Martin Heinrich Stuffs USO Care Packages for Women Serving in the Military

Rep. Heinrich with Second Lady Jill Biden at the first
“USO Care Package for Women” party,
at Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill.

Yesterday, Rep. Martin Heinrich joined Second Lady Jill Biden and the United Service Organizations (USO) for a care package stuffing event to honor and recognize women in the military. Operation USO Care Package was initiated by the USO in 2001 to provide our troops deployed overseas with much needed items such as wet wipes, playing cards, sun screen and calling cards so they can stay in touch with the loved ones they left behind. This year, for the first time, special care packages for women in the military were created.

Speaker Nancy Pelosi led off the event with remarks about the project, and praised Jill Biden for her work on behalf of tour roops and their families:

"As you know, Dr. Biden is a mother and an educator, a Blue Star Mom. She has worked tirelessly to help the loved ones of those who are serving in the military as well as those who serve. Through her work with 'Delaware Boots on the Ground,' she visits bases here and in Germany, and it is hard to think of a more passionate advocate for our men and women in uniform and doing something about recognizing that than Dr. Biden.

"I want to join you in acknowledging the important work that USO has done for our troops, for our men and women in uniform, and for when they come home. This event reflects the mission of the USO to bring our troops a little closer to home wherever they are, to boost the morale of our service members and to strengthen the bonds between our armed forces and the American people.

Since the program’s inception, the USO has distributed more than 1.8 million care packages to our troops. To send a gift to our service members or learn more about USO programs, click here.

See more photos from the event.