UMaine Bookstore, Printing Services, ROTC Team up to Send Support

Contact: Media contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571

ORONO — Beginning on Monday, Nov. 10, the University of Maine Bookstore, University of Maine Printing Services and the UMaine Army and Navy ROTC will collaborate on a project intended to boost she spirits of Maine service men and women who are not at home during the upcoming holiday season.

One-thousand UMaine postcards will be made available at various campus locations.  Members of the UMaine community and visitors will be encouraged to write a message on the postcard and the bookstore will cover the cost of mailing it to a Mainer serving in either the national guard or the reserves.  Cards may also be sent to active duty military personnel if an exact address is provided. Printing services has donated the printing of the cards and ROTC is helping to facilitate the process.

“Beginning just before Veteran’s Day and extending well into the holiday season, this program will provide the opportunity for many of us to send words of encouragement and support to people who could really use it,” says Bill Hockensmith, the manager of the UMaine bookstore.  “For the most part, troops serving overseas don’t get much mail.  When they do hear from home, it means a lot to them.”

Among the places the cards will be available are the bookstore, Printing Services and the UMaine Dept. of Public Safety desk in Memorial Union.  Hockensmith is also planning to set up tables in various dining halls at mealtimes and to develop other ways to take the program to UMaine students.