It’s that time of year again as we ramp up donations for the holiday season. 2011 has been another amazing year, thanks to our partners, to the kind hearts of the general public, and to the great men and women of the United States Armed Forces. Thanks to everyone who has helped GFS bring joy to the troops so far this year, and thanks in advance to everyone who will help make this holiday season something special!
-Jesse
Summer is hot, hot, hot here in Michigan, but it’s still nothing compared to the summer heat in Afghanistan and Iraq. That’s why Games For Soldiers continues to ship games to troops deployed to those countries and beyond. It’s not often you get to chill out in the shady shelter of the MWR tent, and not every unit even has power to spare. But for the troops that do, and those serving on larger installations, we provide games, movies and music to help them pass the deployment time, whether they’re there for six months, a year, or even (sadly) more.
Please hit our information link if you’d like to donate some games. We primarily ship PS3 and Xbox 360 games, as those systems are most prevalent, but we will consider any entertainment donation that can be shipped overseas (please no TVs and such – our shipping budget just isn’t THAT high).
If you know someone in a deployed unit that could use some new games or movies, please email jesse@gamesforsoldiers.org with their info, and a box will be sent on it’s way.
Thanks, and keep cool! Hooah!
*yawn* *stretch*
Is it spring yet? The winter here in Michigan was brutal, but it didn’t prevent us from getting boxes to the post office, where they gently glided via carrier pigeons (or possibly large airplanes) to military post exchanges around the world, and eventually into the grubby (this isn’t an insult, at least not to infantrymen) little hands of soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines.
I’d like to thank, for the third year in a row, the companies who have helped us the most: Popcap Games, Microsoft, Electronic Arts, and 2K Games. Despite this specific call out, there are so many companies and people that have helped over the years, and without all of you, we would not be where we are today – pushing box after box out into the world. Thank you all!
So, in light of the above, it’s time for our Spring Game Drive. I’m always excited to see what kinds of goodies will come in that we get to send back out. It’s like being some strange Santa-like middle man. Last year we had a shipment of Ghoulash to distribute out to the troops. A game they can take into the field is just as good as a shiny 360 game. Two years ago, we had a lot of individuals, all separately, donate decks of cards. We’ve had huge boxes of DVD movies sent in. We’ve even had a nice shipment of music CDs sent by the fine folks at Sidecho Records.
So, in advance, thank you for whatever comes our way this spring. And best wishes for newfound warmth and sunshine!
Donations keep coming in… donations keep going out. Interestingly, the last few boxes to go out have contained fewer games because they’ve included things like Scene It!, Lips, or other larger-than-normal boxes. The one going out tomorrow only has 18 games, but they are all top-quality, brand new games donated by Microsoft, EA Sports and 2K Games. Not… too… shabby!
The Summer Donation Drive continues in full effect. Unlike the last two summers, this year has seen a huge gain in private individuals donating, and a major decrease in developers and publishers donating. Not a bad thing… used games make troops just as happy I assure you.
There’s been a sudden uptick in donations by private individuals. Thank you! We’re actually just announcing our summer drive for games to donate. Primarily we are running low on our stock of 360 and PS3 games, though we’re still happy to take any game or movie donation that anyone is willing to provide. However, due to storage issues and problems with usability overseas, we are asking people to consider not donating previous-generation video game systems at this time. Systems propose some difficulties with shipping (our standard boxes are designed to ship games only, and allow us to do so at a known cost per box), and since we don’t have many games to offer for older systems, it means that we cannot provide the same level of benefit if shipping an original Xbox, original Playstation, or even older system. We have, when games have become available, actually donated some systems (even a Turbo Graf-X 16) if we can provide the system, all cables and enough games that it’s beneficial in comparison to the shipping costs.
Regardless, thank you all very much for your continued support. 
I don’t post here too often because activity on the site never really took off, but I’d like to give an update to those who do check in now and then.
Currently, I’m in the process of contacting some units that are pending deployment so that they can forward their APO addresses when they arrive in country. I’m also trying to get in touch with some FRGs to find additional units to send games to.
Thanks to all those who continue to donate games to the cause. My lack of updates on the site do not reflect a lack of appreciation from GFS, and definitely no lack of appreciation from the forward-deployed troops who receive the donations in the end.
Thank you all for helping to keep GFS in the business of offering entertainment to the troops.
FINALLY! Our Summer raffle has arrived. For information, please visit our raffle page here. Thank you!
GFS is continuing to send shipments of games, despite our lack of website updates. Currently, our largest needs are monetary donations to continue shipping boxes and Xbox 360 games, which we are sorely hurting for. 360 and PS3 game requests are what we receive the highest number of. Please keep us in mind if you are able to help. I’ll try to post more about our activities, including boxes shipped, so that our progress can be seen.
Sorry about the lack of recent updates. Moving, work and school have been fighting for every last minute of my time. Fear not, packages are still going out. I’ll try to put together a better update soon. Also, the raffle is still in the works. Thanks for the interest.
Hey everyone. Sorry for the lack of updates over the holidays, it’s been a crazy month. We’ve still sent out several boxes so far this year and are about to take delivery of a pallet of boxes at the local FedEx depot. More on that shortly!