You Can Help:
Donating Money

Our program accepts cash donations to cover the cost of shipping packages overseas.

All donations are tax deductible and will be used specifically for this program.

At over $1 a pound, donations to cover shipping costs is our greatest need.

Please make checks payable to:

ARC
Operation: Care and Comfort

Please mail checks to:

Operation: Care and Comfort
2392 Walden Square
San Jose, CA 95124

Credit card donations are accepted online.

CONTACT INFO
Co-Founders

  (Click on the name
  to send an email)

Julie DeMaria
TroopSupport
@comcast.net
408.373.8635
   . . . . . . . . .

Cookie Crissman
Cookie
@piperitesystems.com
408.590.0731
   . . . . . . . . .

Randy Bye
408.577.2192
   . . . . . . . . .

2731 North First Street
San Jose CA 95134

May 12, 2008
Bay Area Sports Teams Join America Supports You Program
Largest Contingent of Sporting Teams Comes Together for Military and their Families

For immediate Release: May 12, 2008 – Oakland, CA:

Bay Area professional sports teams are banding together to help military members and their families by joining the America Supports You (ASY) program, a Department of Defense initiative highlighting the support of the American people for members of the U.S. Armed Forces and their families. The teams joining ASY include the San Francisco Giants, Oakland Raiders, Oakland Athletics, San Jose SaberCats and San Jose Earthquakes. This is the first time major sports teams from the same region have joined the America Supports You program.

Each Bay Area sports team hosts a “Military Appreciation Day,” offers free or discounted tickets to military members, and sponsors events to help raise funds for Operation: Care and Comfort, an ASY homefront group that has shipped 200 tons of care packages to deployed members and this month hosts its third annual TroopFest benefit concert and festival.

Julie DeMaria, founder of Operation: Care and Comfort, was instrumental in connecting the Bay Area sports teams with the America Supports You program.

"I’m a huge supporter of America Supports You because their primary mission is to show our troops just how much Americans support them,” said DeMaria. “I’m so proud to have played a role in introducing our great Bay Area sports teams to this morale-boosting program, and I’m looking forward to all of us being together at TroopFest 2008."

Operation: Care and Comfort is one of 53 homefront groups in California, the state with the greatest number of America Supports You homefront groups in the country. Twenty-three of these California-based groups have joined ASY within the last year.

"The month of May is the perfect time for these dedicated sports teams to join the America Supports You program since it’s ‘National Military Appreciation Month,’ a time dedicated to recognizing, honoring, and thanking our military men and women for their service to our country,” said Allison Barber, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and founder of the America Supports You program. “We’re looking forward to working with these sports teams in the future and appreciate all they are doing to show their support for our troops and their families."

Other ways Bay Area sports teams have provided support to military personnel include San Francisco Giant pitcher Barry Zito’s fund raising efforts through “Strikeout for the Troops,” a non-profit organization and ASY homefront group that benefits wounded service members at military hospitals nationwide. In addition, the Oakland Raiderettes have visited troops at Camp Pendleton and in the Middle East, and the San Jose SaberCats hosted a fundraising event in support of Operation: Care and Comfort.

About America Supports You:
America Supports You is an ongoing, nationwide program organized by the Department of Defense to showcase Americans’ support for the men and women of the Armed Forces and their families. Since its launch in November of 2004, America Supports You has welcomed more than 370 homefront organizations, in all 50 states, and 40 corporations to the program. Many America Supports You homefront groups demonstrate their support for the troops through letter writing, care packages, helping the wounded when they return home, assisting military families, sending an email and much more—to learn more about how you can support military personnel please visit www.AmericaSupportsYou.mil.

Operation: Care and Comfort:
Since April 2003, the all-volunteer Operation: Care and Comfort program, unique to the Santa Clara Valley Chapter of American Red Cross, has shipped 200 tons of care packages for distribution to Marine, Army, Air Force, and Coast Guard personnel deployed in conflict regions. Adopted military units receive care packages monthly, until they return home. Operation: Care and Comfort is a member of the Department of Defense’s “America Supports You” program. For more information on how you can support this worthy program, please visit www.operationcareandcomfort.org.