Upper Township woman sends cards and care packages to brighten the holidays for U.S. troops serving overseas
By CRAIG D. SCHENCK/Sentinel staff
TUCKAHOE — “The next two weeks will be crazy,” said Robin McCauley, who was busy collecting cards, candy and other items to send to U.S. troops serving overseas.
The Tuckahoe woman started Project Love Cards in 2009 and has collected and shipped 17,188 care packages and more than 60,000 cards to military members spending the holidays away from family and friends.
McCauley said she started the organization when her brother-in-law was in the Army.
“I wanted to do something little and my brother-in-law was serving in Germany, so I talked to my family and a couple of friends to see what they thought,” she said. “I wanted to send a little lift-me-up, a little cheer, so I started it to show them that they are appreciated, people at home think of them.”
She then contacted Johnson’s Popcorn in Ocean City and asked if the business famous for its caramel popcorn would be willing to help.
“They have been on board since the very beginning and they don’t hesitate, no matter how much I ask for, they don’t hesitate to give me the amount of popcorn that I need, and I just went from there,” McCauley said. “I just kept building and here I am 12 years later.”
She said she has always had military members in her family, starting with her grandfather who served in the National Guard, and feels “very honored to live in this country and have the freedom, and our freedom really only is because of what they do.”
“I never guessed it would be so big,” McCauley said. “I just know the lives that it touches; some of the troops don’t receive anything from home. If I can put a smile on their face for one day, why not? It’s only two stressful months out of my life when they are out there every day putting their life on the line.”
In addition to Johnson’s Popcorn, Shriver’s Saltwater Taffy donates every year and Little Egg Harbor Soap Co. provides “about 500 sample soaps just to give them something different.”
McCauley also said she gets financial donations to help purchase items for the care packages and ship them, noting Chris Derrickson, owner of Surfside Construction in Ocean City, donates a lot of money.
“He has been very generous with helping to make sure I can afford the shipping,” McCauley said, noting it cost about $2,200 last year.
She said she does spend some of her own money but “the community is very generous.”
McCauley said she starts collecting candy after Halloween, when it is on sale, and buys candy canes after Christmas when they are discounted since hard candy lasts a long time.
“This year I have been very blessed, especially with everything going on in the world,” she said.
“Everything going on” is a reference to the coronavirus pandemic that has disrupted life, school and work for hundreds of millions of Americans, complicating the ordinary process for her.
“This year I branched out a lot more because I was so worried the way schools are shutting down and then opening only for a couple of days,” she said, noting that all of the Upper Township schools are helping create cards, as are schools in Dennis Township and Linwood (see related story in this edition).
In addition, she said, people just randomly drop cards off at South Shore Chiropractic, where she works as a chiropractic assistant.
Calling it a great location — 1217 Route 9, Suite 101, in Palermo — McCauley said her boss, Dr. Gary Mruz, allows her to collect items there during the workday.
“I’ve been there 13 and a half years, so he allows me to just let people come in and drop off the candy and that kind of stuff,” McCauley said.
This year McCauley is collecting donations through Thursday, Dec. 3.
McCauley will be sending out 1,500 care packages this year. She said she used to send out 2,000 but “it’s become very hard to get the military addresses to ship it to. I never want to get stuck with too many and not have anywhere to go with them.”
When she gets an address, she said, she tries to find out how many people are serving with the person so she can provide enough for everyone.
“If they tell me they have 125 people and they are willing to distribute them, then I will send them enough for 125 people,” she said. “Some of them will just open up the boxes and put them in the common area. I have one gentleman that one year ordered a Santa suit off Amazon and then dressed up like Santa and handed out the bags,” McCauley said.
She has a small group of dedicated volunteers — herself, her sister Tami Kern of Bellplain, mother Terri Lea of Marmora, friend Lori Kinsey of Egg Harbor Township and uncle Troy David — who help organize and package the items for distribution from her mother’s house.
McCauley said it takes two to two and a half days to get everything packaged and labeled after the collection is complete.
“We work Friday until about midnight, all day Saturday and, depending on how much stuff, it sometimes rolls into Sunday,” she said.
In addition to storing items at her mother’s house, she said the Tuckahoe Firehouse lets her keep the popcorn there.
McCauley said she includes a handmade angel made out of a paper clip, bead and ribbon with a card that explains the mission of Project Love Cards.
Because of that, she said, she receives thank you cards in the mail and other acknowledgments of her efforts. She even has received two American flags that have flown in honor or her organization, along with a certificate thanking her.
In 2010, McCauley received a flag that had flown over a military base in Iraq.
“It flew for 24 hours in honor of Project Love Cards,” she said. “After 24 hours, they folded it into a box and sent it to me.”
McCauley also received what she called a challenge coin from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, saying “it’s an honor to get one.”
“That’s the best part is getting the feedback, for sure,” she said.
She has also received emails from service members.
“Some said they had not seen their family in six months, or a year, or that it was their first holiday away from their family,” she said.
McCauley said the most difficult part is to gather the military addresses. People can provide addresses via the Facebook page Project Love Cards but should keep in mind that they must be valid at Christmas 2021.
