To remember our troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan this Thanksgiving and Christmas Holidays, I would like to start a donation drive to purchase food, personal items, and pay for postage. Each APO box costs us $12.50 to send. It doesn’t matter the weight of the box. If it fits, it ships. Since January of this year I’ve sent over 100 boxes with the help of my donations and donations from citizens in Blanco County.

I started sending care packages when my Marine son went into Iraq in March of 2003 and have continued to do so. I have several emails from troops telling me how much they appreciate getting letters and the care packages, which I will share with anyone. I will be setting up an account with the Blanco National Bank, called the We Care for The Troops fund so you can mail or drop by to donate. You can contact me at 830-833-4847, on my cell at 512-577-4847, or email bfoj1@moment.net. If you know or have a relative serving in Afghanistan or Iraq, please let me know so I can add them to my list.

Additionally, Blanco National Bank customers who make purchases with a BNB debit card can now have their purchase amounts rounded up to the next even dollar amount with the rounded up amount going to an account of their choice. From now until the end of the year, Blanco National Bank will match 10% of the rounded up amount in our Holiday Round Up promotion. You can tell the bank to send it to the We Care for The Troops account. Call 830-833-4538 or stop by the bank to let them know.