that's really an excellent opportunity for all non-profits to really gain yeah , yeah , well , um , that is something that we're proud to be a part of here and have originated some of that and seeing how that's also impacted other organizations and , you know , with the Armed Forces Foundation , you know , and it's not just Fort Riley .
Right , you know it covers all the bases here , you know , including Guard and all kinds of other things Absolutely so they do a lot of great things statewide and we're proud to be able to host that here in Manhattan at the GMCF offices with Christine Binney .
So I bet you know her . I do . She's a great person .
Yeah , yeah , whatever .
You are too .
She's a dear friend . She is . She is absolutely a dear friend , one of my favorites . Now I understand you've gotten some really good publicity over the years for the work that you're doing . Tell us about that .
We did some really good publicity over the years for the work that you're doing . Tell us about that . We did , like I said , it's been a work in progress . It's a continuous effort in trying to inform the public because we are a very small nonprofit . To kind of give you a little bit of background , I've never had any payroll staff .
We have zero payroll , including myself . I don't earn a penny from this effort . We continuously try to get the word out , but it takes many for it to happen . It does take many to make it happen , but we did get some national attention in 2012 . I was Trace Atkins' first hero on his TV show called Great American Heroes .
How about that ?
Yes , one of my biggest singers .
Has he got the voice , or what ?
He's an amazing person .
Yeah , and he does a lot of good things , especially for folks in the military . I don't know what his military background is , but he definitely has a heart .
He does , he's done many USO tours .
Yeah , and have you ever seen him in concert ?
Yes , sir , I got to acknowledge that he's a big dude . He is , he's very tall .
He's a big dude . Well , that's cool , that's cool . So what do you do you talked about ? You know you have no staff , everything's volunteers . Do you have a number that you have in mind about how many people you have that volunteer on this project every year , or is it just fluctuate because of ?
Do you include in the volunteers the people that that provide the , the , the , the gift packages ?
right . Well , it as far as volunteers . It fluctuates , you know . Sometimes it's's one time people may be just interested in just volunteering at one event . Other opportunities , you know , come up throughout the year and so it's really at your own pace .
I feel like that we have room for anyone of any age per se , to include schools , you know that want to create cards without no identity of the student , of course , but it's something for everyone to get involved .
Do you have a signature event that you do to help raise money for the purpose ?
¶ Upcoming Pumpkin and Spice Fundraiser
We do . We do have one that's coming up in the fall . It's going to be called the Pumpkin and Spice Holiday Bazaar . That's going to take place October 24th and 25th . It is in Salina , but we're looking for vendors right now . The event again is not until October 24th or 25th , but we're looking for some craft vendors or even direct sales or commercial vendors .
We're looking for those type of booths . There are 10 by 10 spaces for $50 per booth space and of course , all those proceeds go towards once again shipping the medium flat rate care packages .
So the proceeds for the booth sales is what you make your money on .
We do On the vendor spaces . The venue is not donated so we do have that cost .
That's some expense .
But where we do after the expenses are paid to host the event itself , we do entry by donation and that's where we get a lot of our proceeds . It's because entry by donation- Is this your first one ? It is not . I've hosted it . Actually , this will be my fifth event .
Fifth event Boy , do we need to keep caught up ?
I know Wow .
Did we talk about this last year , and I just forgot .
I've done a couple of different ones named the Springtime Bash and then Wintering Craft and Antique Bazaar , but no , this is going to be our second one for the pumpkin and spice .
Where in Salina do you have it ?
We have it at the 4-H building at 900 Greeley Avenue and that's in Slina . For those that are familiar with the Slina area , it's by the Tony's Event Center .
Used to be the .
Bicentennial Center . I was just there last week . Yes , Did an event there last week . But yeah , we would appreciate . You know any volunteers , anybody that's interested in having a vendor booth with me . You know , just follow up . We do have a phone number that you can call . It's 844-785-4404 .
Or you can just simply email us and it's really simple Info at packagesforwarriorsorg .
¶ Contact Information and Impact Numbers
And that's the website packagesforwarriorsorg . We've's the website packagesforwarriorsorg . We've touched base on a whole lot of things .
Yes , yes .
Anything we've left out .
I think that pretty much sums it up . Other than you know , we have a lot of soldiers that have been deployed throughout the months , you know , and we can really use the support , each package , to kind of pay them perspective . Each median flat rate averages out $20 per package .
So for if you say $1,000 for every $1,000 that we receive in donations , that covers 50 median flat rate packages and so that kind of helps pay it in perspective . It takes a lot of money to cover it and I'm happy to say so far today we've never had to turn down anyone . So we'm happy to say , you know , so far today we've never had to turn down anyone .
So we'd like to keep that report .
That's a nice , that's a nice track record there .
It is so far , so good .
All right , amy Payton , always a delight to have you in .
Thanks for joining us here .
And once again the website packagesforwarriorsorg , and a reminder for the match days in Gary County . Don't have the date on that , but we'll get that for you , you know , when it comes closer . And also the armed forces community foundation , Phil Maddox . Yeah , Thanks for for texting me , you know , Phil .
I do , I do .
Sorry about that , but I'm putting in a plug for the armed forces community foundation here through the greater Manhattan Community Foundation . Just always proud to be able to help those that serve our country and it's exciting when you've got a lot of people that do a lot of great things to make them feel like their lives matter .
Absolutely .
And their service matters .
Bringing a piece of home .
Yeah , there we are . Amy Payton is our guest when we come back from the break . Vern had to take off , so I'm going to bring you some community updates here and talk about some other things that are in the works here at the Greater Manhattan Community Foundation . This is the GMCF Community Hour every Monday in the 10 o'clock time frame here on NewsRadio KMAN .