What started out as a way to help a Peachtree City soldier in Iraq has spawned into an effort to help far more soldiers.

Evan Housley, who serves in the Army and has been in some pretty remote places in Iraq, was the first beneficiary of the care packages. Then his family started to field requests from Housley’s fellow soldiers.

The effort has grown into Herobox, a non-profit organization that sends care packages to troops serving overseas.

Though the Army does a good job of taking care of troops’ needs, there aren’t many “comfort” items provided by the military, said Evan’s brother Ryan, who joins mom Jeanne Marie in getting the fledgling Herobox organization off the ground.

Heroboxes can be requested by troops and purchased online by citizens and companies at the organization’s website at www.herobox.org.
Individual heroboxes cost $25 and can be sent to a random soldier or a specific one, Ryan Housley said. For $100, a company can sponsor Herobox and not only send a herobox to a soldier but also get decals to display at their business and recognition on the Herobox website and blog, he added.

T-shirts and stickers can also be purchased at the web site to support the program. The web site also features testimonials from troops after they receive their herobox packages.
All profits are re-invested in the program, as there’s very little overhead involved with the project so far, Housley said.

“We’re very excited about it,” Housley said.
The heroboxes provide comfort items such as baby wipes and hand sanitizer along with trail mix, beef jerky and powdered drink mix.

Herobox is pursuing its 501(c)3 status as a non-profit organization but currently donations are not tax deductible, Housley added. Meanwhile volunteers are used to stuff heroboxes before they’re sent and there’s hardly any overhead with volunteers running the show, he said.

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