USO Book Drive Feed Back?

[Supermom3]

Just wanting to hear from anyone who has completed their USO Book Drive volunteer service. There's nothing in my area that my kids can also participate in, and I really loved the idea of this project. The thought of a soldier overseas being able to read a bedtime story to their kids is such a great idea.

I'd love to hear about how it went for you. What were your shipping costs? How long to be verified? Did you limit your books to those on the list, or did you add others, too? Thanks!

 

[dpknoll]

My family did this project in the beginning of February and it was an absolutely amazing experience. It started out as a desperate search to find something that dd7 could share with us (not a lot available in our immediate area for her to help out with). When we stumbled across this, we knew we had found a winner. It immediately struck a special chord for us since we have a family member serving in Afghanistan, who is away from his family. From the very beginning of the sign up process, the USO contact was efficient and helpful. I had asked her if they wanted other books and she said that the books on the list were really the ones wanted, but they would take others in the "Give A Mouse"series of books. There are 3 of us in my family, we collected about 40 books (we only needed 24 - but friends just kept donating them for this worthy cause) and I shipped them out in a flat rate postage box (I think it was about $12 since it went to an APO). After I mailed the box, I immediately went home and emailed our contact the verification form, the photos we took (of dd witht he books and boxing them up), the customs form, and the receipt for shipping. In the email I told her how much we enjoyed the project and that I looked forward to verification of service. Within 2 hours she emailed me back and told me she had verified our service to GAD. The next day our status was pending and two days after that we had our vouchers. My dd loved the experience of collecting books for soldiers to keep in touch with their children and my husband and I truly felt that what we had done would make a difference in a soldier's life. I highly recommend this project, not only for the efficiency of the staff at the USO, but for the impact it will make on your. I have already told our contact that we will continue to ship books and that she will be hearing from us on a regular basis. If you do choose this project I truly hope you walk away from it with an equally successful experiences (as far as GAD) and feeling as good as we do personally. Good luck!

 

[Supermom3]

Thank you for the great information. I also found this opportunity searching for something my 6 year old could also do. When I read all the details, I knew it was the project for us. I just love the thought of active soldiers being able to read bedtime stories to their children from half way across the world.
We have 4 participating, so I'll need at least 32 books, but hopefully we'll get more than that. Thanks for the info regarding the "Give a Mouse" books. I'm so glad to hear that they were an easy agency to work with. Off to register!

 

[dpknoll]

Good luck with collecting your books - we asked my daughter's teacher if she could talk to the kids about her project and send a note home to the families about the book collection - we got quite a few back from her classmates (just a thought to help you out).

 

[123SA]

DId you disclose to the teacher what you were getting in return? I would like to do this too.

 

[mousireid]

How did you go about volunteering for this project? We too have family in AG and would love to do this!

 

[Supermom3]

How did you go about volunteering for this project? We too have family in AG and would love to do this!

On the disney GAD site I entered Disney World, FL as my zip code/location, and a bunch of do from home opportunities came up. I clicked on the Story Time From the Front Lines link for more information. They emailed me a pdf file with all the information about the program. The email also had a link to sign up with Disney. I clicked that link, signed up, and got a confirmation email from the Hands On Network. I have 60 days to complete the service. I'll let you know how it goes, but from previous posts, it seems as if they are an easy organization to work with, and a really awesome project.

 

[msvlg]

Our group signed up to do this project. We are a family of educators and thought it was a wonderful cause. We donated over 60 new books and we made over 20 cards for the service men and their children. We shipped the books in two boxes, the shipping costs for each box was $12.50. We also took and sent photos. The organization was great to work with. We received our vouchers two days after sending in our information. It was a win-win situation, vouchers aside-it was a fun and rewarding family activity.

 

[Supermom3]

Good luck with collecting your books - we asked my daughter's teacher if she could talk to the kids about her project and send a note home to the families about the book collection - we got quite a few back from her classmates (just a thought to help you out).

Oh, good idea. Thanks.

 

[WDWRookie2009]

We are about to ship our box tomorrow and had a blast collecting the books. My boys really wanted to do this because their dad was able to send each of them a book and dvd... all because of the USO. The boys loved their special gift and being able to help another military child feel that joy is something we all wanted to do!

Have fun!

 

[dpknoll]

DId you disclose to the teacher what you were getting in return? I would like to do this too.

yes, we let the teacher know exactly what we were doing and she was fine with it since the books were going to a worthy cause - but every teacher might be different.

 

[123SA]

yes, we let the teacher know exactly what we were doing and she was fine with it since the books were going to a worthy cause - but every teacher might be different.

Thanks! (My question was so short -- hope that it didn't come across nasty sounding)

 

[dpknoll]

Thanks! (My question was so short -- hope that it didn't come across nasty sounding)

didn't come across nasty sounding at all...no worries =)

just a side note - we received a wonderful thank you note today from the servicemen and women in Iraq where our books were shipped. It was an added bonus on top of the good feelings we already had from participating in this project! Thumbs up to the USO for letting us help out for such a worthwhile cause.

 

[cassie58]

Thanks for the info., as I had the same ?, having just signed up today. My kids love books and being read to by us, so I think it's something they can really relate to, and great because my DD6 can participate. We are also going to ask the school if we can send out an email to parents to get as many books as possible. I was glad to hear the shipping costs weren't too crazy -I'm a liitle worried about gettting a lot of books(great!), but then a large cost to ship them(not so great). I hope we will still be able to get the GAD voucher, as I read lots of posts today about them shutting it down, but it will be nice for the kids to volunteer anyway.

cassie58
11/08-ASMo & Timeshare
8/09-CSR

 

[3happydancers]

I registered for the program back in October before the program began. I received an email in Jan. stating that I can now look on site for programs to volunteer to. Well, since that time I have continuosly tried volunteering with different organizations but never received responses, and I did check my spam mail.

I finally came across th Story Time from the Front Lines and loved it. I supplied my email, received the tool kit, read it and decided it was for my family. The next step was to click on the part that said to register. Well, when I did this, I kept going back the disney.com page to their register site. So I tried the manage my account where they have me listed as registered but now what do I do? Am I suppose to register again for the specific volunteer work, or am I already acknowledged? On the right side of my account it reads in green letters Hands On Network, I clicked on that and my account does not show us listed for a volunteer position.

I am sorry, I feel a little "confused" but can someone explain?

 

[Supermom3]

I registered for the program back in October before the program began. I received an email in Jan. stating that I can now look on site for programs to volunteer to. Well, since that time I have continuosly tried volunteering with different organizations but never received responses, and I did check my spam mail.

I finally came across th Story Time from the Front Lines and loved it. I supplied my email, received the tool kit, read it and decided it was for my family. The next step was to click on the part that said to register. Well, when I did this, I kept going back the disney.com page to their register site. So I tried the manage my account where they have me listed as registered but now what do I do? Am I suppose to register again for the specific volunteer work, or am I already acknowledged? On the right side of my account it reads in green letters Hands On Network, I clicked on that and my account does not show us listed for a volunteer position.

I am sorry, I feel a little "confused" but can someone explain?

You will need to register for the specific volunteer work you want to do, in this case Story Time for the Front Lines. You do this by clicking the link that you got in the e-mail they sent you when you first inquired about this job. If you don't still have that e-mail, you can have it resent by going on the Disney site and having it sent again. This link will allow you to register all members of your family for this job and will link you to the HandsOn Network to verify your registration. From there you will be given a complete by date, and more information on who to contact at the USO for the address of where to ship your books. After this time you will be able to go into the manage my account page on the Disney site.

 

[3happydancers]

You will need to register for the specific volunteer work you want to do, in this case Story Time for the Front Lines. You do this by clicking the link that you got in the e-mail they sent you when you first inquired about this job. If you don't still have that e-mail, you can have it resent by going on the Disney site and having it sent again. This link will allow you to register all members of your family for this job and will link you to the HandsOn Network to verify your registration. From there you will be given a complete by date, and more information on who to contact at the USO for the address of where to ship your books. After this time you will be able to go into the manage my account page on the Disney site.

Thanks Supermom! I was able to sign up What would I do without the disboards!

 

[Kailua's Belle]

I just signed my family up for this volunteer opportunity too!! My only concern was the shipping, but now that I see that that's reasonable, I can't wait to get my kids gathering books and making letters. Since Disney is getting close to the end, looks like I have less than 60 days to complete. The website says I need to have it done by March 21.

 

[cassie58]

I just signed my family up for this volunteer opportunity too!! My only concern was the shipping, but now that I see that that's reasonable, I can't wait to get my kids gathering books and making letters. Since Disney is getting close to the end, looks like I have less than 60 days to complete. The website says I need to have it done by March 21.

Where did you see the march 21st deadline? We just signed up last week, and are collecting books through the kids' school, and were planning to ship before the end of March - I thought the letter from USO said by May(I guess 60 days), but I wanted to get it done ASAP. I know I read that the GAD program is closed, but if you are already signed up, you will get a voucher once it is complete. Hope that's the case!

cassie58
11/08-ASMo & Timeshare
8/09-CSR

 

[mousireid]

I put out the original email last week and they still haven't personally contact me Am hoping it is still valid to be able to do this? How long was it between signing up and getting a response?