“World’s Largest Care Package” Heading to Troops Overseas

What:
The U.S. Postal Service, the Grand Ole Opry and Tennessee Helping Hearts, a local branch of the Department of Defense’s America Supports You organization, are preparing what’s being billed as “the world’s largest care package” for delivery to America’s armed forces serving overseas. The shipments are being packed and transported to the Nashville Post Office to be mailed to military personnel in time for Thanksgiving.

Who:
Chuck Wicks, RCA Nashville recording artist
Tennessee Helping Hearts (America Supports You homefront group members)
Representatives from the Grand Ole Opry and U.S. Postal Service

When:
1 p.m. (packing), 2:00 p.m. (loading of shipments into a Postal Service vehicle)

Where:
Grand Ole Opry Museum (adjacent to Opry House)
2802 Opryland Drive
Nashville, TN

Background:The United States Postal Service and the Grand Ole Opry, joined by Tennessee Helping Hearts, a local branch of the U.S. Department of Defense’s America Supports You group, will pack and help load more than 1,000 Priority Mail Flat Rate boxes into a Postal Service vehicle, kicking off the first leg of the delivery of “the world’s largest care package” to troops overseas.

The USPS boxes contain letters written by Opry fans during recent Opry visits, gifts from country artists, greeting cards from Hallmark, CDs from Cracker Barrel Old Country Store, GI Roses gift certificates, which enable overseas military to send a dozen roses to loved ones back home, and other items. The Postal Service created the special boxes, which feature Grand Ole Opry and America Supports You logos.

Contacts:
Beth Barnett, USPS, 615-885-9394, cell 615-202-4992, beth.b.barnett@usps.gov
Jessie Schmidt, Grand Ole Opry, 615-846-3878, jessie.schmidt@opry.com
Darlene Bieber, Grand Ole Opry, 615-846-3878, darlene.bieber@opry.com

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Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at www.usps.com/news.

An independent federal agency, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that visits every address in the nation, 146 million homes and businesses, six days a week. It has 37,000 retail locations and relies on the sale of postage, products, and services to pay for operating expenses, not tax dollars. The Postal Service has annual revenues of $75 billion and delivers nearly half the world’s mail.