Hundreds of volunteers prepare packages for troops

Hundreds of volunteers spent Saturday stuffing care packages to be sent overseas to men and women in the armed forces.
The program, Operation Shoebox, receives donations, like food, personal care items and candy, that volunteers from around New Jersey make into care packages for the troops. In addition to item donations, Operation Shoebox also receives cash donations, which pay for the bags and postage. Each care package costs about $9.80 to ship overseas.
Saturday?s event yielded another 926 packages, which were stuffed by Girl Scouts, ROTC cadets and other volunteers throughout the day. The gifts add to the grand total of over 22,000 care packages shipped by Operation Shoebox.
"The troops are just absolutely flabbergasted by the generosity of people and they're just so thrilled to know that people back home have not forgotten them and they really respect what they're doing and honor their service to America," Ron Hirsh, Operation Shoebox organizer, says.
The packages will be mailed on Monday.